The Way and "Greater Works"

Dr Rev Mark Porizky

4/20/08

John 14:1-14

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe* in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?   And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  And you know the way to the place where I am going.’  Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you know me, you will know* my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’  Jesus 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”?  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; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe 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.  Very 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.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me* for anything, I will do it.

It was shortly after World War II when the World Council of Churches decided to check on how its money was being spent in a remote area of the Balkans where the World Council was trying to help needy churches re-build after the war. So it dispatched John Mackie, who was an officer with the WCC and the president of the Church of Scotland. Accompanying Dr. Mackie were two other pastors, both of whom came from fairly conservative, pietistic denominations. One afternoon they paid a visit to an Orthodox priest in a remote village of the Balkans. The man was clearly thrilled to receive the visit because he otherwise worked in rather lonely isolation.

Immediately upon seating the guests in his study the priest produced a box of fine Havana cigars and offered one to each of his three guests. Dr. Mackie gingerly took one, bit the end off, lit it, and took a few puffs, saying how fine it was. The other two pastors looked horrified. "No thank you! We do not smoke!" they quickly said. Feeling bad that he maybe had offended the two brothers, the priest wanted to make amends and so left the room only to re-appear with a flagon of his finest wine. Dr. Mackie took a glassful, swirled it, sniffed it like a connoisseur, and then praised its fine quality. Soon he asked for another glass. Meanwhile his traveling companions drew back even more visibly. "No thank you! We do not drink!" they snapped.

Later when the three returned to their car, the two pastors assailed Mackie. "Here you are an officer with the World Council and the leader of Scotland 's Church and yet you smoke and drink!?" "No, I don't," Mackie barked at them. "But somebody in there had to be a Christian!"

We must always be conscious of the Way, including the Way we are Christians.  

Jesus had, after all, provided no maps, no AAA-like trip tickers plotting out directions. The disciples, of course, were not dolts. Had Jesus said that his Father's house was in Rome or Caesarea or somewhere like that, the disciples could have drawn their own maps. But since Jesus had not given them an address, the disciples felt like they could not even begin to plan out this journey.

"Um, Lord, we can't figure out the way to the place until you give us some kind of location. Just where are we headed?"

But Jesus doesn't answer that, does he? Instead he simply identifies himself as the way. Whatever the goal of the journey is, Jesus is the way to get there, and for now that's got to be enough. What's more, it is enough because while they go, they journey with not just Jesus but the Father as well. Apparently, as important as the final destination is, for now the journey itself along the way is the primary thing about which we are to be concerned.

But that is tough to do. Tell your child that tomorrow you're getting in the car and heading to Orlando to spend some time at Disneyworld and the kid will have a mighty tough time enjoying the trip along the way--suddenly she will want to be there yesterday. It would be a foolish parent who would dangle Disneyworld in front of a kid as the final destination but who then also told the child, "But now, Janey, we're going to take our time getting there. There is a neat battlefield in Gettysburg I want to visit along the way, and then your mother wants to spend sometime at an excellent fabric store in Georgia where she will be picking up quilting supplies. And then . . . ." well, and then nothing as far as the child is concerned! You can't get to Orlando fast enough from the child's point of view--everything else along the way is either just a delay or flat out a waste of time.

In John 14 Jesus dangles heaven before the disciples but then proceeds to talk only about the journey as being more important for now.   Why is the journey along the way so important? 

Well look at what Jesus says at the end of the passage and I think we’ll have our clue.

There’s a wonderful passage that has intrigued me; I’m sure it has raised questions in your mind. It’s in the 14th chapter of John, the 12th verse, where Jesus says to his disciples: "Very 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.” 

I remember reading that in Seminary and asking the very serious question: Why is it that we can’t do what Jesus did? The works that Jesus did were amazing. He walked on water, he healed the blind, he made the lame to walk, he even raised up the dead. But if Jesus was for real in his statement, then we should be able to do the things that Jesus did. And listen to this: greater works -- greater works! -- we should be able to do because he has gone to be with the father.

Now I have seen all kinds of miracle workers on television and in real life, some of whom I have been greatly moved by their gifts.  So, please, I believe in healing, but I have never known of anybody who could match Jesus. I’ve never known of anybody who could measure up to the works of the Lord. And yet this is what he says, "See what I’m doing. What I’m doing you’ll be able to do," and then he adds, "and greater works than these shall ye do because I go unto my Father."

When I asked one of my seminary friends about that passage he said it’s because we don’t have enough faith. That didn’t quite wash with me because Jesus doesn’t say you might do it if you have enough faith. Jesus just says, you will do it.

Friends, I think that the problem is this, that we are so impressed with the power of God that we fail to see that the miracles are not about his power but about his love. What Jesus did he did not so much to demonstrate his power but to express his love. How many times does he perform a miracle and say to the people who benefit: don’t tell anybody, keep it quiet; I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.  The Way Jesus spoke about is the way of incredible love.  

Jesus broke into history not to demonstrate his power. He came to express His Father’s love. That’s what his miracles were about. In the first of the miracles, at the Cana feast, he and his disciples arrived at this wedding. They were about half way through the thing and were running out of wine. The father was distraught, he didn’t know what happened. He thought he had enough wine. He mortgaged the house, he took all the money out of the bank. But this Rabbi from Nazareth showed up with his disciples and they’d been guzzling all afternoon! That’s probably what went on. The young bride was in tears. The new husband was perplexed, they don’t know what to do. For the ancient world to run out of wine in the middle of a feast was to be disgraced publicly.

Mary went over to Jesus and nudged him: "Do something." I can just hear her saying, "Do something. Do something." Jesus said, "What have I to do with thee, woman?" which is an ancient way of saying: "Mom get off my back." (So young people, if your mother is driving you up a wall answer her as Jesus would. Say: "What have I to do with thee, woman?" It will go over real big I assure you.)

Jesus had never performed a miracle, but at his mother’s urging he does perform one. He calls for them to bring in containers, fills them with water and he turns the water into wine, not to show his power, but to express his love for people who are in a difficult situation. He did not do it for his power, he did it to express his love.

This is what the Way, the Truth and the Light is about.  This is the gospel.  It’s about love. We can’t duplicate the power of Jesus. I mean we can’t walk on water. I don’t have the ability to raise up people from the dead, neither do you. But this we do have, the opportunity to express the love of Jesus. and when it comes to the bottom line, Jesus was more committed to expressing love than showing off his power.  If Jesus were more interested in showing power, when he was challenged on the cross to send down angels, he could have called legions.  But instead of calling on his power, Jesus called upon his love.   “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!”

We can all express Jesus’ love.  Let me offer you a vivid example.  Tony Campolo tells the following story about some of the work he did with Evangelicals for Social Action in Haiti .  He wrote the following story:

I was in Haiti . I checked on our missionary work there. We run 75 small schools back in the hills of Haiti . I came to the little Holiday Inn where I always stay and shower and clean up before I board the plane to go home. I left the taxi and was walking to the entrance of the Holiday Inn when I was intercepted by three girls. I call them girls because the oldest could not have been more than 15. And the one in the middle said, "Mister, for $10 I’ll do anything you want me to do. I’ll do it all night long. Do you know what I mean?"

I did know what she meant. I turned to the next one and I said, "What about you, could I have you for $10?"

She said yes. I asked the same of the third girl. She tried to mask her contempt for me with a smile but it’s hard to look sexy when you’re 15 and hungry. I said, "I’m in room 210, you be up there in just 10 minutes. I have $30 and I’m going to pay for all 3 of you to be with me all night long."

I rushed up to the room, called down to the concierge desk and I said I want every Walt Disney video that you’ve got in stock. I called down to the restaurant and said, do you still make banana splits in this town, because if you do I want banana splits with extra ice cream, extra everything. I want them delicious, I want them huge, I want four of them!

The little girls came and the ice cream came and the videos came and we sat at the edge of the bed and we watched the videos and laughed until about one in the morning. That’s when the last of them fell asleep across the bed. And as I saw those little girls stretched out asleep on the bed, I thought to myself, nothing’s changed, nothing’s changed. Tomorrow they will be back on the streets selling their little bodies to dirty, filthy johns because there will always be dirty, filthy johns who for a few dollars will destroy little girls. Nothing’s changed. I didn’t know enough Creole to tell them about the salvation story, but the word of the spirit said this: but for one night, for one night you let them be little girls again.

End of story.  Now, friends you might say, "You’re not going to compare that with Jesus walking on water." No, I’m not, for very obvious reasons. Because if Jesus was to make a decision which is the greater work, walking on water or giving one night of childhood back to 3 little girls who had it robbed from them -- giving one night of joy to 3 little girls that armies had marched over -- which do you think Jesus would consider the greater work, walking on water or ministering to those 3 little girls?

And Jesus said, "Very 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 go unto my Father." I can’t replicate the power acts of God in Jesus Christ, but every time I perform an act of love in his name, I am imitating Jesus and he is saying, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."

I am following the one who is the Way.  Will you pray with me now?

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton , CT

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