“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Jesus makes a startling statement about us in this passage. Read verse 12 again. Jesus says that we will do even greater things than he has done because Jesus is going to the Father. Jesus walked on water. Jesus fed the multitudes. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Jesus cast out the demons and so much more. Will we do greater things? Yes, we do them now.
One day Jesus fed 5,000 people along the Sea of Galilee. It was a great miracle. Yet, today, God’s people feed many millions. Some years ago, a young man graduated from Concordia High School in Portland, Oregon. He went on to college in Blair, Nebraska and then to Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. His name is Art Simon and you may know him as the founder of an organization called Bread for the World. It has fed countless people. He has not miraculously converted five loaves and two fish into a feast for thousands, but he has done what is just as miraculous: people have generously opened their wallets to feed hungry people whom they do not even know.
Of course, not all of us will do something so dramatic. I knew woman in my prior parish who taught Sunday School for 69 years. Fourth graders were her favorite. She taught the grandchildren of her first classes. On her confirmation day her Pastor pulled her aside and suggested that she teach. She never really stopped. I think Vera was 4 foot 10 inches tall, maybe less. Some of her fourth-grade charges overtopped her. For nearly 70 years she did what Jesus did. She welcomed, loved, and taught the little children. Did she do the great thing or did her Pastor, who asked a feisty confirmand to teach, do the great thing? Both of them!
Jesus connects this to prayer for us. Pray today that Jesus will continue to do His Father’s great work through your life. He promises to listen to you. Trust that promise and pray today.