“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s
people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I
will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."
A
little tidbit of grammar can teach us something about the life of faith: In
English we can write in two voices: active and passive.
We can say, “I helped”
(active voice: I am the agent) or “I was helped” (passive voice: I was the
recipient).
It turns out that the language of the New Testament, Koine Greek has
a third “voice”. It is middle voice. It is used when an action is done by
someone or something, but the action strongly affects that someone or something.
Some verbs in Greek come ONLY in middle voice, such as:
• I come/I go/ I leave:
I end up in a new place, so I am strongly affected by this action
• I answer: I
am part of a conversation and will be affected by it
• I lie: I decide not to
tell the truth, but I will be tarnished by this action
• I work: As a podcaster
and theology student, Andrew Noble1, has pointed out, working with something as
neutral as a shovel has an effect on the worker. At minimum, the worker will
develop more muscles, maybe blisters…
• I pray: I am acting, but I’m also acted
upon. We sometimes say, “Prayer changes things.” I’ve also heard it said,
“Prayer changes me [the one who’s praying].”
When Paul asks the recipients of
the letter quoted above to pray, he is hoping for an effect on his ministry. At
the same time, because of the grammar, he is affirming that the action of
praying will also have an effect on them.
As I thought about this, it is
interesting to be me that both praying and working are found in the middle
voice. Saint Benedict, who began a monastery 1500 years ago had the motto “Pray
and Work.” I think he was onto something.
We are affected by our labors and our
prayers, and even more so when we do them with others for God’s glory. We are
changed ever more into the likeness of Jesus together.
For the past 18 years I worked and
prayed together with my colleagues at an elementary school. It has shaped me.
I’m grateful to have been part of this endeavor for the benefit of staff,
students and families.
This little Greek grammar tidbit brought it home to me at the close of the school year,
and I hope you find it was worth sharing.
