Intercessory Prayer and Holy Week, Part 1

My “Life group” a church has been studying from a small book on prayer, designed for a woman’s group, and it is quite good.  However, this week’s topic/chapter was on intercessory prayer and I felt the particular chapter fell short, especially since it is Holy Week, so I went my own way with it, which I often do. I will post a series of shorter posts that constitute my lesson today.   Writing on the Internet must by nature be short and focused. 

To intercede literally means “to come between.”  Interceding and intercession are key themes in the Bible, with Christ being the perfect intercessor or mediator.  The Old Testament gives examples of imperfect intercessors, and we see in the New Testament that Christ interceding before, during, and after the cross. 

In Genesis 18 we read the account of Abraham’s “negotiating” with God about Sodom.  God announced that He would destroy Sodom for its depravity (which, yes, involved lack of hospitality and care for the poor, as mentioned in Ezekiel, but obviously included other behaviors).   Because Lot, his nephew, lived their with this family, Abraham asked God if He would spare the city for fifty righteous people, and then the number reduced to ten.  But there weren’t ten, as it happened.  Abraham isn’t successful in this imperfect intercession because of his abilities, but because of God’s longsuffering and grace.