This Advent, we have heard three passages from God's Word that compare
Jesus to something or someone else. Jesus has been compared to Solomon,
to Jonah, and to the Temple. He is greater than each of them, because
He is the Son of God. But this evening, Jesus says something a bit
different. He compares Himself not to anything on earth, but to the
Father in heaven. What He says may be surprising, but it captures the
essence of Christmas.
This might baffle you a little bit if you don't really understand the
essence of Christmas. It's not the spirit of selfless generosity. It's
not the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you hear certain music. The
essence of Christmas is found, among other places, in Galatians 4:4–5:
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” The essence of
Christmas is the Almighty coming to Earth for you and me. Many people
celebrate Christmas without the birth of Christ, but it's not the same
thing. Without Christ, Christmas is like Valentine's Day. But with the
birth of God's Son, it's truly Christmas. So let's hear how Jesus
captures the essence of Christmas when He compares Himself to the
Father. I'll also read a relevant part of the Nicene Creed.
John 14:28–29
“You have heard Me say to you, `I am going away and coming back to
you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, `I am going to
the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you
before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.”
Nicene Creed Excerpt
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, ... Being of one substance with
the Father, By Whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our
salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of
the Virgin Mary and was made man;
Six words Jesus said here have been the subject of much debate.
“My Father is greater than I.” What did Jesus mean? Was He
denying that He and the Father are one? Was He denying that He was the
Son of God?
It's easy to see that if we come to a wrong understanding of this part
of the Bible, our faith could be endangered. Christians must take a
keen interest in what the Bible has to teach us. We have to admit that
the Bible stands above us, and above our own knowledge. Through the
Bible the Holy Spirit reveals the way of eternal life to us. He teaches
us the saving doctrine of Jesus Christ. That doctrine is both simple
and very deep at the same time.
If you ask most confirmation students to read a chapter of a book or
answer some questions at home, the result will be a perfect illustration
of human nature. Almost every student will try to get by with the bare
minimum. Nobody likes to do more work than he needs to. So when I say
that the saving doctrine of Jesus Christ is both simple and very deep at
the same time, we are all tempted to do the bare minimum. “OK, good!
He says it's simple. If I can understand the simple part, then I can
safely ignore the rest.” That's our corrupt human nature talking. Pay
attention to the deep part too.
The saving doctrine of Christ is simple because it can be stated in one,
short sentence: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born and died for me,
to take away all my sins and bring me to heaven. Everyone who believes
that and trusts in it as God's own promise is a Christian. But still
waters run deep. In this case, very deep; so deep, in fact, that there
is no bottom. In other words, the Holy Spirit has much more to teach
you and me about this. Will we be good students, or average students?
If you believe that Jesus is your Savior, then what could be better than
a chance to learn more about Him?
So the simple and deep doctrine of Christ comes to a point tonight in
six words from Jesus: “My Father is greater than I.” Does
the Bible really teach this? Yes. Then does the Bible really teach
that Jesus is equal to the Father? Yes. It teaches both, though they
may seem to be opposed to each other.
Sometimes the Bible tells us things that we must simply accept without
explanation. Sometimes, though, we do receive an explanation, though it
may not satisfy all our curiosity. The explanation for what Jesus says
here is that Jesus is unlike every other person we know. He is true God
and true Man at the same time. That means that He possesses two
natures.
What do I mean by nature? A nature is the collection of characteristics
that a thing has. It's part of the nature of a rock to be hard and
impervious to flame. It's part of the nature of a plant to grow and to
use water. It's part of the nature of an angel to do and say exactly
what God commands. It's part of the nature of a human being to have
a body made of flesh and blood, and a mind that can learn and reason.
Sometimes we talk about sinful human nature. That's a special kind of
human nature that exists in us all since the Fall of Man. It possesses
many of the characteristics that humanity had before the Fall, but they
have been darkened or corrupted. It also possesses the constant
inclination to disobey God. That's the kind of nature we all have.
It's human, but tainted.
Jesus has two natures: the nature of God and the nature of humanity.
It's not sinful human nature that He has, because He was
conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. Jesus has
every characteristic of any other human being except for sin. Jesus
also has every characteristic of God.
As I said before, these still waters are deeper than we can measure.
There is so much more that I could teach about this right now, but we
don't have time for it. Still, it's all there to be learned, so I
encourage you to search it out and learn it for yourself. It will
deepen your understanding of these simple Bible passages, and increase
your joy as you celebrate Christmas. It will also help you to be a more
confident witness of the truth in your words and actions. If you need a
guide for your study, have a look at article 8 of the Formula of
Concord. For now, we'll have to let it rest at this: Jesus says,
Mat. 18:10, “For where two or three are gathered together in My
name, I am there in the midst of them.” He means that not only His
divine nature is there with the Holy Spirit, but also that His human
nature is there. In other words, the Son of Man is here among us, right
now, in the flesh.
Jesus said, “My Father is greater than I.” It should be
evident to you now that Jesus was not speaking of His divine nature,
because in that nature, He is equal to the Father: not greater and not
less, but equal in every way. Wherever Jesus is found, there is His
divine nature. But Jesus' divine nature is always united with the
Father and the Spirit. So wherever we find Jesus, we also have found
the Father and the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus was speaking according to His human nature when He said,
“My Father is greater than I.” After all, Jesus
is human just as much as He is God. It's interesting to see that
He gladly and freely admits that the Father is greater. We might think
that this was part of the humility that He assumed in order to suffer
and die for us, but it's not. Simply put, Jesus is human, and He
acknowledged that according to His humanity, the Father takes
precedence.
Here we see a clear example of the divine order in which God has made
all things. It's fairly obvious that God is greater than humans, and
humans are greater than the beasts and the plants on earth. But even
among humans, God has provided some to be greater and some to be lesser.
Unfortunately, our sinful human nature has twisted these things,
so that we find it a matter of honor or dishonor that God has made us in
such a way. Children rebel against their parents. Citizens rebel
against their rulers. Parents lord it over their children, and rulers
over their people. But in our day, we may see this most prominently in
those places where God has provided different roles for men and women.
Instead of gladly filling our God-given roles, both men and women rebel
against His order and mix it up. It seems that usually, the men fail to
carry their responsibilities, and the women try to do it for them.
Sometimes the reverse in true. This surfaces in the church, in the
home, and even in perversions of the marriage relationship that God
established between a man and a woman.
We are all guilty of rebelling against God's order in Creation, even
sometimes to the point of rebelling against God Himself when we break
His commandments. But for all of this, Jesus confessed, “My
Father is greater than I.” He perfectly kept the role He was assigned
according to His human nature, and did not falter. Now, through
baptism, we wear the perfect robe of His righteousness. The Father
counts us as righteous, and has given all of our guilt to Jesus.
According to His human nature, Jesus truly suffered the punishment of
the damned in our place. Our sins are gone, and heaven is open.
So may our divine and human Lord bless you richly as you celebrate His
birth this Christmas. Amen.