John intended his readers to understand his narrative through the lens of the prologue. Those utilizing John 14:28 as a proof-text to the notion that Jesus is not consubstantial with the Father are doing so dishonestly.
John 14:28 is apart of a broader context—Jesus’ upper room discourse—which extends from John 13 through John 17. This is significant for the following reasons:
Throughout the discourse John places language on Jesus’ lips which is intended to cause his reader to recollect John 1:1-2. In John 13:1-3, Jesus states,
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα), having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God (πρὸς τὸν θεὸν), got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
Again, in John 14:6,
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα) but through Me.”
Again, in John 14:12,
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα).
Again, in John 14:28 (ironically),
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 (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα), for the Father is greater than I.
Again, in John 16:10,
…and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα) and you no longer see Me
Again, in John 16:17,
Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this thing He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα)’?”
Again, in John 16:28,
I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα).
John gives special emphasis to this πρὸς τὸν πατέρα/πρὸς τὸν θεὸν language; it is used eight times throughout such a short discourse. This language is also the very language used in John’s prologue,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεὸν), and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (πρὸς τὸν θεὸν).
That John intends this connection to be made is brought out in the immediate context. Recall John 13:1-3,
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα), having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God (πρὸς τὸν θεὸν), got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
Notice that John places emphasis on what Jesus was thinking: “Jesus
knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father… .” John tells us that what is on Christ’s mind is His ascension to the Father, that He is going to God (John 13:1). In 13:3, we see this yet again: “
knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God… .” Jesus is thinking about this fact: that He came forth from God and was going back to God. And it is in this context that Jesus does this (John 13:4):
…got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.
Jesus is thinking about the fact that He came forth from God, and is illustrating for the disciples, the reality of His decent, His self humbling, His taking on the form of a servant, and subsequent to His completed work, His return to the Father; that place from whence He came. That place where He will once more “recline at the table,”
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. (John 13:12-15)
This is exactly what Paul was talking about in Philippians 2. Paul exhorted Christians to,
Think this in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider being equal with God something to be grasped,
but emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave,
by becoming in the likeness of people.
Jesus came down from heaven, laid aside His outer glory, wrapped Himself in a “towel,” and became a servant. He was “born under the Law” (Galatians 4:4, Ps. 22:10, Jeremiah 32:27), and while on earth experienced true limitations. But there will come a time—in fulfillment of Ps. 110:1—by virtue of His ascension, when Jesus will once more taken back up those glorious garments and recline once again at the right hand of God the Father on high.
This gives the reason for why the disciples would then have “rejoiced” (John 14:28), because He is going πρὸς τὸν πατέρα (cf. John 1:1).
