How does Luke's Gospel tell us that prayer was an important part of Jesus' life?

Answer 1

You have, first to ask 'Why should Jesus pray to God in the first place? After all, if he is God is he talking to himself?' The point is that Christians believe in three separate persons in one God - the Trinity, and in many ways the three persons have separation from each other as well as unity, so prayer is not only possible but vital. Also, prayer should be a two-way process. God talks to us in all sorts of ways and so in Jesus's case, as someone who was so close to his Father then it was necessary for God the father to pray to him as much as he to the Father. Sadly today many regard prayer as simply asking God for things - a sort of 'religious shopping list'. This is anything but what prayer should be - a two way communication, just as Jesus did - with our Father. When my own biologiical father was alive, he talked as much to me as me to him and that is how prayer should be. Therefore, Jesus needed prayer - as God in human form he needed to communicate with his spiritual Father to facilitate his mission on earth - just as jesus, as the Word - had communicated with him since the start of Genesis. Secondly, we need too look at Luke's Gospel. Luke records a large number of occasions when Jesus prays, including many which which the other Gospel writers don't mention (3:21, 5:16, 6:12); and he tells parables about prayer which appear in no other Gospel (11:5, 18:1-14). Prayer has a vital importance in Acts too, the book of the early church that was also written by Luke, and Luke often shows how crucial prayer is to the breakthroughs in his story (e.g. Acts 4:31, 13:2). This proved how the importance of prayer that Jesus exhibited brushed off onto his disciples even after Jesus had left earth. The latter reference suggests that the prayer was God communicating with them - rather than the other way round . Finally, we are told that after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles planned to spend their time `in prayer and preaching and teaching the Word' (6:4). So, apart from many references to prayer, and the important position of prayer that Jesus taught that are to be found in all the Gospel stories, Luke has a special place for prayer - many references of which are unique to his work. jesus was very close to his Father, prayer was the way to communicate with HIM