Many have wondered what Christ Jesus meant when he said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (John 14:12). It is quite possible that the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science envisioned her Church performing these greater works. Evidence of this can be found where Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., is designed to be built on the Rock, Christ; even the understanding and demonstration of divine Truth, Life, and Love, healing and saving the world from sin and death; thus to reflect in some degree the Church Universal and Triumphant” (Church Manual, p. 19).

Knowing her deep spiritual insight, we might take from this statement that Mrs. Eddy envisioned these “greater works” happening when people united together in fellowship, committed to following the Master’s teachings and giving their all to healing and saving the world.

But she also seemed to be aware that we wouldn’t accomplish the greater works without first doing the works Jesus did, and promised we would do if we followed him. The work must begin with individual demonstration. Since the founding of The Church of Christ, Scientist, thousands of healings have been chronicled in the Christian Science periodicals, both in the weekly Sentinel and in the monthly Christian Science Journal, which bear faithful witness to this goal. And every Wednesday, in testimony meetings in every branch Church of Christ, Scientist, people are testifying to the absolute power of divine Truth, Life, and Love to destroy the beliefs of sin and disease, just as Jesus showed in his healing. 

It seems vitally important to look beyond the individual salvation the Comforter offers and recognize that the collective salvation of the world is also at hand. 

The healing that comes through practicing Christian Science is based not on simply “believing” that God will help us, but on understanding that God is infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present Love; that God is the one and only Mind, and in Him is no evil, nothing hurtful or harmful to His ever-unfolding creation, man and the universe. Armed with this Christly understanding of God’s allness and completeness, we know that there is no suggestion of evil, disease, sin, or lack that cannot be removed from human experience and replaced with the health, harmony, wholeness, and completeness that constitute man as the image and likeness of God, which he has always been. And these spiritual facts bring with them the ability to demonstrate the greater works as well.

How might this greater work be characterized? Looking beyond the present demonstration of individual healing of the problems confronting us, would an element of this greater work be the healing of epidemics, and of contagious diseases? What about ending hunger in the world? Would this greater work include the end of natural disasters? Would it include ending corruption in the governments of nations? And something the entire world yearns for—the end of all war, and the establishment of permanent peace in the world? 

It is hard to imagine greater works being done than the kinds of works mentioned above. Just a few short verses later in the same discourse promising these greater works, Jesus also promised that “another Comforter” would come, which would abide with us forever (John 14:16). Mary Baker Eddy understood that this Comforter is Divine Science, and Christian Scientists have successfully been relying on this Comforter for almost 150 years, healing themselves and others of all sorts of challenges.

But it seems vitally important to look beyond the individual salvation the Comforter offers and recognize that the collective salvation of the world is also at hand, by virtue of our ability to pray together collectively—manifesting the power of one Mind. The power of this collective prayer, to date, seems largely untapped, yet our Master’s promise of greater works indicates its present availability.

Our Leader gave us a foretaste of what our collective reliance on the Comforter would do to perform the greater works when she wrote these words in the Christian Science textbook: “One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself;’ annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 340).

What a great work lies before the members of this Church. What greater work could there possibly be than the salvation of the world? As the members of this Church pray collectively, being of one Mind, demonstrating the power of the Comforter, there is nothing that can stand before the omnipotent power of Christian Science and divine Love.

Sandy Sandberg