How Much Did Christ Understand?

I am reading a novel right now by Anne Rice. Interestingly enough, the novel is about the life of Christ. Anne Rice has enjoyed a very successful career as an author, primarily about vampires. Interview with the Vampire may be her most well known book, but in these last days, all of her writing has been centered around her faith.

This book, entitled The Road to Cana, details the life of Christ as he begins his ministry. In an early scene Mary asks her son, "Are you sure this is God's will?"

His answer (as envisioned by Rice) goes as follows: "Mother, there are things I know , and things I don't know. Sometimes knowledge comes to me unexpectedly -- in moments of surprise. Sometimes it comes when I'm pressed, and in my sudden answers to those who press me. Sometimes, this knowledge comes in pain. Always, there's the certainty that the knowledge is more then I will let myself know. It's just beyond where I choose to reach, just beyond what I choose to ask. I know it will come when I have need of it. I know it may come, as I said, on its own. But some things I know certainly and have always known. There's no surprise. There's no doubt."

It is interesting to consider that Christ may have known more than he allowed himself to understand. That sometimes he may have thought or said something that he hadn't planned ahead of time, or that he would have a sudden burst of understanding, yet feel as if he had always known it. And yet, perhaps there were other things, things that were exceptionally clear to him...