Christ is Doing Greater Works

First Lutheran Church, Huntingtown MD

May 3, 2026, Fifth Sunday of Easter

Text: John 14:1–14, Acts 6:1–9; 7:2a, 51–60, 1 Peter 2:2–10

In the name of Jesus, Amen!

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus says, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.” Can anyone do greater works than Jesus does? As a Christian, you would probably say no, because Jesus’ dying and rising up again is the single greatest and most important work in human history. All that we can do is to share the message, the Good News of salvation accomplished by Jesus. Maybe you even heard Jesus Himself said, “A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” If a believer of Jesus as His servant and messenger will do grater works than Jesus does, is he NOT greater than his mater in some way? There seems to be a contradiction here. So, what does it mean by Jesus’ saying “greater works than these will he do”? The short answer is that Jesus is doing greater works through His people than what He did by Himself before He ascended into heaven. The works that a believer does are the greater works of what Jesus continues to do in His mission to save sinners.

What does it mean when Jesus says, “whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do”? What are the works that Jesus does and His followers also will do? As my wife and I are traveling from place to place in the United States to visit congregations, I have been preaching in a series of sermons about the Mission of God, because Christian Mission is God’s Mission to save sinners. The Mission of God comes from the loving heart of God, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”. We talked about God’s salvation history and the overall picture of how God carries out His mission by His Son and through His people. We talked about why Jesus’ overcoming the temptations is an important part of the mission of God. We talked about how declaring sinners righteous and granting us a new life that shall never die are the work of God, not work of man, nor work of the Law, and thus are the core of His mission to save sinners through Jesus Christ. We also talked about how God in Christ Jesus continues His mission through His people, believers.

Actually, Jesus gives us the reason why believers will do greater works. Jesus says “because I am going to the Father.” What does it mean that Jesus was going to the Father? Why does Jesus’ going to the Father enable Jesus’ followers to do greater works? First, Jesus’ going to the Father means Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. It means that the work of salvation has been accomplished. It means that Jesus has reconciled humanity to God the Father. It means that in Jesus Christ we can go to the Father as well. Second, Jesus with His resurrected Body is able to be with His church because He has gone to the Father. After the resurrection and before the ascension, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” “All authority” means that Jesus is able to fill His church with Himself and His gifts. “I am with you always” means that Jesus is here and now in His Word, and in His Body and His Blood. Jesus continues His mission through His people and will be always with us not just in Spirit but in person. Though He is invisible, Jesus is working in people’s hearts to create faith by His Spirit through Word and Sacraments. Therefore, the greater works that whoever believes in Jesus do is Jesus’ works of converting people to believe by His Holy Spirit through His Word and Sacraments.

However, converting people to receive the forgiveness accomplished by Christ and the eternal life in Him is NOT easy. These works of converting people from unbelief to belief is the most difficult work because of stubbornness of sinful hearts, therefore is the most miraculous work of God the Holy Spirit through His people, as the Small Catechism says, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” Now, Jesus is doing greater works of converting people to believe through His Word and by His Holy Spirit. People who believe by hearing of the Gospel throughout history and around the world are billions of times MORE than just the 12 apostles of Jesus or the 500 disciples who saw resurrected Jesus with their own eyes and believed. The more challenged is a work, the more blessings come with the result. When resurrected Jesus showed doubting Thomas the wounds in His hands and side, He said, “blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.” Jesus now has much bigger and larger impact on the world stage not only by the number of people whose life has been radically changed throughout history but also in terms of the challenge of disbelief that believers have encountered and finally conquered through His Word and His Holy Spirit.

Finally, Christ is doing great works in terms of new creation. The two greatest works of God for humanity so far are Creation and Redemption. God in Christ continues to work on these two aspects, namely creation and redemption in His greater works of the new creation in Christ Jesus through His mission to save sinners. The telos or goal of this new creation is a new humanity in Christ Jesus living in the new heaven and new earth for God created man to live forever with Him. That’s why Jesus tells us in our Gospel lesson that He goes to the Father in order to prepare a place for us. “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? 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.” Through Holy Baptism, God makes us born from above to have a new life in Christ Jesus and nourishes this new life in Word and Sacrament, for “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17)”

I pray that as a Christian you will be part of these greater works of Jesus and continue God’s mission to save sinners and create new life in Christ Jesus for He is preparing a room for us in His Father’s House and will be with us in His mission, strengthen our faith so that we are prepared to live in the new heaven and new earth, comfort us with His forgiving peace, protect and lead us always to the end of the age.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen!