(2 Pet 2:2-10; Jn 14:1-14) J G White ~ 10:30 AM, E4, Sunday, May 3, 2026, FBC Amherst

I am going to be away for Mothers Day, next Sunday. This week, let me start by saying: I am grateful for my parents. They have their unique ways of being sensible and savvy. They are eighty now. Back in the sixties, one graduated from high school and went right to work. The other went out to work before finishing school. They never demanded or expected specific things from us three children in our lives. Except they did say they wanted – hoped – we would go farther than they did. And we each did go to college and university, all three of us with at least two degrees, now I think about it. I don’t know if we have done greater things than Joan or George White. I think it is hard to compare careers and accomplishments. They have been our greatest supporters.

Sometimes we think about doing greater things than those who went before us. Today, as always, we Christians look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our Faith, as one Bible verse says. But we read from John 14. This has been an oft quoted chapter of the New Testament. There are several famous phrases from Jesus; at least, used to be famous. Which one is the best known, would you say? 

In my Father’s house there are many [mansions]. (old trans.)

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

Ask anything in my name and I will do it.

Or how about this one? “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.”  Believers will do greater things than Jesus. Really? Seriously? What could this possibly mean?

In one sense, it is simple. Instead of Jesus being one single human at one place on earth at any one time, now, His people get to be everywhere and doing so much now. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the Body of Christ.

Perhaps that answer seems like cheating. Instead, we can consider that as the centuries have gone by, progress has been made in human life, in our capabilities for good, and in our spiritual knowledge. Back in the Bible we can read of Jesus telling people there is more to be taught; the Spirit will keep on with our training. 

In our lives, things are changing so quickly now. So, to deal with all this is the task at hand for humans, with the Spirit of Christ. 

Sometimes, the group of us that sing once a month at The Birches, bring out the song that says:

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow

They'll learn much more than I'll never know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world              (George David Weiss, Robert Thiele Jr..)

We could see this as a wonderful world if the disciples can do greater things than the good work Jesus did. So let’s think about the main things we found out that Jesus did. And what might we do that is as good or, dare we say, greater? I’ll let you guide the sermon. You tell me what kinds of things you know Jesus did. I came up with a list of eleven sorts of things. We won’t have time to talk about them all. What work did Jesus do? 

Disperse Evil (cast out demons) There is evil we face in our lives, locally. And there is evil faced in the world at large. Things such as: Technological evils, Political and military powers, Economic empires, Social powers. Two thousand years ago in the Middle East, Jesus spoke, of course, in terms of evil powers and evil spirits, as everyone did then. Often He saw evil at work in the powerful people, even in His own Jewish religion. Sometimes He saw evil in the illness that dragged people down and destroyed their lives. And evil in other places. 

All these years later, we might see evil as greater than ever, really because there are more of us humans, and more power and wealth has been accumulated by some who control big segments of the earth. Maybe evil powers are not more evil than before, but they are bigger. And sometimes more dangerous than ever. For all of our lives some people have had the ability, the possibility, of destroying everyone on earth. 

It is a greater work to be part of preventing destruction, working for fairness and goodness among peoples, and crying out for peace.

Heal. Healing on the individual level, by Jesus, touching many people. Even being touched by Him, when He wasn’t looking.

Healing includes the emotional, mental, social, spiritual, etc. as well as the physical. Sometimes the inner turmoil back in Jesus’ day got talked about as evil spirits troubling people. To bring health can be a heavy task. To live a healthy life takes work, and takes luck. We are told about Jesus, when He was just a pre-teen, He was becoming a well-rounded square. Haven’t I told you about being a well-rounded square? It says Jesus grew in [1] wisdom, [2] stature, and in favour [3] with God and [4] man. 

We read so many stories of Jesus healing people, and in Churches we keep lists for prayer for ill and injured people, you’d think we’d know all about the powerful, merciful work of healing. I thing there is greater work to do in the field of healing than we realize. 

Forgive. What’s the old saying? To err is human; to forgive Divine. But we always know we all have forgiving to do, and we do it, and we try and fail at it also. We need it from others, from ourselves, and forgiveness from God. 

All this is dealing with our part in evil, right? So, to forgive is not to pretend a problem is smaller, not as important, not as bad. We’re not saying it was all right. Forgiveness takes the wrong seriously. But it does this letting go of it. It lets go of paying a person back for what they did (or didn’t do). It finds freedom from the hurt that happened and the way life got changed. 

Centuries ago, forgiveness was a big thing. A person couldn’t just say, ‘I forgive you.’ In the Bible it seems many of the people thought only God could forgive wrongs, and often it took special worship to make this happen with God. Such confession and forgiveness still part of Christian services. Storytelling and apologies happen in truth and reconciliation processes. But it happens without ritual too, between people and groups. Forgiveness truly is a great work to be done, again and again. Connecting with Jesus completes the process, as we remember His words during His execution: “Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”

Water into Wine (wedding) This is a famous story of Jesus from John chapter four. This amazing production of excellent wine from water, for a wedding celebration, is for John the first sign Jesus performs, to show something about Himself. To reveal Himself.

I remember an old cartoon from a magazine. There at a desk is what looks like a monk, feather quill upon a scroll, but weeping. He is copying an ancient text, by hand. He says to another monk, standing by, “It says celebrate.” (Not celibate!)

To celebrate is a religious practice, a spiritual event, a social builder, a biblical way of life. One of the tithes in ancient Israel was a giving of ten percent for… celebrations! To eat and drink and be merry. And don’t forget those who don’t have anything: share.

There are so many pictures and parables of parties and banquets in the New Testament, we must take seriously that celebrating is vital to life. Late great preacher, Tony Campolo, titled his book, “The Kingdom of God Is a Party!” To celebrate day to day, and in the face of disaster, is very important work! Let’s get to work; party on!

Resurrection (Lazarus) At least once, we can read about Jesus bringing someone back to life who had died. Conquering death is a keynote teaching of our Faith, our Gospel, our worldview. 

Is there actual revival of dead people? I don’t hear about that, don’t expect it. We talk of people in surgery being lost and brought back, maybe even more than once. But they did not quite die, all the way, I’d say. Once in a while, there is a claim and a big story of someone who died for a while, even gets to visit ‘heaven,’ but then comes back to this life. Me, I don’t look for that stuff to help me believe in life after death. 

Anyway. What about ‘eternal life’? The life that transcends this one, and even can begin here and now, but endures. How can we do greater work than Jesus: conquering death like an enemy, and opening the door to eternity for all? 

We can’t. We don’t. But we can live it. Point to it. Our great work is simply to live the new life here and now. At great moments some amazing grace takes us there, and we shine with a bit of the light. That bit of light is a great thing for others.

Religious Reform (challenge priests and scribes) Jesus had many an intense conversation with His Jewish leaders, the ones we mysteriously call the scribes, the pharisees, the saducees, the priests. 

Some of the protestant thinkers of the past four hundred years have spoken of their churches being reformed and always reforming. Did Jesus of Nazareth come to reform religion, maybe to start a whole new one? Seems like it turned out that way, with Christianity. I’ll just go out on a limb and say for me there is a short answer and a long answer. My short answer is, ‘No, He did not come to start a new religion in the world.’ My long answer – for some other sermon – starts, ‘Yes, Jesus came to build a new Way for people to share their spirituality, what I call a religion.’

Jesus challenges the religious leadership and practices of His time. Two thousand years later, we are at the end of an era, in the West: the end of Christendom. What now for Church? What next? It is a big task for us, at our local level, to consider this. And as we, First Baptist, look at reforming ourselves a little bit, are we joining the bigger movement? It is a big collapse of some of Christianity, but also a rebirth. So we think, as we follow the Way of our Jesus. 

Teach and Train (make disciples) You may know about a lot of sermons, talks, parables and object lessons given by Jesus, as recorded in the four Gospels. And other places. He gets called Rabbi, Teacher, Master. He had disciples, many apprentices, actually. And those who had the most training with Him were told to keep on making more and more disciples, everywhere. 

It was practical, hands-on training, for life. Not just a bunch of knowledge, a new collection of beliefs or religious teachings. It was how to live that Jesus was giving out, helping people practice. 

From our years at the Windsor Baptist Church, I remember what they called their Board of Christian Education. It was ‘Training and Discipleship,’ which I liked very much as a name. 

The training of people is a big task for a volunteer group. We train ourselves, and others who might come to us. We ‘disciple’ them, as we say. We help them be apprenticed to Jesus. Now, starting the second quarter of the 21^st century, we can enter a new era of making disciples of one another, and offering this course of study in the school of life. Life with the Spirit of Jesus. It is worth doing, and worth doing well. 

Provide Food Christ is known in the stories of feeding hungry people. Folks who were hungry because they were away from home, in a big crowd. We also sense His compassion for those who were often hungry.

There is, of course, with hunger, many other such needs. In our work here, we have the Benevolent fund. People in our area gets helped with paying some bills from this. We also have some devoted volunteers with our local Food Bank, which is the nexus for supplying free food to the many households that are sometimes in need. One other little team is the Cookie Crew that bakes right here and delivers each week to the local shelter. 

What other help, bigger help, deeper help are we called to offer? 

What greater good can we provide? I especially wonder about this worldwide. We seem to out of touch with the relief and development work of Canadian Baptist Ministries, what used to be called, in the past century, ‘The Sharing Way.’

Include Jesus was often breaking religious and social boundaries. Often welcoming people who were shut out, left out, one or two steps away from the centre. He touched them, ate with them, included them. 

A few decades ago, a Lutheran congregation was started up by Nadia Boltz-Weber. It is House for all Sinners and Saints in Denver, Colorado. That’s a name! Closer to home, First Baptist Halifax adopted a motto you can read on their website, and other places. First Baptist: ‘Breaking stereotypes since 1827.’ Yes, I think they have been doing that. 

Our recent inclusion statement is published here and there, including on a banner as you enter. We official come out and say we include these kinds of people – all kinds of people – for we believe this is the work of Jesus among us. 

As I look around, I see there is greater work to be done, to include people, to welcome others, to build the spiritual house.

Declare Kingdom of God/Heavens The preaching of Jesus is written down quite briefly in the New Testament. From the very beginning, He declared that the Kingdom is near/at hand. This Kindom is far different, even opposite, from other kingdoms. And the King won His way to the top unlike any other ruler on earth. He was lifted up, while being executed, to draw all people to Himself.

The God of goodness, of goodness, is in charge: this was declared by Jesus’ words, yes, but also by His great actions.

Together, can we do greater things than one traveling holy Preacher could, in Palestine? I mean, by the preaching of our words and of our lives. One good thing about so many people not knowing much of the story of Jesus is we can start afresh with them, and tell it well. One good thing about so many people being anxious from day to day and fearful about our future on this planet is we can share a vision for peace and abundance and love, which has not died out.

Perhaps our conclusion, today, can simply be a quick reflection upon that almost poetic stuff from what we call 2 Peter chapter 2. All those statements of identity for the first Christians back then. And we keep claiming these words today. We are living stones, built into a spiritual house. How are we? We are a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood. This our mission? We are a chosen race, a holy nation. Shall we know this? We are God’s own people. This our family? We are a people now, who’ve been shown mercy. Amen to that! Now, let us show mercy.  [silent meditation]