No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son. My scripture professor called this passage “a Johannine lightning bolt.” He meant that Jesus speaking about the relationship of the Father and the Son was much more typical of St. John’s gospel (hence, the word “Johaninne”) than is of Luke (today’s passage) or the parallel text in St. Matthew. He used to go on to say that if we could trade the four gospels for a video recording of the life of Jesus we wouldn’t do it. The gospels contain not only what Jesus said and did but also how the followers of Jesus heard the message and reflected upon it — which is what we also do.
