"What did Jesus know and when did he know it?" - Sermon for 1st Epiphany, 1-11-26

What did Jesus know, and when did he know it?

A similar question was asked in 1973 of the incumbent United States President by a senator of his own party – ah, those were simpler times. Thirty years later, recalling this phrasing, I asked my question during a seminary theology class. What did Jesus know, and when did he know it? How does the divine omniscience of the Second Person of the Trinity square with the full humanity of Jesus of Nazareth? Surely Jesus had to be toilet trained and shown how to hammer a nail and, assuming he was literate, taught how to read and write. How about the loftier adventures of the human mind – insight, imagination, intuition? Was Jesus some kind of savant, simply more than the rest of us? Or did divinity have something to do with his wisdom? I don’t recall our class’s discussion or Professor Wondra’s answer, other than her suggestion that we take it up after our ten-minute break. What do you think?

Saint John’s gospel account reads like Jesus came with all the omniscience he could carry. He knew what people were thinking and what was going to happen next. Even during his arrest, trial, and execution, Jesus was in charge.

The synoptic writers – Saints Mark, Matthew, and Luke – portray Jesus as a bit less of a know-it-all than John does; but even so, Jesus keeps well ahead of his disciples and his opponents. Ever the flummoxer, never the flummoxed.   

And Matthew’s account today of Jesus at the Jordan suggests that both Jesus and John the Baptist knew that Jesus was no ordinary baptismal candidate. John demurs, Jesus counters, John delivers.

But just who saw the Spirit’s descent? Just who heard the Father’s voice? Surely not the crowds, or they would’ve rioted. Surely not John, or he wouldn’t later have sent emissaries to question Jesus’s results.

That leaves just Jesus – fully human and fully divine – to commune with the Trinity which, mystically, he never left.

I know … try to work that out! I expect Professor Wondra, who allowed us to claim “It’s a mystery” only in the last ten minutes of class, left it right there, too.

The heavens were opened to Jesus, Matthew writes. Jesus saw the Spirit. Presumably, the Father’s voice was for Jesus alone. But why would an omniscient Jesus have to be told that he is the Father’s Beloved Son?

Well, my fellow full yet divinely deficient humans, don’t you need to be told every so often that someone loves you? Even if you already know it? Why should Jesus, a human like us in all things but sin, not need to hear the same? What better way to endure the wilderness of test and temptation, and an active public ministry?

The Father’s voice spoke again with the same affirmation on Transfiguration’s mountain – we’ll hear about this in a few weeks – and this time the apostles Peter, James, and John heard it too. It was good for Jesus to hear that he is beloved before heading to Jerusalem's death and resurrection, don’t you think?

The Epiphany season shows God- Incarnate-in-Jesus to the Magi; to the Baptist on Jordan’s bank; and next Sunday, to his mother and some stunned servants at Cana’s marriage feast. And these Epiphanies were not just for Jesus’s benefit. They are given for us, too. They are good and true and necessary to bolster our faith, just as the Transfiguration bolstered the faith of the mystified three. And still, there’s more …

I have come to believe that the voice at baptism’s river is the same voice that speaks to the ears of our hearts when we are baptized. When the water hit our heads, the Father said to you and to me, “You are my beloved child, with whom I am well-pleased.” If you haven’t thought about that in some time, or are considering it right now for the first time, hear me well – mine the voice of a lower-case father. God loves you, and wants you to remember that. Remember it when you head into your own wilderness of test and temptation. Into your own active public ministry. And to the Jerusalem of your own death and resurrection.

Father Daniel S.J. Scheid, SCP

1^st after Epiphany, January 11, 2026

All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Francisco

“What did Jesus know, and when did he know it?”