ResurrectionSample

Greater things. We all want those, right? Greater paycheck, greater experiences, greater vacation, greater relationships, greater job. In the Bible, we see a long trajectory of greater things. 

Yesterday, we read how Jesus washed Peter’s feet at the Last Supper. Jesus was celebrating Passover with his disciples. This was and is one of the most important feasts or holidays on the Jewish calendar. It celebrates the impossible, when God’s servant Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage in Egypt. “Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes (Deuteronomy 4:34)?” The exodus was truly incredible, in the sense of unbelievable. No one could have made up such a strange and miraculous story. 

Each year at Passover, those who celebrate remember God’s great deliverance. In the first century, the people of Israel could not wait for God to bring a new exodus out from under Roman oppression. The Passover season was a powder keg in Jerusalem, and the Romans stationed many more soldiers there to enforce a zero tolerance policy on anyone who tried to start a revolution. Jesus took the opportunity at the Last Supper to tell the Passover story in a new way, with himself as the center. He is the unleavened bread. He is the wine, symbolizing the blood on the doorposts to protect those inside the house. He is Moses, leading his people out from bondage to the terrible powers, sin and death. Never mind the Romans, there are deeper issues in every human heart. So which Passover is greater? Vanquishing the Egyptians or evil spiritual forces?

The Gospel of John highlights this theme of greater things. Jesus tells Nathanael when he calls him [John 1:43–51], “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” Jesus fights against the powers of death, unclean spirits, disease, hunger, scarcity, exclusion, and oppression throughout his ministry. He brings life and deliverance wherever he goes. Then as he sits with his disciples at the Last Supper [John 13—14], Jesus offers some final teaching and encouragement. “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). Often the disciples did not understand what Jesus was telling them. Surely, this comment was as cryptic as any other.

After his resurrection, Jesus commissions his disciples to proclaim the good news that he is King of all creation to all nations. He promises to be with his apostles until the very end. [Matthew 28:18–20] 

Jesus is always present with his people by his Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit continues the Bible’s stunning story line, allowing his people to do even greater things.