John 14:27-31 If you loved me...

At a scripture study group last night we were discussing this coming Sunday's Gospel.  A couple of lines from today's reading and Sunday's overlap.  The one that really struck most of us was this: 

"If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I."

 It is powerful on so many levels.  We think we love, but is there an even greater love that we have not yet experienced?  How is the Father greater than the Son?  Why should we rejoice when someone we love goes away from us? 

How would you answer these questions?  We came up with several ways to understand them better, usually with comparisons or scenarios from our own lives.  More than anything, we agreed that if in God there is a greater kind of love and joy that we can only tangibly grasp, than we can't wait.