Even Greater Things
“Believe me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 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 14:11,12
We are in the Upper Room where Jesus has been explaining to His disciples that He will soon leave them and why. He’s told them first of all that only by leaving them can He prepare a home in the Father’s presence for them, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be where I am” (14:3). Then He’s given a second reason: only by leaving them to die and then be resurrected can they fully grasp how He has embodied the heavenly Father’s words and works. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).
So we come to the third reason: only by going away can He equip them to live for Him and effectively fulfil His mission in the world. “Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you” (16:7). The ‘Counsellor’ is the Holy Spirit. Other versions offer different terms other than ‘Counsellor’: ‘helper’ (GNB), ‘comforter’ (AV), ‘advocate’ (NEB). The original word means ‘one called alongside (to help).’ Outside of the New Testament the word had a distinctively legal connotation of a defence counsellor.
“Believe me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that He was not just a prophet, not just a teacher, not just their disciple-master, not only the Messiah; He was the Word made flesh, God incarnate. To be in His presence was to be in the presence of the Father. Recognising this was stretching the disciples’ faith, Jesus adds “or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” If His disciples could not believe on the basis of His words, they could at least believe on the basis of His works. The word translated ‘miracles’ here is the same word generally translated ‘works.’
“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.” If “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing,” the obvious question is: what had Jesus “been doing” that defines the “even greater things” we will do because He is going to the Father? Again the word translated “things” is the same word translated “miracles” just previously in 14:11, the usual word translated ‘works.’ So what else does John’s gospel call Jesus’ “works”? (1) evangelism (4:34) (2) specific healings (5:20; 7:21; 9:3,4) (3) miracles generally (7:3; 10:25,32,33,37,38; 14:11,12) (4) Jesus’ teaching (14:10) and (5) Jesus entire ministry generally (5:36; 17:4).
In what way could the “works” of the disciples be greater than Jesus’ “works”? The usual answer is that the disciples’ quantity of “works” was greater than Jesus’ quantity. The problem with this is that the word translated “greater” defines quality and not quantity. It is possible that the book of Acts describes a very limited number of the “works” of the disciples (in both quality and quantity). Another plausible explanation comes from Jesus description of John the Baptist, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11). John was the herald of the kingdom Jesus brought in, but John himself lived, ministered and died before people entered it. So in terms of privileges, the least in the kingdom were greater than John. Applying this to the difference between Jesus’ works and the disciples’ works, the disciples’ works in one way were greater than His because they testified by word and deed to the finished work of Christ and the fuller coming of the kingdom it ushered in, while Jesus’ ministry prior to His death and resurrection only foreshadowed these things. This is one possible explanation.
We are privileged to live on this side of the cross and not the far side (BC). Jesus’ death and resurrection has not only paid the full penalty for our sin but has also purchased for us entrance into the kingdom of God. We are in God’s family. We have unhindered access into God the Father’s presence. We are blood bought, blood washed, sanctified saints privileged to enjoy all that Christ has won for us.
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