"A HUMBLE HEARTFELT PRAYER"
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountain and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. (Matthew 5:1-2)
The location of the mountain on which Jesus delivered his great Sermon on the Mount is unclear. It may have been a hillside northwest of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Capernaum. The sermon he delivered was broad in scope and included a teaching on prayer, a clarification of what Christian prayer should and should not be.
In no uncertain terms, Jesus condemned ostentatious prayer, the kind meant to make the person praying appear pious in the view of others. He also warned against long, mindless prayers and singled out the babble of pagans, perhaps a reference to the practice of reciting a long list of divine names in hopes of eliciting a response from the deity.
In the view of Jesus, personal prayers should be offered in a private place. He promised that the Father hears and answers, and that he knows what we need even before we ask. As a model for communal prayer, he left us the beautiful and powerful words of the Lord's Prayer.
How deeply moved Jesus must have been by the prayer of a certain blind man he met on the Jericho Road. Jesus asked the poor beggar, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus answered, "I want to see." His prayer was certainly not ostentatious. nor was it wordy. It was perfect, humble, and heartfelt. "I want to see." And see Bartimaeus did.
We would be wise, from time to time, to make the prayer of Bartimaeus our own. "Lord, I want to see. I want to see myself as you see me, an imperfect vessel being remade by the Master Potter. I don't want to be blind to my sins, while seeing the failures of others with perfect vision. I want to see that you do indeed know what I need even before I ask. And, Lord, when I'm caught in the crosswinds, I want to see that you are with me."
The location of the mountain on which Jesus delivered his great Sermon on the Mount is unclear. It may have been a hillside northwest of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Capernaum. The sermon he delivered was broad in scope and included a teaching on prayer, a clarification of what Christian prayer should and should not be.
In no uncertain terms, Jesus condemned ostentatious prayer, the kind meant to make the person praying appear pious in the view of others. He also warned against long, mindless prayers and singled out the babble of pagans, perhaps a reference to the practice of reciting a long list of divine names in hopes of eliciting a response from the deity.
In the view of Jesus, personal prayers should be offered in a private place. He promised that the Father hears and answers, and that he knows what we need even before we ask. As a model for communal prayer, he left us the beautiful and powerful words of the Lord's Prayer.
How deeply moved Jesus must have been by the prayer of a certain blind man he met on the Jericho Road. Jesus asked the poor beggar, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus answered, "I want to see." His prayer was certainly not ostentatious. nor was it wordy. It was perfect, humble, and heartfelt. "I want to see." And see Bartimaeus did.
We would be wise, from time to time, to make the prayer of Bartimaeus our own. "Lord, I want to see. I want to see myself as you see me, an imperfect vessel being remade by the Master Potter. I don't want to be blind to my sins, while seeing the failures of others with perfect vision. I want to see that you do indeed know what I need even before I ask. And, Lord, when I'm caught in the crosswinds, I want to see that you are with me."
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