Teaching Tuesday: Why did Jesus pray?

Series: Beyond Belief
Sermon: Heaven Hears the Humble (5.4.25)
Watch the messages HERE. 

The question “why do we pray” is interesting to wrestle with but it’s less interesting - I think - than the question “why did Jesus pray?”

Why did Jesus pray? He was the Son of God; God in the flesh; part of the trinity; a part of God himself. Did he really need to go to God the Father to praise him, to give thanks, to ask for things?

There are probably more ways to look at this, but here is a summary of two reasons Jesus prayed:

To Show Us Our Need to Pray
Though Jesus was fully God, He lived fully as a man, choosing to depend on the Father in all things. His prayer life was not for show—it revealed His constant reliance on God. In John 5:19, Jesus says, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.” Prayer was his lifeline to the Father, showing us that spiritual strength comes not from self-sufficiency but from humble dependence.

If the essence of the Christian life and the purpose of the Christian church is to make disciples of Jesus - as Jesus himself said in the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28 - then Jesus would have known this and crafted his earthly life toward what his disciples should do, including praying. Jesus prayed because he chose to be in “reverent submission (Hebrews 5:7) to the Father- which means he chose dependence - and he prayed to show us that we are likewise fully dependent on God. He prayed to show us our need to pray.  

To Show Us How to Pray
Jesus prayed to nurture his relationship with the Father. Even amidst busy ministry, He often withdrew to solitary places to pray (Luke 5:16). These were moments of communion, not just requests. Prayer wasn’t a duty for Jesus—it was desire. It kept His heart aligned with the Father’s will and reminded him of His identity and mission.

Jesus’s prayers were as varied and specific as ours are (or should be): prayers of praise, thanksgiving, anguish, lament, and supplication - asking for God to intervene and make something happen: physical healing, spiritual strength, miraculous activity. Jesus prayed for different things and in different ways so that we would know how to pray. When He prayed in front of his disciples, he wasn’t performing—he was forming their understanding of what a life with God looks like.

And, of course, at one point he articulated this idea specifically, in Matthew 6: “This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father, who art in heaven…”

Jesus shows us that faithful prayer isn’t always neat or composed. Sometimes it’s messy, loud, tearful. But it’s also filled with trust. And when we pray in reverent submission, God hears—not always in the way we expect, but always in the way we need.

This truth challenges us in our own prayer life. How do we approach God in seasons of anguish, confusion, or fear? Do we bring Him our tears and cries, or do we hide behind self-sufficiency? Reverent submission does not deny the pain; it brings it honestly before God, trusting him with the outcome.

Let us follow his example—not just in seeking deliverance, but in trusting the deliverer. Pray boldly. Weep if you must. But yield fully. That is the way of Christ.

TO KNOW HIM AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN!

- Pastor Brady