Thoughts on the Jesus Prayer

 

        

 

          "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner"

 

It’s amazing the depth and meaning which can be incorporated into one small phrase. It takes two seconds to say but could be contemplated on for months and not properly understood. Personally I have been amazed at the intricate detail in this simple prayer. I believe, that just as a botanist can spend hours admiring the blossoms of a perfect flower, we as spiritual beings ought to enjoy the beauty of a well ordered prayer. I divided the prayer into three parts. (Lord) (Jesus Christ Son of God) (have mercy on me a sinner).

         

   We begin with “Lord” for it is first and foremost the role of Him to whom we pray. Being Lord is God’s function more then anything else. Some say He is our friend but He is not a friend until He is our Lord. Others say He is our Savior but He is not our Savior until He is our Lord. We know not His help until we recognize Him as Lord and so before we make any sort of request or plea we must remind ourselves whose presence we are in. We are not merely asking a favor from a friend or paying for a snack from a vending machine. In true prayer we stand before the Lord of glory who was, and is, and is to come with fire and sword to judge the living and the dead. Having begun with Lord, and being reminded of our lowliness before Him we proceed onward.

            “Jesus Christ Son of God” What title can compare to such a one as this? These are the credentials of our Lord. We desire this Lord and love Him not because He is Him in whom all power abides. No we serve Him because He is Jesus Christ Son of God. We say Jesus, meaning “Yahweh saves” that we might not forget what type of God we serve. The Lord who we plead before, is not merely a ruler though He rules, He is not a power hungry dictator for He needs no nothing, neither power nor us. So we call Him Jesus for He saves. Christ is the “Messiah” the promised one. He is not a mass produced product. Christ is unlike any being in the cosmos. The God Man, He bore our sin yet was perfect and conquered death, sin and judgment so we might come before Him and pray.  “Son of God” gives Jesus authority. We pray to Him for he has power from the Father and can thus answer our prayers. We do not pray to Mary or our parents or Saints believing they in themselves do anything for us beyond praying themselves on our behalf to God who is one with the Son. Thus we are not elevating an unworthy person when we call Jesus Christ Son of God, Lord we are merely in word giving him the honor He has more then merited and which we can only acknowledge and never repay. 

          If we have heeded all that’s been before then we are now ready to humbly make our request. Note that we ask not for any specific thing, for that would assume we know what we need. Rather then arrogantly asserting our own foolishness on the divine we recognize His sovereignty  and wisdom by simply asking for His unmerited, undeserved gift of whatever He deems fit for us. Then, lest we retain any vestige of the spirit of pride we condemn ourselves as “sinner”. Indeed a proper term for all of us. This label is to remind us that we are not bartering with the Lord. It is not as though the Lord needs our lives and so He grants us mercy in exchange for servitude. It is only because of His infinite love that we might even enter God’s presence. To forget this, to think we are something other then sinners is to spit on the mercy He’s already poured out on us at Golgotha. May we never be guilty of such disrespect. May God only ever be honored. 





                                    This is my desk after I finished cleaning my room after Christmas.