Doing Greater Things

 

 John 14:1-12

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

We recently heard this Gospel passage, but in view of the Ascension coming up a week from Thursday, we are called to meditate on it again. We can imagine the fear the Apostles were feeling at the prospect of losing Jesus again, having lost him on the cross, then regained him when he rose from the dead. Although Jesus spoke these words before his death and resurrection, they are appropriate here before the Ascension, and especially for us at this time of rampant secularization and downright immorality.  We need to put Jesus at the center and live our lives according to his teachings...they are all that really work, and are the antidote to the disguised evil that seems to be overtaking the world today. Jesus told the Apostles and us that HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. Clear and simple, and if we base our lives on that foundation, we will do greater things than  he did...Seems impossible, but look at what St. Francis Xavier or Mother Teresa have done...outreach and evangelization world wide. How great would it be if there were more such saints?  What can I do in my  community or beyond, by my living a Christian life, by my writings, or by becoming a "missionary" at home or  abroad? "...whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."  

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, what are you calling me to do? Open my ears and heart that I might do great things for you, because with you nothing is impossible. Amen