Exodus 32:(7-10) 11-14; John 17
June 18, 2023
- Exploring Prayer of Intercession
Today, we really pick up with where we left off last week. If you will remember, we were looking to prayers for help, specifically for ourselves. I cannot imagine anyone in this room or anyone watching this or anyone reading these words has never prayed for their own good or prayed out of their own need. One of the simplest ways we do this kind of prayer maybe every day is when we pray for our food – yes, we are thanking God, but we are also praying to be nourished by the food that we are about to receive. Help us to receive this food well.
This week, we are considering the other side of that same coin. We are praying for help, again, but this time it is praying for the help and good of others. So last week, it was “A Little Help, Please?” and this week, “But Not Only For Me.” I continue to be amazed with how important and powerful these prayers are for us all. Just take that same prayer around the dinner table. How many of us also pray for the food and nourishment of those who are hungry as we eat our fill? That Two Cents-a-Meal offering that we are taking next week is a living embodiment of that prayer. As we eat is convenience and comfort, we set aside a little money for others to have food, also. It is prayerful regard for the other that drives our mission.
In fact, when you get down to it, this may be the most important prayer of all the kinds. While we certainly feel the real need for God’s help in our own lives, it is when we extend God’s love through our prayer to others that the heart of God is enlarged and we carry out the mission of Christ to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Whether or not you ever read the bestselling book, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” you should have no trouble getting the basic idea from “treat others as you want to be treated” as your kindergarten teacher told you to “love your neighbor as much as you love yourself” as your Savior told you. The very aspect of faith and life and following in Christ is always looking to the good of our neighbor, and nowhere do we live this out more than in prayer – the very prayer we give today.
These are the prayer of Jesus and Moses, also. These are two dramatic prayers of intercession in the Bible. You heard the desperation, the emotion, and the courage of Moses to stand up to God. Understand what I just said. Yes, Moses told God that God’s decision was wrong. That takes some guts – maybe more appropriately hutzpah. Moses is laying himself squarely at God’s feet in prayer for the sake of the rest of his people. This prayer just about takes the cake as far as prayers for others go. Not only does Moses make the prayer to God, but his prayer was successful in that God changed plans. Some I’m sure have proposed that God had this in mind the whole time and was testing Moses, but I like the idea of our prayers making a difference in the Divine heart. This is one of those places that we invite mystery and claim to not really have all the answers. Clearly though, prayers for others have been given for many, many years, even centuries, even millennia.
Jesus gives us this other prayer in John’s Gospel. This whole chapter is one long prayer of seeking help for us all. It is interesting that John wants us to know how Jesus is pouring his heart out to God. This is a private conversation, but Jesus is praying on our behalf as much as his, so we are given this prayer to understand Jesus’ intent.
Why do we pray? Why do we pray for others? One of the things impressed on me in pastor school was to be very careful in praying that I am not trying to express in prayer for someone what I think someone else needs to pray for or to assume I know what they need better than they do. Prayer is not for me to teach someone else a lesson which is why I will often ask someone what they would like to pray for. Sure, I have been praying with and for others for a good long while in many situations, and I do have a general sense of what needs might be in situations, but if you are ever not sure, never be afraid to ask. In praying, we are sharing our hearts with God. That is our intent. That is our purpose. That is our “why.”
Jesus’ heart is here in these verses. He so wants his followers to understand what he came to tell us and show us. He wants his followers to be in his shoes going forward, and he wants them to be safe in a difficult world, but I believe the biggest thing he desires from them and God is that we all share in one Spirit. He wants us united, connected, and sharing in life abundantly – not only those followers back then BUT ALL WHO COME TO BELIEVE BECAUSE OF THEIR TESTIMONY. We may not live that out very well sometimes, but if there is any hope for us to be together and untied in God’s love, we have this prayer to thank. You could even say that we would not even be a church without this specific prayer. Where else do we have Jesus himself spelling out this passion of our oneness for all time carrying out God’s ministry across the earth?
He had no trouble giving us his heart in this prayer, but sometimes we struggle to reflect that kind of prayerful passion for each other. It is one thing to pray for someone who is not physically around, but out of sight is often out of mind. We also are woefully ignorant of the state of God’s children around the world. Apparently, right now we have the largest displaced person situation ever and refugee number are at record levels thanks to Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Ukraine. One number I found of displaced persons, people who had to leave their homes but might still be in the same country, was over 100 million, and the portion of that, those who had to completely leave to another country was 36 million. That is a LOT of people living in often horrible, terrifying, and difficult ways. When we remember that we could have just as easily been born in one of those nations to one of those families, it helps to put it in perspective, but it is still difficult for people to think of, let alone pray for, much beyond our county lines. Maybe within VA and sometimes in America, but children starving to death every day because warlords are slugging it out for control of Sudan right now is not even on our radar.
We certainly cannot hold everything and everyone in our prayer, but we can try to widen our hearts as much as we can.
Pray with me…
God of the Ages who hears us, hear us now as we turn our flailing lives to your strong help. There are so many things that trouble us and cause us to pause and keep us up at night. So many of us or our loved ones are facing challenges that could easily be life or death. There are decisions to be made and paths to be prepared, but we struggle to see the straight and narrow. We need to know that you are with us in all of this. Help us, Lord God, and give us your strength, your healing, your confidence, your wholeness, your patience, and your wisdom. Give us your Spirit to face whatever it is that gives us reason to pray. Show us your faithfulness and your steadfast love. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.
It is such a blessing to pray for others and to be prayed for. I will never forget those times when I knelt in worship and had people gather around me in prayer. Those of you who have been ordained to church office have probably had that kind of experience, also, but everyone here has been prayed for in this time of worship. Yes, every single one of you has been held in prayer in this worship. I solicited help from my contacts on Facebook to make sure that you were wrapped in the grace of prayer this morning. Others that you will never know have been praying for you and your life in our Lord. Praise be to God!
Praying with someone else, especially someone physically with you, is one a very human thing to do. Sharing that sacred space makes us vulnerable to each other and impresses on each other that our lives and situations matter. We have to be tender and compassionate and attentive in that time. It is a gift both ways and should be treated as such. I am grateful for the times we have shared in prayer. Even when our words falter to express the perfect sentiment, when we pray honestly, the Spirit is there with us working the real prayer.
It is truly my hope and prayer that we will all feel moved to pray, pray, pray, especially for others. And it does not matter when or where or how. Three old preachers were debating the best method of praying. While they were debating this, a telephone repairman was nearby working within earshot. The first preacher said that kneeling was the best and most effective position for praying. The second disagreed, “Standing with your hands to heaven is the best way to pray.” The third disagreed still, “Lying facedown on the floor is the most meaningful way to pray.” The poleman interrupted them, “Preacher people, I’m not sure what you are really arguing about. The best praying I have ever done in my life was hanging upside down from a telephone pole.”
My prayer is for you. I hope your prayer is for us all, as well. And may our prayer hold all of God’s children in love and faithfulness. Thank you for praying with me today to the glory of God. Amen.