5th Sunday of Easter, Do not let your hearts be troubled, have faith in me.

Today’s Gospel is Jesus’ farewell address to his disciples just before the last supper.  Jesus has been telling his disciples that he was going to suffer and be killed, and they weren’t ready to accept this.   They were disturbed by this and didn’t want to believe him.  They thought he was going to be a Messiah who would be a strong warrior who would rescue them from the rule of the Romans.  They weren’t ready for a suffering servant who would die in order to save all of us.  If you had followed someone for three years expecting to be freed from tyrannical rule, wouldn’t you be discouraged & frightened?

            Jesus knows this and tells his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me”.   Jesus wanted to give his disciples some hope to hold on to knowing that his death was near and they’d all be facing persecution as well.   He tells them something quite different from all who have come before him. He asks them to have faith in Him. Those who came before him: Abraham, Moses, and Jeremiah, all spoke of having faith in God and to follow God’s ways.   But none of them ask to have faith in them.   Jesus is different, because He is God.  He his human like each of us, but through his divine nature he reveals God the Father.  Jesus tells his disciples that there will be a place for them in His Father’s house and the he would be coming back for them.  Jesus was trying to give them a message of hope to carry them through the troubling times they would be facing.  

We all have times of trouble that we face.  When we struggle it’s good to recall these words of Jesus to not be troubled and to have faith in Him.  He understands our struggles, having suffered tremendous challenges himself.   When we are faced with challenges we can get overwhelmed with the present moment.   But the time we spend on earth is only a small fraction compared to our time we will spend in the Father’s house with Jesus for all eternity.  If we focus on the hope that Jesus offers, it can help carry us through the most challenging times.

Even though the disciples had been with Jesus for three years, they still didn’t know who he or the Father was. Jesus had been revealing the Father through His miraculous works.  He fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish.  He healed the sick: curing the leper, the blind man, the crippled and dumb mute.    He cast out demons from a possessed man.   He saved the life of the woman accused of adultery. He restored life to the centurion’s daughter and Lazarus.   Jesus revealed the Father by bringing a little bit of heaven to this world.  He did all this through the Father who dwells in him. So He was probably a little frustrated with Philip’s response to show them the Father.  Jesus tells them the way to the Father: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

He then tells the disciples something unbelievable:  Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater than these because I am going to the Father.    This must have been stunning to them.  How could these disciples do even greater things than Jesus did?  This seems impossible on their own!  But with the help of the Holy Spirit they’d be able to do miraculous things. Jesus was preparing them for his return to the Father and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

            Is it possible for us to do even greater things than Jesus did? Can you possibly imagine healing the sick, raising the dead and feeding thousands?   I think it’s possible.   I’m going to tell a story similar to first reading in Acts, but changing the time, place, and people to illustrate how we can do even greater things than Jesus did. A few years ago some people from the parish complained to our pastor that the people of Johnson County were being neglected in the distribution of food.   So he decided to appoint someone to take care of this so he could continue to dedicate himself God’s word and prayer. So Mark, Jerry, Dan, Tammy, and Rob took on the task to start a food pantry.  How would this pantry be supplied? Through of all the parish members’ generous donations of food and money to support the pantry.   And now seven years later we have a food pantry that has served thousands of people just like Jesus did.  I just told this story Friday to the men and women in Johnson County jail to illustrate how we are today doing greater things than Jesus.   I let them know that it’s all possible due through the Holy Spirit that empowered the Baptized faithful do greater works than Jesus.

If you just think about all the places here in central Indiana we can see today greater works than Jesus did.  Healing the sick and bringing the dead to life at St. Vincent and St. Francis Hospitals; caring for widows at St. Augustine home and St. Paul Hermitage, feeding the hungry through St. Vincent DePaul food warehouse, Cathedral soup kitchen, and many parish food pantries; housing the homeless at Holy Family Shelter; and Catholic Charities serving over 75,000 annually. These are greater things that Jesus told us we could do if we believe in him.  These miraculous works are still revealing the Father to those who don’t know him.  Each of us together as the baptized faithful is doing our part to perform miraculous works that are greater than what Jesus did when he walked the earth.   Do we still have pain, suffering, and troubles in the world?  Of course we still do.  We always will till Jesus returns.   But if we have faith in Jesus and don’t let our hearts be troubled, we can continue to do great things to reveal the Father’s love and provide hope for those who are in need.   If we provide them hope we can help them believe in Jesus and lead them to that special place prepared for them in the Father’s house.