He promised, then, that He Himself would do greater works. Let the servant not set himself above the master, nor the disciple above the teacher (cf. Mt 10:24; Jn 13:16; 15:20).
He says that they will do works greater than those He Himself does, but only when He Himself works in them or through them, not when they act by themselves. For to Him it is sung, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength” (cf. Ps 18:1).
What, then, are the greater works? Perhaps He means that their shadow would heal the sick as they passed by (cf. Acts 5:15). Healing by a shadow is greater than healing by the hem of a garment (cf. Mt 14:36).
The one He did through Himself, the other through them, yet both were done by Himself. For when He said this, He was speaking of the works of His words.
He said, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself; the Father who abides in Me, He does the works.” What did He then call works, if not the words of which He spoke?
They heard them and believed. Faith in them was the result of those words. Yet when the disciples began to bring the Gospel, not only a few, as they had been, but whole nations believed.
These works are without doubt greater. Yet He did not say, “You will do works greater than these,” as though we should think that only the apostles would do them.
He said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do” (Jn 14:12-13).
Does everyone who believes in Christ do what Christ did, and even greater things than Christ? This should not be discussed in passing or hastily dismissed. But since this discourse must now end, the question must be postponed.
It is not easy to understand what the Lord meant when He said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also.” Although this is already difficult to grasp, He added something still harder: “and greater works than these he will do.”
What does this mean? We have not found anyone who did the works Christ did. How then shall we find one who did even greater works?
Yet in the preceding discourse we said that healing by one’s shadow while passing by, as the disciples did, is greater than healing by touching the hem of His garment, as the Lord did.
We also said that a greater number believed through the apostles than through the Lord preaching with His own lips. Thus these works may seem to be understood as greater.
Yet this is not because the disciple is greater than the Teacher, the servant greater than the Lord, the adopted greater than the Only-begotten, or man greater than God.
It is because He Himself deigned to do these great works through them, having said elsewhere, “Without Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).
So that I may not omit other works, which are innumerable, I say that He certainly performed them Himself without the disciples’ participation. Without their participation He made this world.
Since He deemed it fitting to become man, He did this concerning Himself without their participation. And what did they do without His participation, except sin?
At last, here and at once, He removed the doubts that could trouble us on this point. After He said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do,” He immediately added, “because I go to My Father, and whatever you ask in My name, I will do” (Jn 14:12-13).
After saying, “he will do,” He then said, “I will do.” It is as if He said, “Let this not seem impossible to you. He who believes in Me cannot be greater than I.”
“Even then I will do works greater than now. I will do greater works through one who believes in Me than I did by Myself without his mediation.”
“Yet I Myself do them, whether through him or by Myself. When I do them without his mediation, he himself does not do them. When I do them through him, as though not by Myself, he also does them.”
Moreover, to do greater works through him than without his mediation is an expression not of weakness, but of mercy. For what can servants render to the Lord for all His benefits toward them (cf. Ps 116:12)?
He condescended, among His other gifts, to grant them this also, that He would do through them works greater than those He did without them.
Did not that rich man go away sorrowful after speaking with Him, when he had asked counsel concerning eternal life (cf. Mt 19:16-22)? He heard the counsel and rejected it.
Yet afterward many did, when the Good Teacher spoke through the disciples, what that one man did not do when he heard Him. He was despised by the rich man whom He admonished by Himself.
He gained love among those whom, through the poor, He made poor from being rich. See how, when believers preached Him, He did greater works than when He Himself spoke to those who heard Him.
But there is still something else concerning His doing greater works through the apostles. He did not speak only of them and say, “The works that I do, you also will do, and greater than these.”
Wishing all who belong to His household to take this to themselves, He said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do.”
Therefore, if the believer will do them, one must suppose that whoever does not do them is not a believer. It is like this saying: “He who loves Me keeps My commandments” (cf. Jn 14:21).
From this it is clear that whoever does not keep them does not love. He says the same elsewhere: “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them I will liken to a wise man who built his house upon the rock” (Mt 7:24).
That is, whoever is not like the wise man either hears these words and does not do them, or does not hear them at all.
“He who believes in Me,” He says, “though he die, yet shall he live” (Jn 11:25). Therefore the one who shall not live certainly does not believe.
So also here: “He who believes in Me, he will do.” And whoever does not do, does not believe. What, then, does this mean, brethren?
Can no one be found among believers in Christ who does not do works greater than Christ? That would be foolish and absurd. It could not be borne. It would be unbearable if it were not understood.
Let us hear the apostle: “To him who believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness” (Rom 4:5). In this work let us do the works of Christ.
Our faith in Christ is already a work of Christ. By this He works in us, and certainly not without us. Hear and understand, then.
“He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also. First I do them, then you yourself do them also, for I do them so that you may do them.”
What works are these, if not those by which an ungodly man becomes righteous? “And greater works than these he will do.” Which works? I ask that this be told me.
Does he who works out his salvation with fear and trembling (cf. Phil 2:12) do works greater than all the works of Christ? Certainly Christ works it in him, though not without him.
I would even say that this is greater than heaven and earth, and than everything that exists on earth and in heaven. “Heaven and earth will pass away” (cf. Mt 24:35).
But the salvation and justification of the predestined, that is, of those whom He predestined for this, will abide forever. In the former there are only works of God. In the latter there is also the image of God.
Yet in the heavens also, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Archangels, and Angels are works of Christ. Does the one who, by Christ working together in him, obtains eternal salvation and justification for himself do greater works than these?
I do not dare hasten to decide this. Let him who can understand, understand. Let him who can judge, judge whether it is greater to create righteous beings or to justify the unrighteous.
It is evident that, if equal power is manifested in both, greater mercy is manifested in the latter. For this is the great mystery of piety.
“He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by Angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory” (cf. 1 Tim 3:16).
Yet no necessity compels us to understand all the works of Christ when He says, “greater works than these he will do” (Jn 14:12).
Perhaps He said “these” with reference to what He was doing at that moment. At that time He was performing words of faith, and He had spoken of these works just before.
He said, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself; the Father who abides in Me, He does the works” (Jn 14:10). Then His words, of course, were His works.
Certainly, to preach the word of faith, which He did without them, is less than to justify the ungodly. He performs this in us in such a way that we also perform it.
It remains to learn how the words should be understood: “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (Jn 14:14). A serious question arises because believers ask many things and do not receive everything asked.
But since this discourse must now end, let at least a short delay be granted before this is considered and interpreted.
The Lord gave great hope to those who trust in Him when He said, “because I go to My Father, and whatever you ask in My name, I will do” (Jn 14:12-13).
Therefore He went to the Father in such a way that He did not abandon the needy, but heard those who asked.
But what does “whatever you ask” mean, when we see that many who believe in Him ask and do not receive? Perhaps it is because they ask for evil things.
The Apostle James rebuked this when he said, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (Jas 4:3).
If anyone intends to use for evil what he wishes to receive, God in His mercy will sooner refuse him. More than this, if people ask Him for something that will harm them, they should fear something else.
They should fear that what He might in His mercy not fulfill, He may fulfill in His wrath.
Do we not see how the Israelites received woe for themselves, being moved in their requests by blameworthy desire? They longed to eat meat (cf. Num 11:32; 21:5), while manna had been sent down to them from heaven.
They felt revulsion for what they had and shamelessly asked for what they did not have. It would have been better not to ask for the food their base desire lacked.
It would have been better to ask that they be healed of their aversion and accept the food at hand. For when evil delights us and good does not, we must pray God that good may delight us.
This is better than good becoming harmful to us. Eating meat is not evil, especially since the apostle said, “Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim 4:4).
Rather, as the same apostle said, “It is evil for a man who eats with offense” (cf. Rom 14:20). If only it were an offense to man, and not rather an offense to God.
The Israelites greatly offended God when they rejected what Wisdom had given them and asked for what desire demanded. Even if they did not ask, they murmured about what they lacked.
But so that we may understand that God’s creature is not blameworthy, but stubborn disobedience and excessive greed are, the first man found death not through pork, but through fruit (cf. Gen 3:6).
And Esau lost his birthright not through chicken, but through lentils (cf. Gen 25:34).
How should we understand, “Whatever you ask in My name, I will do,” if God does not fulfill some things asked by believers? Or should we suppose that this was said only to the apostles?
By no means. For how did He come to say this? Above He said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also, and greater works than these he will do.”
We have already discussed this in the preceding discourse. So that no one might attribute such power to himself, He added, to show that He Himself performs these greater works, “because I go to the Father; and whatever you ask in My name, I will do” (Jn 14:12-13).
Did only the apostles believe in Him? Therefore, in the words “he who believes in Me,” He was addressing those among whom, by His mercy, we also stand, though we do not receive everything we ask.
THEOSIS