Jesus worked quite a few miracles in His life and He did them, it seems, not to demonstrate His great power but, rather, to express His great love … A love that chooses to heal, to restore, to forgive, to accept the downtrodden, to embrace the disenfranchised, and to bring the grace and mercy of God into situations and people.

In John 13:34-35 Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to You, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I can’t walk on water, I can’t raise the dead, I can’t heal the sick, and neither can you. And, that’s not what Jesus is talking about anyway. But, I can have a heart of love that cares enough to build bridges so that people don’t have to deal with the water. I can’t raise the dead but I can support the efforts around the world to build hospitals and medical clinics that bring the gift of healing into the lives of people, in Jesus Name, people who would not normally have access to health care. I can be a part of a plan to help people do the things necessary to fight off sickness and disease. I can love the unlovely, embrace the lonely, touch the untouchables. I can bring the life of Jesus into my little world by being the kind of person He calls me to be, to love others because they matter to God, and to live in the spirit of grace and love and compassion and mercy in a world where these things are often sacrificed for the wants of the greedy, the powerful, the rich, the haves.

I have concluded, rightly I think, that there is just about nothing a group of Christians , who have been captivated by the authoritative love of God, can’t do if they decide to do it in Jesus’ name. Deciding is the issue. Get a bunch of people who have encountered the living God, and turn them loose on some need, some impossible situation, some hard and difficult problem that needs to be resolved, and they will do what might be considered undo-able by certain onlookers.

In Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Life is among us, and He is present to work His mighty works in a world that seems to be distracted and unmoved. He shows up and does a few things that astound us but more than these, He actually draws near to people and loves them. Who would have thought it? He embraces the outcasts, the lonely, the marginalized, the wealthy, the poor, the healthy, the sick, the Jew and the Gentile. Who would have thought it?

And now He says to us that we will do greater works than these because He goes to the Father. His plan was to pour out His Holy Spirit on His people, and turn them loose in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8). They would go in the power of the promise of Jesus, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth… and… I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20).