Can We Pray to Jesus?

Since prayer is a serious act of worship (see Daniel 6), it is important that we
address our prayers to the right person. When Jesus taught his disciples how
to pray, he taught them to pray to his Father: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed
be your name” (Matthew 6.9). When Paul discussed prayer in his letter to the
congregation at Ephesus, he specifically referenced praying to God the
Father (Ephesians 1.17, 2.18, 5.20). Should we conclude from passages like
these that we can only pray to the Father? Not at all!

In the first place, the New Testament clearly teaches that Jesus’
disciples (and other perceptive Jews) treated him as God in human flesh. For
example, the man born blind openly worshipped Jesus after he received
healing; and Jesus made no efforts to stop him (John 9.38), unlike angels and
godly humans throughout Scripture. The apostle Thomas addressed his
resurrected rabbi as “My Lord and my God!” when he met Jesus after his
death on the cross (John 20.28). If Jesus is God, praying to him is not a
violation of the command to “worship the Lord your God only” (Deuteronomy
6.3, Matthew 4.10).

Secondly, we have examples in the New Testament of early
Christians praying to Jesus. As the first martyr Stephen was about to die, he
saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God’s throne.
He cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin
against them” (Acts 7.59–60). When the apostle Paul prayed for relief from his
“thorn in the flesh,” he tells us that “three times I pleaded with the Lord about
this” (2 Corinthians 12.8). These examples demonstrate that Christians talked
to Jesus after his ascension to heaven, not merely talked about him.

Third, there are Old Testament prayer passages which are later
applied to Jesus in the New Testament. For example, when David wrote
Psalm 45, he prayed: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of
uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom” (Psalm 45.6). In Hebrews 1.8, the
Hebrew writer quoted that verse and declares that David is speaking of the
Son of God. Psalm 102 functions in the same way. It is a prayer to Yahweh
(God’s personal name in the Hebrew Bible), which is clear in the first verse:
“Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you!” Later in his prayer, the
psalmist praises God by saying: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in
the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.” In Hebrews
1.10, the writer quotes that verse and ascribes it to Jesus. Not only does this
prove that Jesus is Yahweh of the Old Covenant, but also that prayers may
be directed to him.

Jesus is not simply the perfect mediator between God and man. He is
not simply the greatest teacher who ever lived. He is divine and should
receive our praise and petitions.
– Nathan Combs