Episode Transcript
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Abba, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Abba, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen
John 12:23–28
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
CONSIDER THIS
We come now to the prayers of the cross. There is a sense in which we should consider all of Jesus's prayers as prayers of the cross. The cross is far more than a day in the life of Jesus. The cross is the totality of the mind of Christ, the redemptive vision of the love of God, and the way of flourishing abundant life marked out for us. The cross is the prosperous way of the kingdom of God, the way in heaven becomes embodied on earth.
The cross is the mysterious secret to the life of prayer envisioned for us by Jesus. We will only find this way by following him, which is why delving into his prayers is so important. His prayers reveal his mind, heart, and vision. Before going further, let's remind ourselves: we aren't in search of tips and tricks to help with our praying. There are technical or surface-level changes, and then there is deep transformation.
This study is about deep transformation and digging the kind of well it takes to sustain a life of prayer. Changes to one's prayer practices can help one grow, like changes to one's diet can help one lose weight, but we all know the problem with dieting. It's a technical change rather than a deep transformation.
Speaking of dieting, there's an interesting three-letter word tucked into the larger word. Did you catch it? It's also tucked into today's text: die.
Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
We live in an age where the cross has been reduced to the gateway from earth to heaven. In other words, because of my belief in Jesus's death and resurrection, I get to go to heaven when I die. I'm not saying that's not true. I am saying it's not the biblical vision of the Christian faith. The biblical vision of the Christian faith sees the cross as the gateway from heaven to earth. The cross opens and unfolds the way of "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
To be clear, the gospel does mean eternal life, and, yes, this comes after death, but that's where it gets interesting. What death and when? What if we could die before our death? Then we might truly live while we are yet alive. The cross brings our future death into the present so that eternal life can begin right now—ultimately negating the impact of our future death by activating the reality of a life that transcends death in advance of it. I know. You're going to need to read that sentence a few more times.
Here's the reality. Many follow Jesus to the cross where they gladly or glibly receive the secured promise of an ongoing life continuing beyond their physical death. The problem is that's where it stops. Few follow him through the cross, where they find the reality of eternal life now. The secret to life, according to Jesus, is to die before you die. And isn't this the whole point of baptism—buried with Christ in his death and raised with Christ into his life?"
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
To love one's life means to cling to and pursue one's self-interest, preservation, security, comfort, leisure, luxury, and all the other markers of a worldly prosperity only money can buy. (As an interesting and ironic aside, people often characterize heaven by the size of one's mansion there.) To hate one's life means to exchange these things for an interest beyond self, thriving beyond preservation, security beyond wealth, rest beyond leisure, comfort beyond luxury, purpose beyond problem-free life and, yes, a love beyond power as previously imagined.
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
This way of the cross is the life of prayer we speak of, and far from a method, it can only be found through the kind of pursuit of Jesus that leads one to the displacement of every lesser ambition. This is not fanaticism. This is freedom.
Now to the prayer. Let's call this first prayer of the cross the Prayer for Glory.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
It took longer to get here than I thought. We will drink together from the well of this prayer tomorrow and probably the next day too.
THE PRAYER FOR PRAYER
Almighty Ascended Lord Jesus Christ, you are high and exalted yet nearer than our breath. Thank you for revealing your own inner struggle, the trouble of your own soul, the challenge of your life, and the way you prayed your way through. "Father, glorify your name!" Praying in your name, Jesus, amen.
