In Jesus' Name?
My apologies to anyone who was expecting a follow-up to the "Lord's Prayer Through Middle Eastern Eyes" post , but I've been stuck home with the flu for a few days and my copy of Bailey's book is at the office, so I've got to put that project on hold for a bit. But on a related topic, and an offshoot of iMonk's recent thoughts on prayer , I've been thinking quite a bit recently about the whole "in Jesus' name" thing, you know, that bit where Jesus promised that whatever we pray in His name He will do... And of course, we've all heard the "God, please let me have a convertible BMW, white with tan interior, in Jesus' name, Amen"-type prayers and thought "That can't be what Jesus meant!" Well, no, I don't think that's what Jesus meant. And I think the clue to what He did mean has to do with the concept of "in the name of...", a concept that meant something very different in the ancient world ...