Friday 21/02/2025
As we continue to read through John’s gospel, you may be becoming increasingly aware of how different it sometimes is from Matthew, Mark and Luke. John seems to go into a lot of detail in many of the accounts he writes and has clearly thought deeply. Mark in particular seems to include many more episodes in the life of Jesus, but his record of them is often more superficial.
We know from the other gospels that Jesus often took time out to pray – there are lots of examples – but other than his teaching on prayer, we find out little about the things he prays for.
This week we’ve had a glimpse into the praying heart of Jesus. Chapter 17 consists pretty much entirely of teaching about prayer and his prayers themselves.
I sometimes come across people who say they find prayer or praying difficult. If you ever feel that way – perhaps you could try either of these two suggestions:
- Pray the Lord’s Prayer – this was how Jesus taught his friends to pray
- Pray as Jesus prayed in chapter 17 – for himself, for his friends, for all believers …
… and if finding the right words doesn’t come easily, simply use the words of Jesus. If that was OK for him, I can think we can safe assume they’ll be OK for us!
The Ven. Andy Piggott
