WHY DID JESUS PRAY?

Why did Jesus have to pray? What was the reason for Him to pray, while He was God Himself? Who did He pray to? Did He pray to Himself? These and many other related questions have bothered eminent theologians over the course of church history. Most believers would have at some point wondered about this. I believe this question can be answered simply by considering the following principles:

1. At His human incarnation Jesus was 100%  a man as if He were not God. As the perfect Man who ever lived, He had to pray to the Father God. 

2. As He did in all other walks of life, He set an example for us to emulate, by praying. e.g. He prayed on the cross for those who were crucifying Him as He had taught us to pray for our enemies. See Matthew 5:44-50. 

3. As the Perfect Son of the Perfect Father, co-existant and co-equal to God, He had to continue His pre-incarnate practice by relating to the Father in every step of His ministry on the earth.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus habitually and fervently prayed to His Father in heaven. He prayed because He needed to pray and because God infused in Him a spirit of prayer. Involving the deliberate use of His human will, Christ prayed perfectly, but also appropriately according to His age and stage in life.

Look at the following Messianic  prophecies: 

"...I have trusted in you since I was young. I have relied on you all my life; You have protected me since the day I was born. I will always praise you" (Psalms 71:5-6).

 "Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger"  (Psalms 8:2). 

The first recorded words of Jesus according to Luke is ''He answered them, '... Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house?”'( Luke 2:49).  The last recorded words of Jesus spoke of His trust in His Father as He cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!". Thus we see that 'from womb to tomb', He had been in touch with His Father. 

Referring to God in prayer as “my Father” was virtually unheard of during Christ’s time. Jews typically referred to God in prayer as “Yahweh,” “my Lord,” “my God,” or “God of my father.” The words of Christ simply had no      precedence at the time Jesus prayed, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth . . ." (Matt. 11:25).There is not a single example recorded in the course of Jewish literature where a Jew addressed God as 'abba' (how children normally addressed their father in Aramaic).

Jesus revolutionized prayer in a way that  did justice to the radical nature of his ministry. With no previous examples of faithful Jews addressing God as “Father” in prayer, Christ  referred to God as “Father” almost exclusively in His recorded prayers.  (The sole exception is  when He cried out on the cross "My God! my God! Why did you forsake me?") To address God as abba would have been deemed disrespectful by Jews. What our Lord did was new and revolutionary in how to approach God. No wonder  the Jews  accused Him of blasphemy: “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).

When we study the content and structure of  Jesus’s prayers during His earthly ministry we learn why, how, and what to pray. Because of the uniqueness of the eternal relationship between persons of the Trinity, Christ addressed God as Father in practically all circumstances, even the most dire: '‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will’ (Matt. 26:39). 

The arrival of the Son in the flesh provided a new way of relating to God to the first century Christians of Palestine. Prayer became a deeply intimate conversation between God the Father and His people. Jesus prayed to God  because of who He is in relation to his Father, namely, the Son of God. His identity, coupled with God’s own desire to commune with his Son also explains why Jesus needed to pray. 

Luke 23:34 is the primary  example of praying for those persecuting you. Nailed to a cross, dying an agonizing death, mocked by his enemies, Jesus genuinely prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We also know that Jesus prayed in the garden for those who had yet not turned to Him when He said to His Father, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word” (John 17:20).

When we study the Gospels focusing on Jesus' prayers or where He refers to prayer, we can discern why it was so important to Him to pray. Besides, learning more about what motivated Jesus to pray is a wonderful way to strengthen our own habit of prayer.

If we want our prayer life to be more like Jesus’s prayer life, then our motivation for prayer must be like His. Therefore, identify your enemies, those who hate you, those who are even determined to hurt you, or simply those who are hardened toward you because of your walk with Christ and love them enough to pray for them. You will be praying for the same reason Jesus prayed.

There are other reasons too, but the abovementioned are crucial to understanding the prayers of our Lord.

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