Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 1-179 (Bible Study)

THE PRAYERS OF JESUS

Rod Benson wrote the following in response to an enquiry from a CLM list member about the prayers of Jesus that are recorded in the Gospels. We thought the CLM list as a whole would value receiving it.

In my CLM article (CLM-1-016 s Praying the Prayers of Jesus) I note nine different prayers of Jesus, the words of which are recorded in one or more of the four Gospels (Mt 6:9-13; 11:25f; Jn 11:41f; 12:28; 17:1-26; Mk 14:36; Lk 23:34, 46; Mt 27:46).

There are at least six additional references to Jesus’ prayers for which the Evangelists did not record the exact words (Mk 1:35; 6:46; Lk 3:21; 9:18, 28; 11:1). In addition, there are instances where Jesus blesses people but his words are not recorded (e.g. Mk 10:16; Lk 24:50).

If you accept, as I do, that the “Sermon on the Mount” event (Mt 6) is not the same occasion as the situation in Lk 11, then the prayer recorded in Lk 11:2-4, although substantially the same as that in Mt 6:9-13, is another prayer.

There may be others. It may depend how you count them, and what you regard as parallel passages in different Gospels. The references above seem clear to me. I make no claim to infallibility, and I am always happy to be proved incorrect!

For an academic treatment of the prayers of Jesus see, for example, J.D.G. Dunn, “Prayer” in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (ed. Joel B. Green et al; Leicester: IVP, 1992) 617-625.

– Rod Benson <>.