The Father

"you have heard Me tell you, 'I am going away and I am coming to you. If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.John 14:28

Jesus here is telling His disciples to rejoice because He is leaving, going back to His Father, because He is greater.

I wonder if they truly understood. Jesus was rather awesome, He displayed a God that, up to that date, they did not know.

The Father they had know was a removed God, fearsome and hard to fathom. The Father spoke through the prophets and there had not been a prophet for hundreds of years. The people were now at the mercy of the Pharisees and they were not a pleasant bunch.

So, having Jesus talk about going back to such a God would not be a welcome prospect.

The important thing for me is that Jesus said that the Father was greater than He. Jesus only did what He saw the Father do, He walked in obedience to the Father.

What does greater than Jesus look like? What more is there if Jesus said that 'he who has seen Me has seen the Father'. Does greater mean greater in authority or does it mean greater in power?

To understand this I think of a godly son and father I know. The son honors his father, seeks his father's guidance and looks to him for his lead in areas of his life he does not have fully in control. The son is a lovely young man and he has greatness in him, that he does not recognize yet. The father loves his son and does not interfere unless invited.

Now because the father is further down the road; he is married; the son is not; the father is leading an organization, the son is in training to be a leader I can see how the son would say the father is greater.

This helps me understand what Jesus is saying. Does it help you? Jesus had to go back to heaven to be seated at the 'right' hand of the Father and have His enemies made a footstool. He had all the heavens declaring His praise and glory, that was yet to come when Jesus was speaking to His disciples. He had yet to come into His fullness.

The Father had a plan: when Jesus went back to heaven the spirit was poured out. The spirit was able to live inside people and be everywhere at once. This was needed for the next step.

If you have trouble trusting the Father, look at what Jesus continually said about Him. He does love you and want to have a relationship with you. He gave His Son for you and now His Holy Spirit. He is not like anything you have known, even the best of earthly fathers do not come near to Him. Amen!