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. I have quite a few people commentating on my reflections every day, especially on Facebook. One of them recently said that “there is power in asking the right questions, as they help us move from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light”. I believe that to be very true. So, I am going to be asking quite a few questions today that I really want you to think about. And please post your responses wherever you watch or read this. In today’s passage, Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do what I have been doing. In fact, he (or she) will do greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name.” And then he repeats this! “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” I am sure you know what the question is already, but I have to ask: If we believe in Jesus, as we claim we do, why aren’t we doing what he did? I am going to eliminate one of the wrong answers to help you find the right one. There are some who believe that these words were directed only at the apostles, who, as you probably know, worked great miracles in the name of Jesus. Scripture says that “everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles” (Acts 2:43). One of them, Peter, even brought a disciple named Tabitha who died back to life (Acts 9:36-43). But it wasn’t only the apostles who did these things. “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and evil spirits left them” (Acts 19:11-12). Paul, too, brought somebody back from the dead, a young man named Eutychus who was sitting on a windowsill and fell to his death listening to Paul preach ((see Acts 20:7-12). I’m sure there is a moral here somewhere. Then, Stephen, who was one of the first deacons, “performed great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). And Philip, who was just an ordinary layman, delivered people from demons and healed them of sicknesses (see Acts 8:4-8). Many other people have done great things in the name of Jesus over the years, so why aren’t we? It is important that we do, because as I said a couple of days ago, there is going to be a whole world looking for answers soon. And when we provide these answers, signs and wonders have to back them up, again as Jesus promised they would. See Mark 16:15-18. So think about it. And go through the passaged referenced today. They will help in getting the answer. God bless you.
