22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. 23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

Why would Jesus need to spend time praying, if in fact He Himself was God in the flesh? Such anomalies are the natural (or should we say unnatural) results of God incarnating into His creation. Jesus, the man, was the locus of the intersection between the Infinite and the finite, deity and humanity, Immanuel—God with us. At that juncture in the spiritual/physical warp, in which God became a human being, the bridge between the spirit and the flesh, unusual phenomena happens. As such it should not surprise us that our text finds Jesus communicating with His father, God communing with God.

We see this fellowship within God Himself as early as Genesis 1. God had repeatedly said, “Let there be …” in reference to light, dark, land/water divisions, vegetation, animals, etc. But when it comes to creation of humans, He says, “Let us make man in Our image …” A central tenet of faith for Christians is the uniqueness of one God, yet a plurality within that One. The Scripture teaches both monotheism (only one God – see Deut 6:4) and trinitarianism (three persons in one God—which the NT identifies as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This is not a contradiction, as Islam charges, for Christians do not believe there are three gods in one god. Nor do we believe there are three persons in one person. There is one God Who is revealed to us as three persons. Before and apart from creation, He was and is not alone. There is full and satisfying communion within God independent of all else.

Therefore it is no small wonder that there would be strain in the incarnation – and it is that strain which has Jesus going back continually to fellowship with His Father in prayer. This was one of the humbling, condescending aspects of God limiting Himself to the experience of being a man. While this may be difficult for our puny, finite minds to comprehend, it is not an illogical contradiction. It speaks of the transcendence and “otherness” of God. His ways are, to be sure, above our ways and mysterious. Just like He had the normal human needs of food, drink and rest, He also had the human-spiritual need of fellowship with and guidance from His heavenly Father.

The Son placed great importance on fellowshipping with the Father through prayer. In this area more than most, we need to imitate the Master.

Lord, I want to know You better. Even more so, I want to spend time fellowshipping with You. Lead me to pray more regularly.