It is similar to the question as to why Jesus should be baptized. It was understandably a question for John when Jesus came to be baptized of him. John was baptizing unto repentance for the remission of sins. Jesus had no sins of which to repent, so John appropriately protested, “I need to be baptized of you, and you come to me?” The Lord’s answer that “It fulfills righteousness” seems unclear, but John was satisfied that it was the right thing to do, and went on to baptize Jesus.

While the question is not raised in Scripture, it is reasonable to ask why a perfect and sinless person would need to pray. Then there is the theological question. If Jesus was “Very God” and of “one substance with the Father” -- as the ancient creeds put it -- why would he pray? Surely he was not praying to himself!

If we leave it the way Peter the apostle confessed it, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” then we can see how a son would pray to his father. But we still have the problem of a sinless and perfect son needing to pray. But that appears to be the way it was: our Lord’s prayers indicate that he did indeed have needs. Hebrews 5:7 is especially revealing: “In the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.”

This refers to our Lord’s agonizing prayers in Gethsemane where he told his disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death” (Mt. 26:38), and then went off to himself and fell on his face to the ground and prayed, “Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me.” He prayed this wrenching prayer three times, but adds the proviso that always controlled his life, “Nevertheless, not as I will but as You will”

This may be one reason he was so often in prayer -- it was in reference to doing the will of God. The writer of Hebrews says that this soul-baring prayer was “heard” -- that is answered -- in that Jesus was delivered from death by way of his resurrection from the dead. It was not a prayer that he would not die, but that he would conquer death.

Another reason he prayed appears to be that he suffered some loss of energy and power in his ministry of abundant healings, and prayer was a means of restoration of power. This is indicated in Luke 6:19: “The whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went forth from Him, and he healed them all.” And you will recall that when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of his garment that Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me” (Luke 8:46).

We see this kind of dependence on prayer for strength in Mark 1. Once Jesus enters into Capernaum (v. 21) he has a series of soul-drenching experiences. He drives an unclean spirit from a man in a synagogue (v. 25). He heals Peter’s mother-in-law (v. 31). When evening came multitudes gathered at the door where he was staying -- “the whole city” -- and he healed their diseases and cast out demons (v. 34).

Since we suppose that such activity drained Jesus of power -- if that is what “power going out from him” means -- then we can better understand what followed this busy day and night: “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (v. 35).

We see this again in Luke 5:15-16. Verse 15 says that great multitudes came to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. Then verse 16: “So He himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.” It appears to be a pattern in the ministry of or Lord -- as often as he expended himself in healing the masses, just that often he steals away and prays. Prayer must have empowered him.

According to Luke 6:12 Jesus prayed all night before he named twelve disciples to be his apostles. After all that prayer he still named Judas. That should console us in times when our prayers seem to have the wrong results. If Jesus could pray all night for guidance and still make the “mistake” of choosing Judas, then we should not lose heart when our prayers seem to go awry. Or did Jesus know -- perhaps as a result of his night of prayer -- that Judas would betray him and he was “going by the script”?

Have you noticed that there seems to be a mystery in everything in life that has any significance? There may be no mystery about who plays in the Super Bowl or what kind of a car one drives, but those things do not matter.

The mystery may remain as to why the Christ of God -- pure, undefiled, blameless, sinless, separate from sinners -- should not only pray to God, but do so with agonizing cries and tears. He prayed at his baptism (Luke 3:21): ; he was praying when he was transfigured (Luke 9:29); he prayed especially for Peter (Luke 22:32 ); he taught his disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9); he prayed for the unity of all his followers (John 17:20); he prayed on the Cross for those who crucified him (Luke 23:34).

Then there was the giving of thanks -- when he fed the 5,000, when he broke bread with the disciples, when he instituted the Lord’s supper. We have one of his few recorded prayers in Matthew 11:25-26, which is really a thanksgiving, if that is to be distinguished from prayer. And there he said simply, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth . . .”

It is a beautiful scene, Jesus saying simply “I thank you, Father,” and praising him as Lord of heaven and earth. It reminds me of a great line from Alexander Campbell: “The essence of our religion is gratitude to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

We may conclude that Jesus prayed for the power to heal and drive out demons, to praise and thank God, for both his disciples and his enemies, and for the doing of God’s will -- and especially as continual fellowship with God.

We cannot help but be impressed with the consistency and the abundance of his prayers. And with such intensity! It must have been overwhelming to those who chanced to hear him. On one occasion when some of his disciples heard him pray, their reaction was, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

If Jesus was baptized when he didn’t really need to be, should we not take baptism seriously.? And if Jesus would pray with such abandon -- when he may not have really didn’t need to -- how much more should we be people of prayer?

Notes

It is not the best of days in Denton, Texas just now. My wife Ouida and my daughter Phoebe are in the hospital at the same time, different hospitals. Phoebe had a three-month ordeal in the hospital, followed by a month in rehab. She was at last dismissed, but on the same day she returned home she had to be readmitted to the hospital with respiratory problems. We are concerned that she has such difficulty getting well.

While Phoebe is across town at Presbyterian Hospital of Denton, Ouida is at Denton Regional Hospital only a mile from our home. She had a deep chest cold and cough, which we were treating at home, but three mornings ago she had trouble breathing. Our family doctor told me to take her to the emergency room. Tests revealed she had an irregular heartbeat, serious enough to affect the lungs. After two days of tests and treatment she has as much trouble breathing as before even when on oxygen. This a.m. they said they were bringing in a lung specialist.

But we believe the story, don’t we? When it gets dark we know the sun will shine again, if not sooner then later.