John 14:28,29 - The Father is greater than I

14:28

The reason that the disciples were greatly troubled was that Jesus had told them that He was going away and would come to them. Now He tells them that if they genuinely loved Him they would have rejoiced instead of being sad. Why? Because He was returning to the Father and the Father was greater than He. Now if you want you can find all sorts of trouble in these words thinking it means that Jesus is not fully God, as the Arians did. This is not what Jesus is saying. In His earthbound state the Father was greater than the Son. Jesus was returning to His heavenly state. This was the best thing that could happen to Jesus! We also need to distinguish between the economic trinity and ontological trinity. Jesus was subordinate to the Father in that He came to do the Father’s will, to obey Him. This is the economic trinity. But this did not make Him in any way less God. In His inherent being Jesus was and is always fully God.

14:29

Jesus knew that at that moment the disciples would not grasp anything like the full importance of what He was saying. But He told them this ahead of time so that when it did take place they would begin to fully understand. The Holy Spirit would remind them of these words and open their minds to understand.