Anything I Can Do, You Can Do Better

John 14:1-14

On the occasion of a service of ordination or installation of new elders, the Presbyterian Book of Order encourages the preacher to focus on the theme of service. This is helpful, especially when dealing with a passage like we’ve got from John—rich, dense, and layered in meaning. With my mind focused on the theme of service, I honed in on the part about “doing the works that Jesus does.”

As the title of my sermon suggests, the whole exchange between Jesus and his disciples makes me think of that old number from Annie Get Your Gun, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” Except, that’s not what Jesus is telling us. Jesus says, “Anything I can do, you can do better. You can do anything greater than me.” Then Philip chimes in, “No we can’t.” “Yes you can.”

We’re prone to agree with Philip, though, aren’t we? The notion that we can do greater works that Jesus is preposterous, bordering on blasphemous. Yet Jesus is adamant, Jesus believes we can. Two questions come to mind: “How is this possible?” and “What kinds of works are we talking about here?” Let’s focus on the latter for a moment.

What kinds of works does Jesus believe we can do? The topic of “works” comes up when Jesus is talking about our believing in him. We’ve got two ways to do this: we can trust his word and believe him when he says that he is in the Father and the Father is in him or we can be moved by the testimony of his works.[1] These are works that induce belief, works that arouse faith, works that instill hope. Think about the wedding at Cana, water into wine. “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” (2:11) Revealed his glory. Revelation is a major theme of Jesus’ works in John. Pay attention to that.

Again in Cana, Jesus healed the son of a royal official by speaking his word to the official. When the man realized that it was the word of Jesus which had healed his son, “he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.” (4:53-54) Then Jesus traveled to Jerusalem and made a visit to the pool of Bethesda where he cured a paralyzed man on the Sabbath. When confronted about breaking the Sabbath, Jesus replied, “My Father is still working, so I also am working.” (5:17) Then he fed 5000 with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, and “when the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’” (6:14) Immediately following this, the disciples sailed across the sea to Capernaum, but Jesus did not get into the boat with them. John says there had only been one boat there, and the crowds knew that Jesus hadn’t gotten into the boat with his disciples. But that next morning, Jesus wasn’t there anymore. We know from the story that he walked on water to join his disciples in Capernaum. The crowds did not. They were filled with wonder and went to look for Jesus. (6:24) In the 9th chapter, Jesus heals a man who had been born blind, “that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” (9:4) This again was a Sabbath healing and sparked a whole ordeal, bringing in this man’s parents to make sure that he really had been born blind, military style interrogations of the healed man, refusal to believe that Jesus, whom they believed to be a sinner for working on the Sabbath, could have performed such a healing. “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind,” the healed man told his interrogators, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” (9:32-33) And the last of Jesus’ seven signs was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. When he asked where Lazarus had been laid, they said to him “Lord, come and see.” And Jesus wept. Some who saw this asked, “couldn’t a guy who opens the eyes of the blind have prevented this man from dying?” Jesus went to the tomb and asked that the stone be rolled away, when Martha questioned him, he replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” Then he spoke aloud to God, not for his own sake, but for ours, “Father I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe you sent me.” (11:42) “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.” (11:45)

So, I ask again: what kinds of works are these? Does Jesus believe we can turn water into wine? Fix a fever with a few words? Heal paralysis? Multiply food? Walk on water? Cure blindness? Raise the dead? Or…does Jesus think we can act in such a way that God’s glory shines through us? Speak words of comfort to those who are suffering? Lift others up? Feed the hungry? Show courage because of our trust in God? Help people see the truth? Preach the gospel of the resurrection? I think the most important verse to focus on in answering the question “What kinds of works? Is verse 13 “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Works that glorify God, that point to God, that make God’s love known, that loose God’s power in the world.

That feeds into the other question: “How is this possible?” I think about what Paul had to say about all things being possible in God. And I think about his first letter to the Corinthians when in talking about serving God he said “there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of works, but it is the same God working through us.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6) And lastly I think about how Jesus blesses his disciples after his resurrection. He appears and offers “Peace be with you” and then again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” How is this possible? Because Jesus died, was risen, ascended to be with the Father and from there sends his Holy Spirit to us.

The Holy Spirit, pneuma hagios in Greek, is worth some further reflection. This word pneuma is dense and full of meaning. Sometimes it refers to a “blast of wind,” sometimes it refers to “breath”, other times it is “the breath of life” or “that which is exhaled.” It can be translated “divine inspiration” or “the spirit of God.” When Jesus breathes upon his disciples, all of this is transferred, in a sense: breath, life, inspiration, God. God dwells in us, because we breathe God in. Think about that. Think about this metaphor. Or is it not a metaphor? What could you accomplish if you didn’t breathe every couple of seconds? We literally function because we breathe. Now…what if with each breath we took, we also sought to inhale the will of God? What if we allowed each breath we took to inspire us to truly live. Remember my New Year’s Day sermon? I said this: “If you make a resolution this year, may it be to check in with God every single moment of every single day. God will transform your chaos into creative potential and fill your wilderness with wonder. ‘So that you might,’ as Isaiah proclaims, ‘declare God’s praise.’” This is what I was getting at. Isaiah calls it “God’s praise”, John calls it “the Father being glorified in the Son”, I’m going to call it breathing.

We’re all called to serve. To believe in Jesus, to trust in God, means that we are capable of infusing each breath we take with divine inspiration. Each breath we take not only fuels us to live, but to live with purpose. To live out works which glorify God, that induce belief, that arouse faith, that instill hope. To you who will take vows of service today, who are to be installed as elders in this congregation: before each vow…take a breath. To the rest of you, you are just as called to serve this church, to serve God, to serve one another…take a moment each day to focus on your breath, to breathe in peace, to breathe out worry.

Try this with me. All of you. Take a deep breath. Breathe in God’s peace. Now hear the word of God:

“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me.”

Breathe.

“The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works.”

Breathe.

“Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on account of the works themselves.”

Breathe.

“I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.”

Breathe.

“They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father.”

Breathe.

“I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father can be glorified in the Son.”

Breathe.

“When you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.”

Now…with this breath. I want you to ask God, in the name of Jesus Christ, to fill you.

“In the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of your Holy Spirit, fill me to do better, O God.”

Now breathe.

Amen.

[1] Sloyan, Gerard. “John” from Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, KY. 1988, John Knox Press. P 180.