Saturday, November 21, 2009

Jesus before Pilate ~ Teach me to pray

Ah man…
Listen to this…
Hear the questions...note the type of questions...do they foster conversation or are they closed ~ yes or no answers...questions asked with an agenda...questions asked with only ONE acceptable answer expected by the interrogator...

Pilate said to Jesus,
"Are you the King of the Jews?" 


Jesus answered, 


"Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me
?" 


Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"


Jesus answered, 


"My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here
." 


So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" 


Jesus answered,


 "You say I am a king.
For this I was born 
and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth
.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice
."

~ John 18: 33-37

All right now.  Check this out! Again, the questions…yeah, one question is actually a demand...

The interrogators brought an agenda.

I struggle to find ‘prayer’ here.  Jesus, sadly to me says, “If I question, you will not respond.”

They said, 
"If you are the Messiah, tell us," 
but he replied to them, 
"If I tell you, you will not believe.
  
If I question, you will not respond.”
~ Luke 22:  67 - 68


Ah man…

I cry.

I pray I will pray free of any agenda always.

I pray Jesus will never have to say to me, “If I question, you will not respond.”

I pray I will invite others to pray with me free of an agenda always.

I pray I will hear another's prayer always.

I pray I will live God is Love always. 

I pray I will feel God's Love through another person always. 

I pray (my soul) will leap in (my) womb, and be filled with the Holy Spirit when I am greeted by another always.

I pray (others' souls) will leap in (their) wombs, and be filled with the Holy Spirit when I greet them always.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you John for your words! I forgot you had this blog...what a great cousin I am!