Passage
So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
John 8:19 (LSB)
Nearby Context
John 8:17 Even in your law it has been written that the witness of two men is true.
John 8:18 I am He who bears witness about Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness about Me.”
John 8:19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
John 8:20 These words He spoke in the treasury, as He was teaching in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
John 8:21 Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "saying", "where", "father", "jesus", "answered", "neither", and "knew". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "saying" and "where", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 18's "I am He who bears witness about..." into verse 20's "These words He spoke in the treasury...", so "saying" and "where" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "saying" and "where" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.