On pp. 84-85 Shane writes about Jn 14:12 "Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in my will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
This is in a chapter recording Shane's visit to Calcutta to visit, learn from and serve with Mother Teresa. Shane writes,
But I began to discover "the greater things." It was not just miracles. I started to see that the miracles were an expression not so much of Jesus' mighty power as of his love. In fact, the power of the miraculous spectacle was the temptation he faced in the desert - to turn stones to bread or to fling himself from the temple. But what had lasting significance were not the miracles themselves but Jesus' love. ... It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers. And the incredible thing about that love is that it now lives inside of us. (pp.84-85)
I've heard it taught that the greater things are more miracles, bigger miracles then even Jesus did. But like Shane I know too well how many are sick and don't get healed, how many are hungry and don't get fed, how many are outcast and never welcomed in. I find Shane's reading of this verse very persuasive. Lazarus, raised by Jesus still died, the leper touched and healed would still die, the hungry feed with loaves and fishes would be hungry again. But all would remember, and retell their experience of being loved by Jesus. The radical love of Jesus is now powerfully at work in the lives of millions of Christ's people all over the world. It is long past time for us to radically change the world!
