John 8:19
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
These words belong to the discourse given in the temple court during the Feast of Tabernacles, when the lamps recalled the pillar of light that guided Israel and pointed to the coming Messiah. Knowing Christ and knowing the Father cannot be separated, for to have truly known Christ would have been to have known the Father also. The leaders' claims to piety and superior knowledge of God did not mean they knew the Father, since their lack of true knowledge of Christ showed that they did not.
Their prejudice and preconceived ideas had closed their minds to the evidence given to them, and this failure to know Christ destroyed their spiritual sight. What was first said to the Pharisees applies to religious teachers today who lack the true science of education Christ came to give: they neither know Christ nor His Father.