Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals his intimate relationship with his Father: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

There is something absolutely remarkable and peculiar about Jesus. Like Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and David, he is sent by God. So far, so ordinary. However, this sent one is, at the same time, God. For he speaks and acts consistently in the very person of God: “Unless you love me . . .” “My son, your sins are forgiven . . .” “You have heard it said, but I say . . .” “Heaven and earth shall pass away . . .”

There seems to be one who is, in one sense, other than the one who sent him and, in another sense, the same as the one who sent him. This one comes forth from the Father not as a creature but as an image and perfect reflection, the Logos or Word by which the Father understands himself. 

These two “persons,” the Father and the Son, look at one another from all eternity and sigh forth their love for one another. This mutual breathing-forth is the Holy Spirit.