Day 154 Ask and Imagine

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

 I don’t know about you, but this verse bugs me.

When I read it, I keep coming back to the same question. Is He really saying what it looks like He's saying? Are we really supposed to do “greater things” than Jesus did while He was on earth? It just seems impossible. I mean, here is a person who is God, who healed all kinds of sickness and ailments, cast out demons, even raised people from the dead, yet He is making this most amazing statement.

“They will do even greater things than these...” Is He serious? Yes.

Imagine what was going through the disciples’ minds. “Us? Even greater things than we’ve seen You do? Are you serious, Jesus?” Yes, He is.

In our rush to understand the latter part of this teaching, we often forget the first part. “...anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing...”

Jesus makes an enormous assumption: those who are His followers should be doing the things that He is doing. Apparently, in Jesus’ mind, it is impossible to call yourself a follower and not have your life look like the person you are following. If you are His follower, then your life will look like His. If you are His follower, you will listen to, absorb, and re-orient your life around His teachings and way of life.

What about the “greater things?” How is that even possible?

What Jesus says in John 14:12 is not that the disciples would do something better or more meaningful than Jesus did. He was inviting them to be involved in something “greater,” more expansive. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus was opening the door wide for the kingdom of God to invade earth. The kingdom was breaking into their midst, and Jesus was inviting people to get involved in taking on this "kingdom" kind of life and spreading it like an aroma.

Jesus came proclaiming that a kingdom is here, a new kingdom, a different kind of kingdom. The kingdom He was proclaiming was foundationally different than any other kingdom. Rather than being a kingdom built with power and oppression, His is built upon love and grace, on generosity, compassion, and peace.

This is the kingdom of God.

Being involved in the expansion of this kind of kingdom is to be involved in something “greater.” The disciples, and we, were being invited to be a part of a movement that started with Jesus.

In your life, do you have a sense that you are a part of something “greater?" We are to live the way of Jesus. Live the way of this new kingdom, and be involved in something “greater” than we can "ask or imagine."