John 5:19-20 — Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

Myra and I were talking during our devotions this morning. “How much”, she wondered, “did Jesus know during His life on earth?” In fact we differed slightly — Myra tending to think He knew everything, all the time and me tending to think that omniscience was one of those divine attributes that Jesus did not cling to while He was the God-man on earth. Perhaps someone more theologically knowledgeable than we are can educate us. It doesn’t matter a great deal, for the discussion led to another topic — one, perhaps, more relevant to our own lives.
How much control did Jesus have over His own life? How self-directed was He? Now that’s a question we can answer! Scripture makes it really clear. Jesus says it Himself, plainly. “The Son can do nothing of Himself”. He says it here, and repeats it (with variations) another five times in John’s gospel. (You don’t believe me? I’m hurt. Go check these out — Jn 5:30, Jn 6:38, Jn 8:28, Jn 12:49, Jn 14:24.)
These two verses, though, are the dramatic opening to a dramatic passage. William Barclay points out that they tell us three important things about the relationship between Jesus and God. It tells us of the identity between Jesus and God, it tells us that the identity is based on perfect obedience, and it tells us that the obedience is based on perfect love.
I want to focus on that obedience for a moment. You see Jesus’s choices weren’t limited to doing only His Father directed. He could have chosen His own way … But love prevented Him.
So how about us. Are we in charge of our own lives? We could be. We could choose to go our own way. Actually, a lot of the time, we do. It’s called “sin”. Barclay defines the alternative — the way we should go: “Jesus is to God as we must be to Jesus.”
Galatians 2:20 says “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is one of many verses that define our identity with Christ. Jesus defines, concisely, the basis of that identity. “If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15)
However much Jesus knew, there was only one thing that he cared about — “what was it the Father wanted”. The story should be the same for us. All we really need to know is what Jesus wants, and all we really need to do is to obey.