Reflection to the Word on the Sunday of March 2, 2025
REGARDING PRAYER Luke 9:28
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.
Regarding prayer we have the Lord's Prayer, as a core prayer Jesus thought to the disciples though we have almost 2,000 years of strata on it which means that the very nature of this prayer and the very reason why this prayer was created got a little bit blurry.
Although it was taught by Jesus himself, it was not new, it was not original, at least not fully original, and it is the least Christian prayer concerning the existing prayer book prayers through hundreds of Christian denominations.
We can see that the so-called Lord's prayer does not address Jesus the Son and does not mention the Holy Spirit as an independent divine entity, thus the Lord's Prayer is a Jewish prayer starting with the line Our Father in Heaven which is a very Jewish term used in many prayers and in Hebrew it sounds like Avinu Shebashamayim.
Since, The Lord's prayer became the core " Christian prayer, our first question is, why it was created. All events in the galaxy and beyond are interconnected. Some more directly, sometimes some a bit more indirectly, leaving space for irony and even for paradoxes.
The story of The Lord's prayer began with the mundane event when Herod Antipas, divorced his wife Phasaelis the daughter of the Nabatean Arab King, Aretas Philopatris.
John the Baptist rebuked Herod Antipas, not only for his new marriage after the divorce but for the divorce itself. And it was something new, indeed. This view on divorce was shared by Jesus as well, and it originated at the Essene community of the Qumran. It was just an extra offence when Herod Antipas, after divorce, married the divorced wife of his brother, called Herod Boethus. The story is told in the Gospel, how Antipas imprisoned John, and how he ordered him to be beheaded.
This chain of events led to the Lord's prayer as the grieving disciples of John came to Jesus, after the burial of John, and told him, that John the Baptist taught us how to pray, now we wish You to tell us how to pray. And Jesus taught them the Lord's prayer, which we deem today the core of all prayers .
It is a Jewish prayer, and the disciples could have told Jesus that it was not even a new prayer, but the old prayer Ezra instituted to be recited three times a day.
They would have been almost right, however the Prayer, which Ezra and the Great Assembly institutionalized, is quite long, it had 18 sections, that is why it was called the Shemonah Esreh, the Eighteen. Nowadays, it has 19 sections, while it retained its original name of 18.
It was long, it is long, and reciting it three times a day, takes time. The Prayer, also called the Amidah, or the Standing Prayer, is only just a portion of the full prayer services.
This, even in Jesus' time and later there was an elongated debate about the mandatory length of the prayers, or how to pray in emergency situations, like when the Titanic was sinking, when there was no time for long prayers. Most of the sages opposed the attempts to create shortened or abbreviated versions of the Prayer of Eighteen, nonetheless they established a short version of it, only for emergency purposes, and not for every day use. The prayer has a name, it is called the Havinenu.
Thus, the disciples were able to realize, that hey,hey,hey,this is a shortened version of the Eighteen. And indeed, the Lord's Prayer looks like an abbreviated version of the Prayer Eighteen, though we could say, like a short Nazarene version of it.
The disciples could have mentioned, that hey, you did not pray for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and for the restoration of the Kingdom of David. Jesus could have answered, that as you can see the city and the temple is rebuilt, there is no need for prayer for that, especially, when the time will be coming very soon, when both will be erased again. The decision has been already made in Heaven, praying for the opposite would be like going against Heaven.
The same with the restoration of the Kingdom of David, as prophet Jeremiah put a curse on the Royal House of David, at least on the lineage through Jeconiah, as it is written:
"Thus says the Lord, “Record this man (Jeconiah) as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his offspring prosper, sitting on David’s throne and ruling in Judah.” Jeremiah 22 : 30
Thus, Jesus could have said to them, that it is kind of inappropriate to pray for the restoration of the kingship of the Royal House of David, as Israel and the Jews should not have any other King but God. So people should pray for God's Kingdom instead, as it is exactly the case in the Lord's prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.”
Nonetheless Jesus, just like the majority of the sages, could have insisted that, as the Lord's Prayer as a simplified and abbreviated version of the Ezra's prayer, so it should be used as an emergency prayer for tight situations, but other than that, people should pray the long one of Ezra, in the appropriate times. However, this is not the case. In the Gospel Jesus warns the audience that " In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking." Matthew 6 : 7
In this meaning the multiplication of the words of the prayers can be an activity which is a futile feature of the gentile reasoning, which comes from the logic of the ancient idolatry.
By sacrificing in the temples, crops, animals, human sacrifices we give something to the Gods, and in reciprocity they are obliged to do our bids. More we sacrifice, the God are more obliged.
Jesus warns the audience again, that there is absolutely no need to multiply the prayers, and follow the practice of the Gentiles, as he said to them: " Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him. "Matthew 6 : 8"
According to the reasoning of Jesus, for example, the elongated Rosary prayers might be quite futile. As the King of Heaven knows in advance what we might wish for, it is not too useful to try to burden God with our self-centric wishes, howsoever holy our wishes might be.
Also, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, 34 years after Jesus had been crucified by the Romans, the sages made a wise decision, that until the temple will be restored, the prayers will substitute the temple sacrifices.
Within this scenario prayers are not optional, but mandatory, nonetheless, they can come with the connotation that we have to pray a lot to fulfill those obligations once the Temple of Jerusalem had. However, it is not the case, because the Almighty God did not need the sacrifices in the Temple, and also does not need our prayers to substitute the sacrifices.
Thus, the Prayer has another function, and it is to change us.
Prayers help us focus on the kingdom of God, it helps us exclude the external world in order to begin an inward journey of Soul reflection and meditation. Prayers help us empty our ego, letting God’s spirit to fill the void. The Holy Spirit is able to spark light in any darkness to overcome it. May the LORD’s Glory guide us when it comes to praying, AMEN.
