“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.”
Usually when I hear folks mention this passage it’s with an attitude of “not sure what he meant, because that’s impossible.” I, on the other hand, seem to find Jesus’ words quite amazing and yet very believable. There are two reasons for this.
One, there are plenty of miracles occuring today. Most of us sitting in our wealth, independent society in the USA have not been privileged to experience the miraculous hand of God in people’s lives, quite the same as it was at work in Jesus’ time. The academics in our society have explained miracles away as a thing of the past, and for us with all our modern technology we don’t see much of a need for a miracle to occur here.
Take a short trip to a great many other places throughout the world and you’ll find out pretty quickly (whether you believe people or not is our choice), that miracles certainly seem to be happening today. I won’t go much into this, because I think we have some strong opinions on these things, but I would argue, there are a lot of folks out there that will testify to God being at work through physical miracles of healing and more.
Second, and this is one that applies to most of us, I think we have each been given plenty of resources to do “greater things” in our lifetimes. I’m not talking about dying on the cross, or literally raising someone out of a grave, but many of the other things are miracles we can help make happen through donation. You could easily feed 10,000 people a meal in your lifetime. You can provide healing treatment for lepers, donate blood or bone marrow so noblemen’s sons might live. We have a great many resources in our midst, let’s make Jesus’ words a reality.
Right on. I see miracles all the time. Most people do. They just don’t recognize them as such and forget them quickly.
Hey, i came across this while having a debate with my friend about the possibility of us doing greater things than Jesus. He thought i was nearing on blasphemy but in this lifetime i will be persecuted. I like the heart you had when you wrote this. Please let me return the favour of being spiritually moved by showing you my blogs i wrote. They are on my local youthgroups website. http://www.eternalyouthonline.org
Favorite quote by Jesus by the way, “I tell you the truth…..”
Love you guys….whoever you are.
Jesus words about those who believe Him doing greater things is very true and applicable. Jesus was and still is our teacher/rabbi. In life a student can read / applying the principles taught by the teacher and eventually gain knowledge that surpasses what his teacher could do. Similarly if a Christian applies the teachings of Jesus as presented in the bible he should be able to achieve more and greater things but seeing these will depend on the nature of greater things one is looking for
Easy application of this verse takes place in 2 Corinthians 5:21 – why can we do "even greater things" than Jesus? Simply because there's more of us! Miraculous healings take place today yes but what is possibly more miraculous than salvation? That responsibility should weigh as heavily upon us as it did on Jesus, because we're his representatives – he bore the weight of our sin on his shoulders!
To the author:
You started out good and you ended up relying upon human means to make Jesus' dream come true. Yes you can raise someone from the dead! Jesus did it, you can too, because what Jesus meant by "because I am going to the Father" is that he was going to send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was Jesus's power on earth, since he never assumed his godliness on earth. For example, "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." (acts 10:38) So don't limit yourself when believing you can do greater things than Jesus, it is only your loss in doing so.
@Sam: salvation is the easiest thing to achieve on this earth, because Jesus did it for you. You see, all one needs to do is believe that Jesus exists. It is when you heal cancer in Jesus' name, when you kick demons out of people and their homes when the real dominion Jesus gave us is manifested. That's more miraculous than salvation, because people can see it, they can measure it and attest to it.
Alan,
Thanks for the comment. I agree there is a lot of great things that can be done through the power of God at work in people. But, I don't get why you separate out “human means” as irrelevant or not a practical way to address needs. The early church gave and shared their possessions. Jesus told people to do that very thing on occasion. I'm not saying it's the only way, but many, many Christians in America have those resources in their hands and can use them to meet the needs of others. Pray for healing and ask for supernatural miracles, but if you have the means to feed that person, don't neglect that if the miracle doesn't come.
Alan,
Thanks for the comment. I agree there is a lot of great things that can be done through the power of God at work in people. But, I don't get why you separate out “human means” as irrelevant or not a practical way to address needs. The early church gave and shared their possessions. Jesus told people to do that very thing on occasion. I'm not saying it's the only way, but many, many Christians in America have those resources in their hands and can use them to meet the needs of others. Pray for healing and ask for supernatural miracles, but if you have the means to feed that person, don't neglect that if the miracle doesn't come.
Alan,
Thanks for the comment. I agree there is a lot of great things that can be done through the power of God at work in people. But, I don't get why you separate out “human means” as irrelevant or not a practical way to address needs. The early church gave and shared their possessions. Jesus told people to do that very thing on occasion. I'm not saying it's the only way, but many, many Christians in America have those resources in their hands and can use them to meet the needs of others. Pray for healing and ask for supernatural miracles, but if you have the means to feed that person, don't neglect that if the miracle doesn't come.
Alan,
Thanks for the comment. I agree there is a lot of great things that can be done through the power of God at work in people. But, I don't get why you separate out “human means” as irrelevant or not a practical way to address needs. The early church gave and shared their possessions. Jesus told people to do that very thing on occasion. I'm not saying it's the only way, but many, many Christians in America have those resources in their hands and can use them to meet the needs of others. Pray for healing and ask for supernatural miracles, but if you have the means to feed that person, don't neglect that if the miracle doesn't come.
Alan,
Thanks for the comment. I agree there is a lot of great things that can be done through the power of God at work in people. But, I don't get why you separate out “human means” as irrelevant or not a practical way to address needs. The early church gave and shared their possessions. Jesus told people to do that very thing on occasion. I'm not saying it's the only way, but many, many Christians in America have those resources in their hands and can use them to meet the needs of others. Pray for healing and ask for supernatural miracles, but if you have the means to feed that person, don't neglect that if the miracle doesn't come.
Alan,
Thanks for the comment. I agree there is a lot of great things that can be done through the power of God at work in people. But, I don't get why you separate out “human means” as irrelevant or not a practical way to address needs. The early church gave and shared their possessions. Jesus told people to do that very thing on occasion. I'm not saying it's the only way, but many, many Christians in America have those resources in their hands and can use them to meet the needs of others. Pray for healing and ask for supernatural miracles, but if you have the means to feed that person, don't neglect that if the miracle doesn't come.
I tell you the truth…there is no limit to a person. After all, the creator made you and there were no mistakes.
Make sure you quote the scripture you are using. Lots of people say things are in the bible and they are not. Eliminate any questions of the validity of your statements.