by Giuseppe Monno
Matthew 26:39
“He went on a little further and fell face down and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it.’”
The scene of Gethsemane is one of the most profound and revealing moments of the Christian mystery. To understand it, one must enter into the heart of the faith: the mystery of the Trinity and of the Incarnation.
Jesus Christ is not a “divided” person, nor a man who “becomes God” at alternating moments. He is one divine Person, the eternal Son, who possesses two complete natures: the divine and the human.
When Jesus prays in Gethsemane, he is not speaking “to himself” in a psychological or confused sense. He is speaking to the Father. In the Trinity there is not a single “role,” but three truly distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—one God in three Persons.
The Son is not the Father. Therefore, when the Son prays, he truly addresses the Father. This is not a monologue, but an eternal dialogue that, in time, becomes visible.
In Gethsemane, the astonishing truth of the Incarnation emerges: God has assumed a true human nature. This means that Jesus—true God and true man in the unity of the Person of the Son—possesses two complete wills: a divine will, as true God, and a human will, as true man.
When he says, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by… nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it,” Jesus manifests his human will, which naturally recoils from suffering and death.
Immediately afterward, however, this human will fully submits to the divine will. There is no sinful conflict, but a perfect harmony: the human freedom of Christ adheres completely to the plan of salvation.
In Gethsemane, we do not see a contradiction, but a revelation: Jesus is truly God and knows the eternal plan; Jesus is truly man and experiences real anguish.
This prayer is not pointless: it is the act by which Christ, as the new Adam, obeys where the first man disobeyed. In this sense, his prayer is an integral part of redemption.
The humanity of Jesus is real; his fear is real, his prayer is real, his obedience is real.
Precisely because it is real, it is saving.
Gethsemane also opens for us a glimpse into the inner life of God: the Son lives eternally in relationship with the Father. The prayer of Jesus in time is the visible reflection of this eternal relationship.
It is therefore not absurd that God prays to God: it is the revelation that God is a “communion of love,” not solitude.
Jesus is not praying “to himself” in any simplistic sense. He is living, in his human nature, the eternal relationship he has with the Father in the Trinity. Gethsemane does not contradict the divinity of Christ, but offers one of its most powerful proofs: only the true God made true man can unite within himself, without confusion, human suffering and divine obedience.