Praying for Jesus III....do you believe Jesus is God?
And so the exchange continued and we were asked if we prayed for God and if we believed Jesus is God.
For the record. Yes, the Catholic church teaches, and I believe, that Jesus is God. I will also state for the record that if you, as a Christian believe in the Trinity you might want to thank the Catholic Church for defining that doctrine for you. I am increasingly distressed at how the fragmenting of Protestant denominations to an increasing number of Protestants rejecting the idea of the Trinity. I digress....
I answered:
"We pray for Him during the time of his Incarnation. Clearly, in his glorified Heavenly state, He is beyond the need of our prayers."
The response:
"But His glorifed heavenly state is where He is NOW, so NOW He is beyond the need of your prayers. He is NOW seated at the right hand of God, having completed His incarnation."
To which I responded:
"I cannot explain the infinite.
I do not know how God can exist, if He has no beginning. I do not know how anything can exist which is not itself created, but yet He exists.
I do not know how there can be One God in Three Persons.
I do not understand how an eternal, divine, part of the One God can take human form and be fully human while still retaining divinity.
I do not understand how Jesus can exist eternally with God in heaven and yet be God's son.
I do not understand how Heaven can be outside of time and eternal and yet, apparently, have some sequence of events.
I do know that AS a human, Jesus needed the love of a mother, the support and instruction of a father. I know that He needed to eat and drink. I know He cried and loved and had friends and those He loved. Apparently, although I know He loves us all infinitely He even had preferences; thus, the references to the "disciple Jesus loved."
I know He bled. And hurt. And asked for support from his disciples.
I know that God knew then, that I would be praying for Jesus now to support Him then. Maybe He doesn't need my prayers....but in love for Him, I can do nothing less. I imagine the mocking he endured. The urge to speak up and tell them all a thing or two and yet, like a sheep before it shearers He was dumb and I fall silent in awe. I see in my mind's eye, the sodiers scourging him and I can't breathe for the shame that my sins caused that. I imagine Him carrying the cross that He bore for my sins and I fall weeping. I want to stand at the foot of the cross, to be there for Him. To let Him know that I love Him and can't bear the fact that my sins made this necessary. I know I can't lift the cross from his shoulders. I know that He must endure this and yet, I would give anything to make it unnecessary.
And I think back to Him praying in the Garden, in pain, and alone and his disciples couldn't stay awake for Him then and so I assume the privilege of stepping in and praying. Make no mistake. It is a privilege. You're right. I'm not there then. But my prayers touch the Eternal Almighty. He is not limited by my time and my place and so I offer all that I have. You may be right, my prayers may be unnecessary and unneeded but my faith tells me that they are never refused. Even a ridiculous gift of a child's lunch of loaves and fish was miraculous when touched by the Master. I am ridiculous, but I offer.
And I cannot imagine standing before my Master. My Lord. And having Him do anything other than accept the gift of my Love, however small and unworthy it might be. And so I will pray for Him because that is part of how I serve Him and part of how I tell Him that I love Him and that I'm sorry He had to do that for me."
And so, dear readers, that is why I pray for Jesus.
If you followed a link to this blog entry you can read part one here, and part two here.
For the record. Yes, the Catholic church teaches, and I believe, that Jesus is God. I will also state for the record that if you, as a Christian believe in the Trinity you might want to thank the Catholic Church for defining that doctrine for you. I am increasingly distressed at how the fragmenting of Protestant denominations to an increasing number of Protestants rejecting the idea of the Trinity. I digress....
I answered:
"We pray for Him during the time of his Incarnation. Clearly, in his glorified Heavenly state, He is beyond the need of our prayers."
The response:
"But His glorifed heavenly state is where He is NOW, so NOW He is beyond the need of your prayers. He is NOW seated at the right hand of God, having completed His incarnation."
To which I responded:
"I cannot explain the infinite.
I do not know how God can exist, if He has no beginning. I do not know how anything can exist which is not itself created, but yet He exists.
I do not know how there can be One God in Three Persons.
I do not understand how an eternal, divine, part of the One God can take human form and be fully human while still retaining divinity.
I do not understand how Jesus can exist eternally with God in heaven and yet be God's son.
I do not understand how Heaven can be outside of time and eternal and yet, apparently, have some sequence of events.
I do know that AS a human, Jesus needed the love of a mother, the support and instruction of a father. I know that He needed to eat and drink. I know He cried and loved and had friends and those He loved. Apparently, although I know He loves us all infinitely He even had preferences; thus, the references to the "disciple Jesus loved."
I know He bled. And hurt. And asked for support from his disciples.
I know that God knew then, that I would be praying for Jesus now to support Him then. Maybe He doesn't need my prayers....but in love for Him, I can do nothing less. I imagine the mocking he endured. The urge to speak up and tell them all a thing or two and yet, like a sheep before it shearers He was dumb and I fall silent in awe. I see in my mind's eye, the sodiers scourging him and I can't breathe for the shame that my sins caused that. I imagine Him carrying the cross that He bore for my sins and I fall weeping. I want to stand at the foot of the cross, to be there for Him. To let Him know that I love Him and can't bear the fact that my sins made this necessary. I know I can't lift the cross from his shoulders. I know that He must endure this and yet, I would give anything to make it unnecessary.
And I think back to Him praying in the Garden, in pain, and alone and his disciples couldn't stay awake for Him then and so I assume the privilege of stepping in and praying. Make no mistake. It is a privilege. You're right. I'm not there then. But my prayers touch the Eternal Almighty. He is not limited by my time and my place and so I offer all that I have. You may be right, my prayers may be unnecessary and unneeded but my faith tells me that they are never refused. Even a ridiculous gift of a child's lunch of loaves and fish was miraculous when touched by the Master. I am ridiculous, but I offer.
And I cannot imagine standing before my Master. My Lord. And having Him do anything other than accept the gift of my Love, however small and unworthy it might be. And so I will pray for Him because that is part of how I serve Him and part of how I tell Him that I love Him and that I'm sorry He had to do that for me."
And so, dear readers, that is why I pray for Jesus.
If you followed a link to this blog entry you can read part one here, and part two here.
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