I was recently reading Luke’s account of the transfiguration of Jesus. And this line really stood out to me:

And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

Luke 9:29

I’d never noticed that Jesus essentially prays His way into the transfiguration. Peter, James, and John catch a glimpse of the divinity of Jesus: all light and glory and wonder. The disciples marvel as this act of transcendence as the humble Nazarene is revealed as the eternal Son of God. Moses and Elijah, representing the law and the prophets, speak to Jesus of His impending departure — and the Greek word is exodus, the redemptive motif of deliverance from exile. Indeed, Jesus — through His own sacrifice — liberates us from the bondage to sin and leads us toward the great promised land. As soon as He comes down from this mountain, Jesus will set His face toward Jerusalem where all of this will take place. And this moment of transfiguration prefigures the glory of His resurrection. It reveals to the disciples — and to us — His true nature as the Son of God.

All of this is certainly true.

But Jesus is also a human being.

I know that’s a really obvious thing to point out. But I think it matters, especially here. Jesus is the divine Son of God, eternally glorious in every way — but He is also fully human in every way (save one). By taking on flesh, Jesus makes Himself susceptible to hunger and thirst, disease and distress. The self-sufficient Son of God becomes a baby — perhaps the most dependent of all creatures. In the Incarnation, the pre-existent Word of God subjects Himself to the linear movement of time. He even makes Himself susceptible to our fleshly temptations (Hebrews 4:15). The only thing separating us from our Brother is the fact that He never gives in to those sinful urges.

And as a flesh and blood human being, Jesus prays His way into glory.

This is a word of hope for us.

Because as human beings, we can pray our way into glory, too.

Not prayer as a “work,” as something we DO — although we certainly have to be the ones DOING the praying. But when we fixate on our activity in prayer — eyes opened or closed? kneeling or sitting or standing? aloud or silent? — we’ll certainly never experience everlasting transformation. We’ll simply second guess ourselves and wonder if we’re doing it right.

But whenever prayer becomes less about technique and more about God’s faithful presence, prayer becomes a means of communion. And communion is always transformative. I believe this is what God always intended when He led men to “call upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4:26) all those centuries ago. Prayer was always more personal, less performative. To meet with God “in the secret” (which is the literal translation of Matthew 6:6) is to enter that interior space, the sanctuary of the heart where the Divine eagerly awaits our arrival. It is to come before the Lord free of pretension, no mask, no agenda. In the words of Theophan the Recluse, “To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all seeing, within you.”

This is prayer in the way of Jesus. When He retreats to solitary places to pray, He enters the hallowed space where Father can say to Son, “You are my Beloved.” This way of praying transcends so many elements of our modern practice: our sermonizing; our breathless recitations of the illnesses of others; our verbalizing “to do” lists for God. Surely there is some degree of petition and intercession on behalf of others in the regular prayer life of Jesus. But my point is that His prayer life was so much MORE than this, too. Prayer is essential to the ministry of Jesus because it is an act of communion — and communion with the Father is the energy source for all human beings. Our deepest longing of all is to hear the Father say, “You are my Beloved.” And this only occurs in the sanctuary of the heart.

And I’m convinced that this way of praying — prayer as communion — is the key to our transformation in the present.

That’s what I mean when I say we can pray our way into glory.

With God’s help, this is possible.