The Power of Prayer

The Power of Prayer
Palm Sunday; March 24, 2024
Mark 11:1-11; Psalm 31:9-16; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 14:32-15:47

As I say every year on Palm Sunday, the real sermon is the reading we just did together. But I want to emphasize part of what we just heard.

My interest is what happened in Gethsemane. There we can see the transformative power of prayer, the way prayer works on us from the inside.

First, some context. The Gospel reading from last week included a prayer by Jesus that came just a day or two before the events of the Passion Gospel.

In that prayer, Jesus said, “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—'Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour” (John 12:27).

Jesus was looking ahead to the horrible events leading to his horrible death. And looking ahead, Jesus was troubled. But Jesus’ resolve remained strong. Jesus refused to pray that God might save him from that hour. Jesus remained committed to his mission, painful though he knew it would be.

By the beginning of today’s Gospel reading, things have changed. Mark tells us, Jesus was “distressed and agitated.” Jesus told his disciples he was “deeply grieved, even to death.”

Now, it is always dangerous to speculate about what is going on in Jesus’ head. But it seems like Jesus was struggling, like Jesus needed help if he was to face the terrible things he had to face.

And so, Jesus prays. Jesus makes the prayer he had refused to make the day before. “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me.” “Save me from this hour.”

And Jesus adds, “Not what I want, but what you [God] want.”

I have prayed like that. The stakes were considerably lower, of course. But I have asked God for something I really wanted, and then added, “not my will but yours be done.” And when I have prayed like that, the last part about not
my will but God’s be done has not been very sincere. In fact, I want God to do exactly what I want, not the reverse.

In our reading, the same seems to be true of Jesus, at least at first.

After an hour of prayer, Jesus takes a break. And when Jesus returns to his prayer, Jesus keeps praying the same thing. “God, don’t make me do this. But your will be done. But I am going to keep asking that my will be done.”

Again Jesus takes a break, and again Jesus resumes the same prayer.

But by the third round of prayer, after hours of praying, Jesus has come to really mean that last part. “God, I don’t want to do this. But I will do this if it that’s what you want. And it looks a lot like that is what you want.”

Now, having prayed, having been transformed by prayer, Jesus is ready to face what he has to face. Jesus’ resolve is strong once again. Jesus is committed to doing God’s will, whatever it might be. And Jesus doesn’t waver from here on out.

What changed Jesus in Gethsemane was prayer. Jesus asked God for what he wanted. But over the course of his prayer, Jesus himself was changed. Jesus’ faith, commitment, courage was renewed. Jesus came, once again, to want what God wanted.

That’s a lesson for us when we are facing hard times. We pray in the hope that God will ease our way. But, through our prayers, we also come to want whatever God wants, even if that’s not what we wanted when we began.

On the other hand, we can also see in our reading what happens when we fail to pray.

Immediately before our reading begins, Jesus warns his disciples that they will all desert him. Peter refuses to believe it, so Jesus warns Peter in particular that he will deny even knowing Jesus three times in the next few hours. Peter repeats his refusal to believe it even more vehemently (Mark 14:27-31).

What Peter should do next is pray. Jesus takes Peter, along with James and John, aside so that they can all pray together about what is coming.

But Peter fell asleep. I don’t blame Peter for that. It had been a long and intense day. But it does mean Peter is not praying like he needs to be.

Jesus wakes Peter and again tells Peter to pray. This time Jesus is explicit that Peter needs to pray not only for Jesus, but also for himself. “Pray that you may not come into the time of trial,” Jesus says. That is, Jesus tells Peter to pray what Jesus himself is praying. “Father, take this cup from me,” always with the addition, “not my will but yours be done.”

Peter falls asleep again.

And as a consequence, Peter does not experience the transformation that Jesus experiences in his hours of prayer. Peter does not come to accept God’s will as his own. And so, inevitably, Peter fails, despite his good intentions. Peter abandons Jesus, then denies knowing Jesus, just as Jesus had predicted.

The lesson is clear.

Jesus teaches us by example that we can pray for what we want, but that our ultimate task is bringing our will into line with God’s so that we can accept, with courage and faithfulness, whatever comes our way, no matter how hard.

Prayer is a gift. We are a people of prayer. We pray because prayer changes things, and because prayer changes us.

And so, on this Palm Sunday, I thank God for the invitation to pray. And I ask that God help us to say and to mean, “not my will but thine be done."

In Christ's name. Amen