Daring to Outshine the Master

April 3, 2016
Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy)
First Reading: Acts 5:12-16
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040316.cfm

Every good teacher hopes for the day when his student will not only become his equal, but will even surpass him in excellence. Many pop-culture tropes play on this theme, whether it is Mr. Miyagi training the Karate Kid or Obi-Wan Kenobi training Luke in the ways of the force. We can easily see a piano-playing protégé outdoing his master or a basketball-playing son surpassing his father’s accomplishments, but we never expect this student-outshines-teacher path to come to fruition in Christianity. Yet even here, God has ways of surprising us.

Jesus’ Prediction

While of course, no Christian will ever replace Christ himself, he does hint at the extent of divine power invested in his followers with faith. He emphatically predicts, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father” (John 14:12 RSV). Jesus’ prediction is twofold. One, his followers will do the kinds of miracles that he did in his ministry. These are familiar to us from the gospels: healings, casting out demons, turning water to wine. But then he goes even further: Jesus’ disciples will do even “greater works.” This is where our minds start to wonder if he is speaking symbolically. How could anyone do greater miracles than Jesus? And yet, he said it!

Daring to Believe

Believing that Jesus meant what he said always involves risk—risk of failure, disappointment, embarrassment, even persecution. Few of us really believe that we’ll be doing “greater works” than Jesus, yet that is what he promised. The apostles, however, dared to believe. In our first reading from Acts this Sunday, we find them at the Temple, where Jesus would teach. They are standing in Solomon’s portico re-enacting Jesus’ ministry: They are teaching the people (Acts 5:21) and doing “signs and wonders” (5:12). Just as Jesus had taught at the Temple and just like he had performed miracles, now the apostles are doing what he did. Acts is clear that the power to do these miracles is not of human origin, but that the signs were accomplished “through the hands of the apostles” (v. 12) by God.

Signs

It might be tempting to dismiss miracles as unimportant or mythical, yet the New Testament is crystal clear on the literal manifestation of God’s power in miraculous events and on the importance of miracles in the proclamation of the gospel. The apostles are not newbies at this, either. They have done it before:

And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. (Mark 16:20 RSV)

Not only that, but the miracles are considered a crucial part of the apostolic witness:

The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. (2 Cor 12:12 RSV)

Miraculous signs are part of the Christian proclamation. They lead people to faith by demonstrating the power of God. They act as evidence on which the foundation of faith can begun to be built. They are God’s “witness” that accompanies the preaching of Jesus’s life and message:

God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will. (Heb 2:4 RSV)

Daring to Join

Just as the apostles failed to join Jesus on Good Friday, saving their skins instead, now when the apostles are boldly teaching and healing in the Temple, the other Christian believers get squeamish. Acts tell us that “None of the rest dared join them” (Acts 5:13). To publicly proclaim Christ in the Temple could lead to persecution, imprisonment, flogging, or even death. Only the apostles had the courage to evangelize in a public way and hazard these risks. And indeed they do suffer. Later in this same chapter, some are arrested for their public proclamation of Christ. Though the other believers were too afraid to stand with them in Temple, many people who see their powerful acts decide to join the Christian community. It says “multitudes both of men and women” became Christians (Acts 5:14) in response to the apostles’ bold witness.

While most of us don’t perform miracles on a daily basis, the apostles’ bold confidence in the promises of the Lord should inspire us to engage in a re-think of our approach. Their abundant faith empowered them to heal the sick, cast out demons and perform many signs. Even the shadow of St. Peter was effective at healing people from all kinds of maladies! Again, it is easy to dismiss these miracles as something from long ago in a far off place. Yet the Church invites us to see God’s miraculous power at work constantly—whether in the daily miracle of the Eucharist or whether in the officially-approved miracles scrutinized by Vatican commissions to prepare for the canonization of saints, the powerful working of God is all around us. And while the apostles had a unique role in proclaiming Christ to the first generation of believers, we too can start to outshine the master by doing the “greater works” if only we dare to believe.

image: Sean Xu / Shutterstock.com

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Mark Giszczak (“geese-check”) was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI. He studied philosophy and theology at Ave Maria College in Ypsilanti, MI and Sacred Scripture at the Augustine Institute of Denver, CO. He recently received his Ph. D. in Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America. He currently teaches courses in Scripture at the Augustine Institute, where he has been on faculty since 2010. Dr. Giszczak has participated in many evangelization projects and is the author of the CatholicBibleStudent.com blog. He has written introductions to every book of the Bible that are hosted at CatholicNewsAgency.com. Dr. Giszczak, his wife and their daughter, live in Colorado where they enjoy camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains.

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