The Greater Things...

There was an old woman who used to say, "We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it." It was Mother Theresa.

In the midst of reading "The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne for the "n"th time (I really have lost track), the section he dedicates to talking about his experiences working alongside Mother Theresa among the leper colonies of Calcutta struck me with such force that I had to try and put my speeding thoughts down on "paper," so please forgive me if the post seems rushed or doesn't make sense at some points.

Jesus says in John 14:12, "Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Shane writes that though he was hard at work during his time in Calcutta, he "hadn't healed any lepers yet. Even though I touched them, they still went home lepers at the end of the day." But then he begins to realize what the "greater things" are:

"The miracles that Jesus performed were not simply showcases of His mighty power; they were the full expression of His LOVE for those He healed. 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. In fact, the power of miraculous spectacle was the temptation He faced in the desert - to turn stones to bread or to fling Himself from the temple. But what has lasting significance were not the miracles themselves, but Jesus' love. Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the dead, and a few years later, Lazarus died again. He fed the thousands, but the next day they were hungry again. Jesus healed the sick, but they eventually caught some other disease. But what we remember is His love."

It pains me to think of all the times I've looked at the shoreline covered in starfish (another Mother Theresa reference), and thought, "There's nothing I can do here." And as she begins tossing the starfish back into the water one by one, I can imagine her saying, "It's not about being successful in doing great things (like saving all these starfish), but rather it's about being faithful in doing each small thing with great love and devotion." Oh, how often I've measured myself by success as the world would measure

Another thing about this section that encourages me is that Shane talks about all of us (collectively) being the Body of Christ, and that the "greater things" Jesus talks about are because the radical love that lived inside of Jesus now lives within each of us, and it is when we come together to serve others in love that those "greater things" can start happening.

After Shane would help treat and bandage each of the lepers he met in the clinics of Calcutta, they would whisper in his ear, "Namaste." While there is no real Western equivalent to "namaste," roughly translated, it means "I honor the Holy One who lives in you." I believe when Jesus said that where two or more are gathered in His Name, He is there with them, He wasn't just talking about being among us as a separate spiritual entity. I think He was also talking about each of us seeing Him in each other, that WE would become "Jesus with skin on" for each other. I know this isn't a new concept, but it's just something that God brought to my mind, and I can't help but feel that, for far too long, I've taken that responsibility for granted, to love my neighbors the way Jesus loves them, to become Jesus with skin on for them whenever possible.

Becoming "Jesus with skin on" first became very real to me while I was working at Metropolitan Ministries, every day encountering new people who were not so different than you and I when it comes to our inseparable need for love. Looking back, I can't even begin to understand how God brought me through that period in my life, and while it was often difficult, I'm also very grateful for Him revealing a part of Himself to me each and every day through the eyes of the poor. And the conversations I had with people as I sat with them in those offices, as they poured their hearts out, those will always stay with me. There were plenty of times when I would cry alone in my office at the end of the day for a good 5 minutes just to find a release for the brokenness I felt for the people who came to us, and many times I felt like I was staring at the shoreline covered in suffocating starfish. But my supervisors also taught me to take great joy in the small victories we had, and those were the shining moments that got me through the difficult days. We are called not to be successful [in great things], but to be faithful [in little things].

Wow, I had no intention of this post getting to be this long. Haha. Sorry, guys. Be safe.