At that very moment he rejoiced [in] the holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
23 Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Jesus speaks these words right after the return of the seventy-two disciples whom he had sent out to preach and heal in his name. They come back rejoicing and Luke tells us of Jesus’ reaction; “At that very moment he rejoiced [in] the holy Spirit” and began to praise the Father (v. 21). This is a deeply Trinitarian moment. The Son rejoices in the Holy Spirit and speaks to the Father, “Lord of heaven and earth.” These words indicate that our salvation is not just an idea or a program, but the work of the living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit acting together to bring human beings into communion with the Trinity.
When Jesus calls the Father “Lord of heaven and earth,” he is acknowledging God as the Creator and sovereign ruler of all that exists. Salvation, then, is not something human beings invent. It begins in God’s free decision to reveal himself and to draw us to himself. Jesus praises the Father because of how he chooses to carry out this plan. He says that the Father has “hidden these things from the wise and the learned” and “revealed them to the childlike” (v. 21). “These things” include the nearness of God’s kingdom, the defeat of Satan that the disciples have just witnessed in their mission, and the new life that comes through faith in Christ.
The demons’ submission to Jesus’ name is an early sign of the deeper victory he will win through his suffering, death, and resurrection. What the apostles see in a visible way is not for them alone; it shows that in every age the power of evil is limited and that Christ’s authority over sin and the devil is real. That same victory reaches those who believe in Christ in all generations through God’s grace.
In speaking of the “wise and learned,” Jesus is not condemning genuine wisdom or serious study. The commentaries point out that the problem is not intelligence, but self-reliance. The “wise and learned” here are those who trust in their status, learning, or religious position and therefore close themselves to what God is doing in Jesus. Salvation is not grasped by cleverness or earned by achievement. It is received as a gift. The “childlike” are those who come before God with trust, humility, and openness, aware of their dependence and ready to receive what they cannot give themselves. This childlike attitude is not childishness. It is a sober recognition that we are creatures and that true knowledge of God comes from his initiative.
Jesus then says, “Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will” (v. 21). He accepts and rejoices in the Father’s way of acting. God’s “gracious will” is his loving decision to make himself known and to save us in this particular way: not through human pride, but through humble faith. This is consistent with the whole history of Israel. In the Old Testament, God often chooses what seems small or unlikely in human eyes. He chooses a wandering Aramean, Abraham, to be the father of a great people. He chooses David, the youngest son, to be king. He preserves a faithful “remnant” when the nation is in exile. Now, in Jesus, this pattern reaches its fullness. God reveals the depth of his plan not first to the powerful or influential, but to those who are ready to trust him as children trust a good father. This is essential for salvation, because salvation is not only deliverance from evil but entrance into a relationship of trust and love with the Father.
In the next verse, Jesus speaks of the unique role he has in this plan: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father” (v. 22). The Father entrusts the whole plan of salvation to the Son. This means that the authority to teach, to forgive sins, to conquer evil, and to lead people into life with God is given to Christ. Salvation is not found by bypassing Jesus to reach the Father directly. It comes through the One to whom “all things” have been handed over.
Some Christians say, “I do not need the Church or a priest; I can pray directly to God.” It is true that we can and should pray to God from our hearts, and that Christ hears every sincere prayer. At the same time, the New Testament shows that this same Christ chose to work through a visible community and through certain concrete signs of his grace—baptism, preaching, communal prayer, forgiveness, and outward rites that express his saving work (often referred to as Sacraments in many Christian traditions). These are not meant to replace personal prayer, but to be ways in which the risen Christ continues to draw people to the Father and strengthen them in faith.
Jesus then adds, “No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (v. 22). This mutual knowledge goes beyond ordinary human understanding. The Father knows the Son fully; the Son knows the Father fully. This is not simply knowledge about God, but a shared divine life. Only Jesus, the eternal Son who has become man, can truly reveal the Father as he is. To “know” the Father in this sense means to enter a living communion with him, which is the heart of salvation. Eternal life, as the New Testament explains elsewhere, is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, in a personal way that involves love, trust, and obedience.
At the same time, Jesus makes clear that this knowledge is not locked within the relationship of Father and Son. The Father is also known by “anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (v. 22). Here, the Gospel underlines that faith is a grace. Coming to know God as Father is not the result of our own reasoning alone, although reason can recognize God’s existence and wisdom in creation. To know the Father as Jesus knows him—intimately, personally, as the source of life and love—requires the Son’s revelation. This is why the childlike attitude is so crucial for salvation. Those who know their need and are open to receiving what they cannot produce are ready for this revelation. Those who close themselves in pride or self-sufficiency shut themselves off from the very light that could save them.
After speaking to the Father, Jesus turns “to the disciples in private” (v. 23). He tells them, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” In Scripture, “blessed” is a word that signals a share in God’s favor and life. Jesus is saying that his disciples stand in a privileged place in the history of salvation. They are seeing with their own eyes the fulfillment of long-standing promises. He continues, “For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it” (v. 24). Jesus is gathering all that expectation and promises made to faithful Old Testament servants of God into one sentence, showing that the hopes of Israel now find their fulfillment in what the disciples see and hear in him.
Luke wants us to see the unity of the Old and New Testaments. There is one plan of God and one story of salvation. The promises given to Israel find their completeness in Christ. The disciples are “blessed” because they stand at the turning point from promise to fulfillment. Yet this blessing is not simply about being physically present in the time of Jesus. What matters for salvation is not just contact with Jesus in history but faith in him. The truly “blessed” are those whose eyes see with faith and whose ears hear with obedience.
These verses also show both how great a gift we have received and how we are to receive it. We live after the death and resurrection of Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit. We hear the Gospel, we see Christ’s work continue among his followers, and we have access to the Scriptures that testify to him. In that sense, we share in the blessing Jesus speaks over his disciples. Yet the path remains the same. To be truly “blessed,” we must let the Son reveal the Father to us with trusting, childlike openness, allowing God’s grace to shape our minds and hearts for eternal life.
Lord Jesus, you rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised the Father for revealing his plan to the childlike. Help us to receive you with humble and trusting hearts, so that through you we may truly know the Father and share in the life you came to give. Amen.
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Sources and References:
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Bernard Orchard et al., A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture (1953).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Luke (Four Courts/Scepter).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018).
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990).
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