28 April 2018
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
When we, the little flock of Christ, look up to our Good Shepherd, we see the Father; He is “…the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word” (Hebrews 1:3). Those who know Jesus, know God the Father. Those who listen to Jesus, hear the Father. Those who love Jesus, love the Father.
As our Shepherd said earlier in the week, He and the Father are One: in our Gospel today He fleshes this out further, such that when Philip asks to be shown the Father Jesus, in essence, says he has already seen Him. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you,” Jesus says in John 15:9. The love Jesus has shown Philip and the others—the love He has shown us—is not merely a reflection of the Father’s love, but it is the Father’s love.
Jesus says something else when He appears to the apostles after His resurrection; He says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). Why did the Father send Jesus? Because He so loved the world.For the same reason, for the same love, Jesus sends His apostles: He sends you, too. “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock!”He says, “For your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom!” (Luke 12:32) “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father,”we read today. How are we to understand this?
Consider the works of Jesus: turning water to wine, driving out demons, forgiving sins, healing the blind, the sick, the lame, speaking the truth to those in power, confounding them as well with silence, choosing to die innocently for the sake of those who both love and hate Him. Rising from the dead. How could we possibly do greater?
See how He shares that all He does is by the power of the Father who dwells in Him, and then He says that those who believe in Jesus will do the works that He does. We—sinners!—will do the things Jesus did, a far greater thing than what Jesus does Himself. God and man, together, in each of us—in you—doing all that Jesus did, and perhaps more. Did Jesus, in His lifetime, convert 3,000 people to faith in Him, all at once? No, but Peter did at Pentecost. Did Jesus stand before the Roman Emperor and witness to the truth of His own divinity? No, but Peter, Paul, and others did. It was not Jesus who brought the Light of Truth to the Gentiles, but those who came after Him. It was not Jesus who, in His lifetime, defeated the Roman Empire but it was the witness of countless martyrs and the prayers of countless more Christians—many slaves and others who had no worldly power—that brought Rome to its knees not in defeat, but in prayer to the One True God.
Survey the history of our Church; read the stories of the saints. God and man, together, in those who believe in Jesus have done truly great things, just as Jesus has promised. They asked Jesus, in His name, for the impossible, and the Good Shepherd answered. Will we trust in His promise? Do we rely upon Christ within us to give us strength, to give us courage to do all things? Brothers and sisters: Christ transforms you from sheep to lions, with the power to defy Satan, to laugh in Death’s face not in arrogance, but with the sure knowledge that it is a bear with no teeth! Follow the Good Shepherd boldly, confidently, for with Him we are never lost: from His hand, we can never be taken.