DAILY READING
REFLECTION
The "Magic Word"
by Katie Borden
“What’s the magic word?”
I’ll bet next month’s mortgage that you know exactly what word someone means when they utter that phrase. Perhaps you’ve said this yourself. I know I have. We often use this phrase to teach children (and sometimes adults) to have manners and say “please.”
But I wonder if, rather than teaching our children to have manners, we’ve accidentally taught them that if they say this particular word almost as an incantation, they can get exactly what they want. What if, instead of teaching manners, we’ve actually ingrained selfishness?
I’ve been in environments that treat Jesus’ name in this manner. Years ago I prayed regularly with believers from another region of the country; this group would often claim Matthew 18:19-20 over their prayers. Whether their intentions were misled or I misunderstood, I don’t know; what I do know is I wrongly internalized that Jesus’ name could be used as extra insurance to receive exactly what one petitioned for. I would never have said out loud that I believed this. I’m not even sure that I consciously knew I was being formed in this way. But this led me to become disillusioned with God when my prayer requests were not answered in the way I desired. To be honest, my selfish heart is still unlearning this.
If we actually hear Matthew 18:19-20 in context, we are exposed to a radically different situation. Jesus is teaching his disciples about how to live with one another in community, especially when community gets difficult. When we wrong each other, Jesus teaches us how to lovingly address each other’s sin and restore the community. This is almost never an easy process. For this reason and many others, Jesus has given us each other and his Spirit.
Gathering in Jesus’ name means we are putting ourselves under his authority. We allow him to shape us, not the other way around. It's gathering in the unity of the Holy Spirit with other members of his body, where we learn from each other and from our Lord. Prayer in Jesus’ name is the crucible in which he forms our hearts and our lives to become more like Him. Prayer in His name rarely makes the path “easy”; often, it prepares our hearts instead to do the difficult work of loving and forgiving and making space for complicated life in community. Prayer–and life–with Jesus is not easy. But it’s good.
Jesus’ name is not a magic word.
Jesus is so much more.
Jesus is the Living Word who builds us up in love, shapes us in the self-sacrificial way of the cross, and gives us true life in Him.
Thanks be to God.
PRAYER
Jesus, you are the living Word who shapes us into a community marked by your love. Trusting in your goodness and perfect love, I place myself under your authority. I ask you to do your work in my heart to make me more like you. This I pray in your name. Amen.
Nicely written, Katie.