John 14:1-31
Jesus Comforts HisDisciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
John chapter fourteen stands as one of the most Divine, Sacred, and Holiest chapters in the entire Bible, a profound wellspring of Jesus' heart and His most intimate revelations to His disciples...Within its sacred verses, Jesus offers comfort to troubled hearts, speaks of preparing a place in His Father's house, reveals Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, promises the Holy Spirit, and bequeaths His abiding peace...Amidst these Glorious Declarations, there is also a crucial and profound statement Jesus makes in John 14:28: "The Father is Greater than I."...This particular verse touches on the very heart of Christian theology regarding the nature of Jesus Christ and His relationship with God the Father, often presenting a Great Mystery to those who ponder: If Jesus is truly God, how can the Father be "Greater than Him"?...
The resolution to this perceived difficulty lies in understanding the complex yet harmonious Truth of God as the Trinity, and Jesus' dual nature as both fully God and fully human...
First, the Bible unequivocally teaches that there is only One God, so this adds to the Mystery and some confusion...This One God eternally exists in three distinct Persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit...All three Persons are co-equal in their Divine Nature, essence, and attributes...They are all equally Eternal, equally Omniscient, equally Omnipresent, and equally Omnipotent...John 1:1 declares, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."...This establishes Jesus, the Word, as being Eternally God...Other verses we can read, like John 1:18, 5:16–18, 10:30 ("I and the Father are One"), and 20:28 (Thomas's confession, "My LORD and my God!"), further affirm Jesus' full Divinity...
Second, to help us better understand John 14:28, we must consider Jesus' unique Incarnation...Jesus is not just God; He is also fully human...He took on human flesh, lived within the confines of time and space, and willingly humbled Himself to accomplish His redemptive mission...In His incarnate state, Jesus willingly accepted a position of functional subordination to the Father...This means that in terms of role and mission during His earthly ministry, the Son operated in obedience to the Father's Will, without being inferior in Divine Nature or Essence...He said, "I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38)...His entire earthly life was characterized by Perfect Obedience and submission to the Father's plan, demonstrating the humility inherent in the Divine blueprint for LOVE and redemption...
In summary, Jesus is fully God—co-equal, co-eternal, and co-powerful with the Father...His statement in John 14:28 refers to His willing position of obedience and humility in His incarnate mission and His relational order within the Trinity, not to any inferiority in Divine Nature...This profound, voluntary humility is precisely what Paul describes in Philippians 2:5-8: "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His Own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a Servant, being made in human likeness...And being found in appearance as a Man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!"...
Jesus in taking on His human nature and emptying Himself, there is a profound way in which He became "lesser" in form, status, and the independent exercise of His Divine power during His earthly ministry compared to His Pre-incarnate Glory...This self-emptying (kenosis) does not mean Jesus ceased to be God or became "less God" in His inherent Divine Essence; rather, He chose to lay aside His Divine prerogatives and live in complete dependence and obedience to the Father's Will...Thus, the Father is "Greater" in the context of this voluntary sending-and-obeying relationship of the Incarnation, where Jesus fully accepted the humble role of a Servant to accomplish redemption for mankind...This paradox reveals the profound mystery and LOVE at the heart of the Godhead...