Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 14:28

"Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I." — John 14:28 (ASV)

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

The Lord Jesus had taken a subordinate place; he had become the servant of the Father, the messenger for the Father, but he was going back to reassume his glory. That ought to be a subject of joy to us. Let us bless Jesus that he is not here. If he were here in his former state he would be in his humiliation; but now he has gone to his glory. Let us rejoice in this.

Because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

The Lord Jesus, though equal with the Father, had voluntarily laid aside His glory and taken the form and place of a man, making Himself of no reputation, so His disciples ought to have rejoiced that He was going back to His original glory.

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

Love makes us rejoice in the prosperity of the one we love. The Lord Jesus Christ, in coming to this earth, had taken upon Himself a subordinate position; He had become the stepping-stone between man and God. But now that He was returning to His glory, returning to His Father, it was the solemn duty of those who loved Him to rejoice, and we should do the same now.

He has left behind Him the humiliation, the scorn, the spitting, the crucifixion. Who among us, who truly loves Him, would wish to bring Him back to this poor earth as He came at first?

Ah, no! It is well that all that is over. There is sweetest music to our ears in our Lord's declaration, It is finished; and our soul swims in a sea of light as we think of the ineffable glory with the Father to which He has returned forever.