Scott Edinger
At the end of the first chapter in the gospel according to John, we see Jesus’ encounter with Nathaniel (go back and read it, it’s great!) that ends with Jesus asking a question and making a statement, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” John 1:50-51 NLT
The disciples would get to see “greater things” almost immediately. In the following chapter Jesus arrives at a wedding that had run out of wine, which would have been a cultural crisis for the wedding party. So Jesus, at the request of his mother, steps up and does something about it. He asks some nearby servants to take six large stone jars and fill them with water, dip out some of the contents and deliver it to the master of the party. Doing exactly what Jesus asked, they delivered not the cheap boxed wine one would have expected, but the best wine yet.
Keep in mind that it was only the disciples who saw all of this play out and it was just the day before that Jesus had said to Nathaniel, “You will see greater things.” Essentially saying, you will see heaven invading earth in and through me. Which is what N.T. Wright describes as “Moments when the transforming power of God’s love bursts into the present world through Jesus.”
And in these moments, Jesus was making two powerful and significant statements to his disciples and to us:
- These are the greater things I can do and desire to do in you. I can turn water into wine. I can take the empty, anxious, broken, guilty, shamed, and fearful places in your lives and transform them into places of hope, joy, abundance, courage, and confidence. And if this is what I can do with a wine crisis, 6 jars and some water, imagine what I can do in your communities, your churches, your marriages, your families, your jobs, etc. The question is: Do you believe him?
- These are the greater things I can do and desire to do through you. I use the available to accomplish the unimaginable. I used servants and 6 empty stone jars to change water into wine. The only thing that made them special was their proximity to me and to the problem. That’s good news for you! You don’t have to be special, you just have to be available and willing to do whatever I say. The question is: Are you available?
“Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do. I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:11-12 NLT
TIME FOR REFLECTION:
- How Where are you hoping for “greater things” in your life? Do you believe Jesus when he says, “You will see greater things”?
- Where do you see emptiness, a crisis, anxiousness, a need, brokenness, guilt, shame, fear, despair? Where do you see a place on earth that could use a little heaven?
- How can you fill those spaces with the fruit of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?
- How can you fill them with the hope, courage, confidence, abundance and presence of Jesus?