…and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
Whenever I’ve thought about Jesus praying I’ve pictured him in a solitary location—a place out of sight from his disciples—but I’m not so sure that’s an entirely accurate picture. Luke 11:1 tells us that Jesus prayed and that he most likely prayed in the sight of his disciples. When Jesus finished praying one of his disciples said to him, “Lord teach us to pray.” I imagine it was because Jesus prayed in front of his disciples—not always in a solitary location—that his disciples wanted to know how to pray.
I think my picture of his solitary prayer came from his words in Matthew 6:5-6 where Jesus says that when you pray you should go into your closet, close the door, and pray to the Father. Jesus also said in Matthew, “Be careful to not practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.” It is clear that Jesus taught that prayer is to be a private matter, not for public eyes. But if that is the case, why did Jesus still pray in front of his disciples? Is Jesus guilty of hypocrisy? Should we hear his teaching but not heed his actions? Obviously, I don’t believe Jesus is guilty of hypocrisy, but why he is not should be cause for thought.
First, let us dispel the thought that Jesus let his disciples know he was praying so they could praise him for his devotion to the Father—Jesus had no false humility. Jesus spent much time in isolation praying privately to the Father (Luke 4:42; 6:12) but he prayed so that his disciples knew when and where he prayed because they were his disciples. A disciple is one who follows someone so as to learn their ways. Jesus came to earth, in large part, to make disciples. He deliberately let the disciples see his manner of prayer as well as his frequency of prayer because he wanted his disciples to emulate his practice of prayer after he left the earth.
If we consider ourselves one of his disciples then we must follow both his words and his actions. If we wish growth in our relationship to the Father we have to spend time with him alone. But, if we wish to make disciples of others we need to let our prayer be seen. I don’t mean we should live-stream our prayers. That would just be silly. Jesus prayed in front of his disciples, but not so much in front of the world at large.
I had a conversation with a friend a while ago about people he was mentoring. One of his mentees was going through a period of rebellion and so my friend told me that he was waiting for the mentee to come back to him. I thought that seemed a bit passive and told him so. Jesus’ chose his disciples—they didn’t choose him; Jesus told of the lost sheep and how it was the shepherd who went to save the lost sheep; the lost sheep didn’t search out the shepherd. Jesus’ example of discipleship was that he chose them and he pursued them when they failed; remember, Jesus approached Peter after his denial of Christ, it wasn’t the other way around.
Jesus’ last words to his disciples in Matthew 28 prior to his ascent into heaven were that they go and make disciples of all people. Just as Jesus made disciples, so were they to make disciples; go and choose someone—be active, not passive—and show them how to have a relationship with the Father. Jesus did that with his disciples for three years. He showed them what it meant to follow the Father; he showed them how to live, how to love, and yes, how to pray.
Do we have disciples? Do we show them how to pray as Jesus showed his disciples? Certainly, Jesus told them how to pray, but he also showed them. He prayed in front of his disciples so they could learn how to communicate with the Father. Do we pray to the Father in front of our disciples? Do we tell them and then show them? Jesus did, and I think he’s a pretty good example to follow.
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