Luke 5:16

"He would often slip away to the wilderness and pray."

Why did he have to do this? Wasn't he completely God so he and God were to same? If he already is God and knows God why must he pray?

Well yes but he was also completely man. We believe Jesus was God. But we also understand him to be completely man. I believe he was limited in his human body. He could only be in one place at a time, an obvious human limitation. Also he needed to get to a quiet place to hear God's still small voice, just like we do.

I do not believe Jesus, as a man, had the ability to heal. His ability was simply as ours is, to ask God to heal. He gave up that ability when he became a man. Only God can heal. We pray to God for healing. The difference was that Jesus had perfect faith. And it was God's will. Jesus knew God's perfect will.

So Jesus needed to get off by himself to pray. And he did it often. He wanted to because he loved his father and desired to be with him as closely as he could. Just like when we love someone deeply we want to spend time with them. Jesus prayed to be with his Father.

DW suggested Jesus needed to pray so as to resist temptation. I'm sure there is that aspect of it too.

I pray. I sort of know how to pray. Did Jesus pray differently than I do? I suspect it was different but I do not know how. I suspect Jesus did more listening than I do. It must have had similarities to my own. I pray for people. Jesus must have prayed for people that he met. I pray for guidance. I am sure Jesus prayed for guidance as well.

Four verses later in 5:20 Jesus is teaching in front of some Pharisees and a man is lowered in on a stretcher for healing. Jesus wants to make a point so he sees that the men have faith so he tells the man on the stretcher that his sins are forgiven.

The scribes and Pharisees rightly agree that only God can forgive sins. The reader agrees but they have faith too and believe Jesus is right, he is God. He prays like a man prays but he is certainly God as well.

The Pharisees see this as blasphemy because they cannot even consider that Jesus might be right. To them he is a normal man claiming to be God. I can certainly understand their consternation. How can a man also be God? It is a lot to take in. Yet his signs show him to be not an ordinary man. He asserts he is God. We know it to be true.