March 20-26: Praying with Jesus Before the Cross
These 40 days of prayer have been about mimicking Jesus, and in this final week before Easter, we're going to pray through several of Jesus' prayers before His crucifixion.
(If you need help knowing how to use this prayer guide, see our brief overview to our 40 days of prayer that has some tips on praying.)
Sunday March 20
Since Lent is associated with fasting, sorrow, and death, and since Sundays are associated with feasting, joy, and resurrection, Sundays have never been counted as part of Lent. In keeping with that, even this guide won't give you an assignment on Sundays. Pray anyway! Pray in joy for the resurrection of Christ that guarantees our resurrection, and join us for worship. 10a every Sunday.
Monday March 21
The night before He was handed over to the authorities to be tried and executed, Jesus ate His famous last supper with His disciples. Here's how the Gospel of Mark tells the story:
Mark 14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Pray today by simply praying through this passage. Even in His final hours, Jesus is intent on giving thanks to God and singing hymns to Him. Pray that these things would be priorities of yours too, even in the craziest of circumstances, and start today by praying a prayer of thanks and singing a hymn to God--it doesn't have to be loud or have amazing vocals, but singing praise to God doesn't have be restricted to Sunday mornings with a live band.
Pray in thanks that Jesus was willingly betrayed. Thank Him for His courage and selflessness. Marvel at His ability to eat with His betrayer that fateful night.
Finally, pray and give thanks to Jesus who became our Passover lamb. Thank Him for being the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Thank Him for His death that removes your guilt. Thank Him for the symbol He put in place over a millennium in advance, the sacrificial lamb from the Old Testament who so clearly pointed to our one true and only effective sacrifice.
Tuesday March 22
Today we're going to pray through one of Jesus' longest prayers together. Just let His words be your words. This is the "high priestly prayer" where Jesus prays on our behalf before we existed. It comes on the same night as the Last Supper that we prayed about yesterday, right before Jesus goes out to be betrayed and arrested. Here's the whole prayer:
John 17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Wednesday March 23
After the Last Supper, Jesus went into a garden to pray:
Luke 22:39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
Let's pray today with Jesus. His disciples couldn't stay awake to pray, so pray that your vigilance in prayer and waiting will not fade. Pray for strength to continue praying even in the midst of great temptation, whether the temptation seem obvious and major or sly and minor, like the temptation of sleep that the disciples faced. Pray for God's will to be done, even if it costs us our comfort. Pray for comfort, yet pray for God's will more earnestly than your own comfort. Pray that you'd have the courageous obedience and trust of Jesus, who in the face of despair and death continued following God's path, longing for God's will to be done above all. Let's pray. And let's keep praying. And when you've stopped praying, wake up and pray again, that we might not fall into temptation, being deceived that our own comfort is better and more satisfying than God's will.
Thursday March 24
When Jesus was arrested and crucified, He continued talking to God—He continued praying. Today and tomorrow we'll pray with Jesus from the cross. Today let's start with His cry in Mark 15:
33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
So at the end of three hours of darkness in the middle of the afternoon (the darkness was from about noon to 3p), Jesus cries out in despair to His God. The bystanders apparently didn't understand what He was saying, but we know that His prayer was the first line of a very famous song in Israel, Psalm 22:
TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO THE DOE OF THE DAWN. A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.
Pray today through this psalm. Pray through the despair that Christ felt. And pray through the hope He maintained in what was both literally and metaphorically His darkest hour, that His God would not turn His back and would not abandon Him. Thank God for His presence and goodness even in your darkest hours. Pray that your devotion to Him might come to match Jesus', and pray that your confidence in His goodness might match Jesus'.
Finally, pray for our Good Friday service this week where we'll walk through Psalm 22 and the several references that are made to it in the Gospel narratives of Jesus' crucifixion. Pray that we'd know Jesus. Pray that we'd be transformed by His cross. Pray that our Good Friday would glorify Him.
Friday March 25
Today is Good Friday, but there's nothing good about it. Sure good things come from it, but inherently today is a bad day—because today is the day Jesus was crucified. Nevertheless, even in the midst of all the horror of that day, from the cross Jesus prayed:
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Pray today about the reality of the cross. Pray that you would see it for the horror that it is. And pray that seeing the naked truth of it might help you to see more clearly who Jesus is. Pray in awe of Jesus' willingness, even in that moment, to pray for the forgiveness of those who were killing the Son of God. Pray for your own complicity in a humanity that could so violently turn on its Maker. And pray for all of those who still live in ignorance of what we've done.
Saturday March 26
Jesus is dead. Of course, He's not really dead anymore, but on this Saturday before Easter, He's dead. He's been buried. His followers are left without their Lord, and they don't know what to do.
So today, identify with the lost, with the hopeless, with the hurting. Cry out to God for hope, for joy, for resurrection. If He's there, ask Him to speak to us. In this time of darkness, will His light shine again? Pray into this heaviness, that tomorrow's celebration might seem as overwhelmingly good as it really is.
