The Eight Reasons Christians Pray
In the Litany there are eight events from Jesus’ life that cause us to cry to him for help. These eight mysteries are the foundation for our conviction that Jesus can hear and mercifully answer us.
By the mystery of Thy holy incarnation;
Isaiah 7:14a – Behold the virgin shall conceive…
Luke 1:31-33 – “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end”
We don’t have a God that is so transcendent and far away that we can’t hope for either understanding him or catching his ear by our prayers. We don’t have a God that’s so high and holy that he has nothing to do with his time-bound, mortal creatures. How much more so since we’re fallen and stand under the shadow of divine judgment because of our sin! Instead, our God is pleased to be our brother, according to the flesh, in the person of Christ. Nine months before Jesus’ birth, the infinite and almighty Son of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, became an embryo in Mary’s womb. This miracle exceeds all others in terms of both its scope and glory. The parting of the Red Sea is but dust compared to the fact that God is conceived in a woman. The falling of God’s fire on Mt. Carmel is but a shadow compared to the fact that from within Mary’s womb, God’s Son ruled and upheld the heavens and earth by his mighty power, though for a time he was pleased to veil that power in the humility of human flesh. What men can fathom about infinity and finitude breaks down at this mystery. The boxes we’ve conceptualized for God and creation, we discover, aren’t adequate to describe the lengths to which God will go to save us from our sins. The feast for this event in the Church’s year is the Annunciation of Our Lord on March the 25th.
By Thy holy nativity;
Luke 2:7 – And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Galatians 4:4 – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that they might receive adoption as sons.
What was hidden in Mary’s womb for nine months is revealed to the world. The almighty Word of God, who in the beginning was with God and is called God by nature (John 1:1), stepped forth, as St. Ambrose says in his hymn (LSB 332, 4th Stanza), from his pure and kingly hall. When mortal eyes looked upon the child, they saw a baby like any other. But heaven wouldn’t let the earth pass the Son of God’s birth by in ignorance. For that reason, angels appeared to shepherds to direct their eyes away from the glory of heaven and its hosts so they could worship their Savior in the flesh of a baby lying in a manger.
Our minds seek God in his glory. We strive to conceptualize the light and majesty of heaven. God wants, however, to be worshiped by faith in his Word. That’s why he takes our eyes off the stars and puts them on a feeding trough for animals. He wants us to worship him by trust in the promise. Though our eyes see but a child, God promises that this is our Savior and Redeemer. The feast for Christ’s birth is, of course, Christmas which is celebrated for twelve days starting on December the 25th.
By Thy baptism, fasting, and temptation;
Matthew 3:16-4:2 – And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Hebrews 4:15 – For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Having “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52), Jesus made his public appearance on the banks of the Jordan river where his cousin John had been preparing his way. As Jesus rose out of the water, the Father announced from heaven that this is his Son. The Holy Spirit descended on him to show his office as the true and only Christ, which means ‘Anointed’ in Greek. What’s surprising is that instead of taking up his preaching and teaching right away, Jesus was driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. What’s the point of that? This is the mystery of your redemption. Where man failed, Christ prevailed. In Baptism, Jesus stood with sinners. He showed himself to be our sin bearer. With the weight of our sins, with the command from his Father to carry them in fulfillment of his office as Savior, Jesus endured worldly trials without setting his burden down. He endured the spiritual trails of Satan that had caused our whole human race to fall into corruption and death. Jesus never flinched. He never doubted. Where Adam was weak and failed, Jesus was strong and succeeded. He didn’t do it for himself. He did it for you. This is Gospel. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). The Baptism of our Lord is celebrated on the 13th of January and the readings for Jesus’ fasting and temptation are from the first Sunday in Lent commonly called Invocavit.
By Thine agony and bloody sweat;
Luke 22:44 – And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Isaiah 53:10 – Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
The work of redemption wasn’t cheap. It’s not as if God waved his hand and it was done. Having appeared in the flesh, God’s Son suffered the spiritual pain of bearing the sins of the world. He suffered every ounce of God’s wrath. He paid the price we could not. Though Jesus asked, if possible, for the cup to pass from him (Matt. 26:39), four our sakes, to make perfect satisfaction for our sins, Jesus submitted himself to the Father’s will. We struggle to say, “Thy will be done” in prayer. We’re afraid of what worldly pleasures and comforts that prayer might cost us. But no amount of cross and suffering will come close to the agony Jesus felt when in perfect obedience he submitted himself to his Fathers will, to suffer all of God’s wrath against our sin. The spiritual sufferings were so profound that he sweat blood. Reason can’t understand why God would pay the price for our sin himself. Only faith can look upon Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, see his victory over the temptation to resist his Father’s will, and marvel at God’s compassion and mercy for sinners. The sufferings of Christ are the subject of our meditation during the final portion of Lent commonly called Passiontide which starts on Judica and concludes on Good Friday.
By Thy cross and Passion;
Colossians 2:13-14 – And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
1 John 4:10 – In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 Corinthians 1:18 – For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
John 19:30 – “It is finished.”
That God would become a man to die for his enemies is a mystery that exceeds the imaginations of the angels (1 Peter 1:12). Why the cross? Why the blood and stripes? It offends our eyes that want to see spirituality as pure, untainted by worldly pain and sorrow. It offends our minds that think that God could have thought up a better way to save us. In our wisdom, we would call Jesus’ cross and sufferings folly. In our modern moral reasoning, we would desire a similarly advanced spirituality. But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways (Is. 58:8). “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool” (Is. 1:18). Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away your sin (John 1:29). Your sins are carved on his back. Your transgressions pierce his hands and feet. Your iniquity stabs his side. Your transgressions crown his head. Bearing the punishment your sins deserve, Jesus cries out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” (Ps. 22:1)? He is forsaken, and you are found. He is pierced, and you are made whole. Jesus suffers God’s wrath, and you are made God’s child. Whenever the devil harries you into doubting God’s love, remember Jesus’ cross and know the truth. Your Lord says, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands” (Is. 49:16). The crucifixion of our Lord is celebrated on Good Friday.
By Thy precious death and burial;
Matthew 26:10-13 – But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Romans 6:3 – Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
1 Corinthians 15:6 – The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 118:20 – This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
The eternal death used to be our destiny. Bodily and spiritual death are the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23). But now the sting of death is gone. Jesus’ death has atoned for every sin you have committed and will ever commit. In the same way as death had no claim on Jesus who both paid the price and is sinless, so also your grave will not end you. Death for the Christian is sleep (Luke 8:52). Death is temporary. Death gives way to resurrection and life. This is why Jesus’ death and burial are precious. He takes the sting, teeth, and claws out of the object of our deepest and darkest fears. He shows us the way through which his saints will pass to share in his eternal victory. We remember Jesus’ burial and give thanks for it during every Christian funeral and Holy Saturday the second day of the Trivium between Good Friday and Easter.
By Thy glorious resurrection and ascension;
1 Corinthians 15:20 – But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Ephesians 4:9-12 – Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
Jesus is Lord of life! After his short rest in the tomb, the jaws of death’s maw are burst apart. Jesus rises victorious over death. The devil can’t use it as a weapon anymore (Heb. 2:15). His chains of fear are broken. Whatever belonged to the old order of sin, whatever belonged to the old dying order of this world, it ends when Jesus rises to never die again. Having paid the price for sin, having kicked out death’s teeth, Jesus bears the tidings of “Peace!” There is peace between God and men. There is redemption for the lost. The old things pass away. The new has come. Jesus takes this redemption and victory to the Father’s right hand. There he reigns eternally as our Mediator and Intercessor. There enthrones the testimony of his death and resurrection. At the Father’s right hand, Jesus is our Advocate and he will come again to subject all things to himself (Phil. 3:21). The season of Easter lasts 40 days from Easter Day to the Ascension.
And by the coming of the Holy Ghost the Comforter:
John 16:7-11 – Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The final and eighth mystery of redemption is all about the revelation of Christ among us. The grace of God isn’t beamed directly into your hearts. Jesus works through means. In Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the preaching of the Word the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to create saving faith in all of Jesus saving works. He teaches about our sins and our great need for a Savior. He teaches about righteousness and how Jesus alone has accomplished it. He teaches about judgement which falls, not on us because of our sins, but on the devil. The Spirit comes to tell us through the Scriptures that the devil’s time is done. His power is but an empty show. The time of Christ and his kingdom has come. Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, is the feast for celebrating the Holy Spirit’s coming to the church in Word and sacrament.
In hearing about these great mysteries of redemption, the Holy Spirit has caused us to lift up the eyes of faith to our merciful Lord Jesus in heaven. No sin, death, or devil can stand between us and his saving works. Nothing can prevent his conception, birth, temptation, agony, cross, burial, and resurrection from helping us. For these reasons we cry out in the certain trust that our God hears and will answer…
Help us, good Lord.