Prayer: The Frontier of the Spiritual Life




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Father, Forgive Them

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"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."--Luke 23:34 Even as he is dying on the cross, Jesus cries out a prayer of mercy to God " "Father, forgive them . . ." For whom is he praying?  Is it for the soldiers, who are just "following orders?"  Is it for Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, who gave the order so he might satisfy the angry crowds and at the same time make sure that no other "king" would challenge Caesar?  Is Jesus praying for the religious leaders who want him dead so that his message of a gracious God who loves everyone might be silenced?  Or is Jesus praying for the ordinary people who first flocked to him but then became disenchanted when he offered love rather than might, community instead of victory?  Or perhaps Jesus is asking mercy for his own disciples who had abandoned and denied him.  What do you think? "They know not what they do."   That's what Jesus says.  But surely the re
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He Loved Them to the End

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"Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end." --John 13:1   Life with Jesus was life immersed in the gracious love of God:  embracing; drenching; challenging; shocking; thrilling.  The love was strong yet tender.  They were destabilized from their normal way of life while becoming rooted deeply into another Jesus-centered way of being.  The love was moment-by-moment, decision-by-decision; a life-changing agape love that was inviting them and transforming them at the same time. When Jesus gathers his disciples for the Passover meal  on what we call Maundy Thursday, he knows that "his hour has come;"  the time they had been preparing for was now here.  And how do the twelve arrive?  Hopelessly wrongheaded, it would seem, their heads full of assumptions about their own privilege in God's emerging kingdom, bickering with each other over what positions each will hold in the new administration, blissfully deaf to the passion of Jesus'
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The Parable of the Two Sons (Luke 15:11-32)

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Here are two artistic images of the story in Luke 15:11-32 that we read and reflected on together.  The first (unattributed) is like much artwork inspired by this story, focusing on the reconciliation of the Father and the Younger Son .  This parable has most often been referred to as The Parable of the Prodigal Son.  But Rembrandt's treatment of the story (the second image) includes the Older Son.  In class we sought to identify with all three main characters in the story. The Older Son is an indispensable character in this powerful teaching story.  Many people identify much more readily with the Older Son than with the Younger one, often protesting that the Father's excessive graciousness and celebration with the Younger Son is "unfair."  Yes, we all need some reconcilation, don't we?
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