Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
When we have a big decision to make we sometimes say, “Let me get back to you, I need to sleep on it.” Jesus, in today’s gospel, would not be impressed by our conventional wisdom. Luke’s gospel tells us that Jesus went up the mountain to pray and “spent the night in prayer.” For Jesus, having a decision that you sleep on would be inadequate. While I don’t think that Jesus is calling us to insomnia, there are a few thought-provoking implications that come from this passage.
Do we believe that prayer is practical? Most of us would believe that prayer is good, but is it practical, is it efficient. Will I make better decisions sleep deprived but grounded in prayer or well rested but under prayed? Do we ever receive answers to our prayer? As we reflect on the idea that Jesus spent the night in prayer we are faced with the reality that when faced with a large enough decision (the selection of the 12) Jesus believed prayer was more practical than sleep.
His sense of prayer’s practicality though comes from the belief that we will receive answers and that the primary end of prayer is to know God and God's will better. All other fruits are secondary. Now, I don’t have tons of stories about eerily answered prayer, but Hosanna’s name (my second child) is one of the ones I do have. Bess and I were nearing Hosanna’s due date and we still hadn’t picked a name, nor did we have a favorite. Thus, I stole a prayer from a friend that goes like this, “Lord, give us some confirmation on our daughter’s name from an unlikely source.” This was approximately Tuesday or Wednesday. On Thursday night Bess goes to her Bible study and they are reading Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and as she reads “Hosanna” she thinks that that could be a great name. Without knowing Bess’ newest name consideration, her sister from Tennessee calls on Friday morning to tell her, “that if we are still looking for names, she just thought about Hosanna and wanted to recommend it." Prayer answered. Guidance given. We chose Hosanna as her name not becuase we asked God to make that her name, but because we felt guided by God toward that name.
Now I don’t always have that same faith in answered prayers and that leads us to our last implication concerning prayer and time. Are we timely about praying before major decisions are made in our life? Do we use an appeal to prayer to put things off and as excusable Christian procrastination? Do we respond to the fruit of our prayer with immediacy and haste? Like Jesus selecting his Apostles that very morning.
May we have the same reliance and faith in prayer that we see in Christ.
-Spencer Hargadon