Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 11:26

"yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight." — Matthew 11:26 (ASV)

For so it seemed good —Literally, Yes, Father, [I thank you] that in this way it was your good pleasure. The words recall those spoken at our Lord’s baptism, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17), and the song of the heavenly host on the night of the Nativity, good will among men (Luke 2:14).

These two verses are remarkable as the only record outside of St. John’s Gospel of a prayer like the one we find in John 17. For the most part, we may believe, such prayers were offered apart on a lonely hillside in the darkness of night. It may be that the disciples, in their reverence or their awareness of their own lack of capacity, shrank from attempting to record what was so unspeakably sacred.

However, it is noteworthy that in this exceptional instance, we find—both in the prayer and the teaching that follows it in Matthew and Luke—turns of thought and phrasing almost identical to what is most characteristic of St. John. It is as though this isolated fragment of a higher teaching was preserved by them as a witness. It points to a realm they scarcely dared to enter, but into which people were to be led later by the beloved disciple, to whom the Spirit gave the power to recall what had been beyond the reach of the other gospel writers.