Heschel on Prayer
It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1 NASB
Teach us to pray – Before we read the refracted brilliance of Heschel’s remarks about prayer, we should pay attention to the buried gems in this verse. First, notice that the Greek text follows a common Hebrew idiom, i.e., “it happened.” Do you remember how Hebrew uses the word miqreha?[1] Things that just seem to be coincidence hide God’s orchestration. Do you suppose that it was just by “accident” that one of the disciples made this request?
Second, notice that the disciple isn’t named. Did you find that a bit odd? Why doesn’t Luke tell us which one of the twelve asks? Why is the question anonymous? Could it be that it’s really everyone’s question?
Third, beside the fact that these men all knew Jewish prayer rituals (as we mentioned in the past[2]), they want Yeshua to do what his predecessor did, and that means John’s disciples also asked this question. We learn that instruction in prayer was expected. I wonder if your religious experience included such instruction.
And finally, before you turn to Heschel, we have examined some of this refracted brilliance before [3], in case you want to review. Perhaps you’ll realize that this theme, reflections on prayer, has been with us for many years.
Now, Heschel:
“Prayer teaches us what to aspire to. So often we do not know what to cling to. Prayer implants in us the ideals we ought to cherish.”[4]
“Prayer is not a soliloquy. But is it a dialogue with God? Does man address Him as person to person? It is incorrect to describe prayer by analogy with human conversation; we do not communicate with God. We only make ourselves communicable to Him. Prayer is an emanation of what is most precious in us toward Him, the outpouring of the heart before Him. It is not a relationship between person and person, between subject and subject, but an endeavor to become an object of His thought.”[5]
“The purpose of prayer is to be brought to His attention, to be listened to, to be understood by Him; not to know Him, but to be known to Him.”[6]
“For the ultimate aspiration of man is not to be a master, but an object of His knowledge. To live ‘in the light of His countenance,’ to become a thought of God—this is the true career of man.”[7]
“Prayer . . . is primarily Kavvanah, the yielding of the entire being to one goal, the gathering of the soul into focus.”[8]
“Prayer comes to pass in a complete turning of the heart toward God, toward His goodness and power. It is the momentary disregard of our personal concerns, the absence of self-centered thoughts, which constitute the art of prayer.”[9]
“The purpose of prayer is not the same as the purpose of speech. The purpose of speech is to inform; the purpose of prayer is to partake.”[10]
“Prayer is spiritual ecstasy.”[11]
“Genuine prayer is an event in which man surpasses himself. Man hardly comprehends what is coming to pass. Its beginning lies on this side of the word, but the end lies beyond all words. What is happening is not always brought about by the power of man. At times all we do is to utter a word with all our heart, yet it is as if we lifted up a whole world. It is as if someone unsuspectingly pressed a button and a gigantic wheel-work stormily and surprisingly set in motion. We do not turn the light of prayer on and off at will, as we control sober speculation; we are seized by the overwhelming spell of its grandeur. It is amazement, not understanding; awe, not reasoning; a challenge, a sweep of emotion, the tide of the spirit, a claim on our wills by the living will of God.”[12]
“We do not know what to pray for. It is the liturgy that teaches us what to pray for.”[13]
“Prayer as a way of speaking is a way that leads nowhere. The text must never be more important than kavvanah, than inner devotion. The life of prayer depends not so much upon loyalty to custom as upon inner participation; not so much upon the length as upon the depth of the service.”[14]
“To be able to pray is to know how to stand still and to dwell upon a word.”[15]
Topical Index: prayer, Heschel, Luke 11:1
[1] https://skipmoen.com/2011/11/the-random-universe/
[2] https://skipmoen.com/2016/10/divine-sensitivity/
[3] https://skipmoen.com/2015/11/prayer-by-the-numbers/
[4] Abraham Heschel, Between God and Man: An Interpretation of Judaism (Free Press Paperbacks, 1959), p. 198.
[5] Ibid., p. 200.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid., p. 201.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid., p. 202.
[11] Ibid., p. 203.
[12] Ibid., pp. 204-205.
[13] Ibid., p. 205.
[14] Ibid., p. 206.
[15] Ibid.
