²⁸ “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

Greater than the Son, how can that be? The concept challenges us on a number of levels. First, the Bible makes a good case for the supremacy of Jesus Christ. How could any biblically compatible statement be made that puts something as a favorable comparison to Jesus, let alone a superior comparison? Jesus was the Word that was with God, that was God (John 1:1). He is the one of whom it is written, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority” (Col 2:9–10). “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Col 1:15). “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Col 1:19). “He is the radiance of His [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature…” (Heb 1:3). “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things…” (Rom 11:36). Jesus is no less than God, full Deity. That is absolutely basic to Christian faith. So how could He say that “the Father is greater than I”?

Theologians wrestle with this (and I agree with them) by carefully wording the Trinity formulation. This is not a creation by an ecclesiastical court, but simply a recognition of what the Bible teaches in its whole scope. The earliest church councils dealt with the varying viewpoints of the Trinity. Jesus was God and the Father was God (and so also the Holy Spirit). They are all “co-equal,” meaning they are all equally God, and there is only one God. Three persons, but not three Gods. It would be a logical contradiction to say there is one God, but three Gods. And it would likewise be a contradiction to say there is one person, but three persons. No, there is one God who exists as three distinct persons, separate in their relationships to each other, yet remaining a singular God.

Admittedly this concept of the Trinity requires faith, as it stretches us beyond the limits of our ability to fully understand. But so does the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Our faith is in the message and truth of God as revealed in Scripture. And Jesus taught that the Father was greater than He. Jesus submitted to the Father’s will for Him to die on the cross. Jesus said earlier, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38). The sender is greater than the one sent. Jesus will shortly return from His mission on earth to the One who commissioned Him.

Lord, I am not surprised that there are some things I can’t fully comprehend. It makes sense that my finite mind is limited in my contemplation of You.