Greater Things

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel. 

Gospel: John 14:8-17

⁸Philip said to [Jesus,] “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

 ¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

 

A few verses earlier, Thomas didn’t get it. Now Philip doesn’t get it. Certainly there were others throughout the church’s history who didn't get it, and we often don’t get it. However, sometimes we do get it. In Celtic Christianity, they would say that is because we have encountered a “thin place,” where we have discovered God’s kingdom to be a bit closer because the distance between it and us is less. Lacy of sacredjourney.net writes, “a thin place is a location or moment in which our sense of the Sacred is more pronounced, where the space between the transcendent and the commonplace is exceptionally narrow.”

 

How do we get from not getting it to a thin place of understanding? This happens through believing, through faith. I’ve highlighted in the text where “believe” appears. When something is repeated, it’s important. This is not an intellectual exercise, but instead involves, being persuaded of, placing confidence in…trusting in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith …to entrust a thing to one (Notes, New English Translation Bible).

 

Faith and belief are active words. They aren’t things, but you might say that belief and faith are verbs. They are active in us through the Holy Spirit and guide us along the faith journey.

 

Jesus’ words, “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it” are striking. Do we see this in our church life today? I would say yes and no. Jesus is addressing his disciples now, not just Phillip. He is talking about what happens when all God’s people throughout the ages, throughout the world believe and follow Jesus. The sheer number of people in God’s church multiplies the works of God, thereby making them “greater” in number. I don’t know that in this life we can fully understand how else Jesus meant “greater.”

 

Sometimes we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. We are too busy to listen to God’s voice. We have too much to do to take even five minutes in God’s presence, in scripture, specifically to hear if God has something to say to us. If we take the time, God will speak and we too will experience “thin places” and “greater works” in Jesus’ name.

 

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