Can we do greater works than Jesus?

The quotation in question is the following.
"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)
Last night, when Deacon Tsang did his homily, he did not question Jesus' words. He simply expressed the pressure he felt this verse had put on him as a deacon. This morning, Fr. Joseph Liu, a young priest, did not touch on the verse but went to discuss how only the Father could satisfy all our needs. But when I meditate about the verse, my brainy me quickly takes over and a lot of questions start to pop up.

Jesus once said that a servant is not greater than his master (15:20). Though this verse appears later than the one in question, there should not be any contradiction between them. Though Jesus treats us like friends (15:14-15), we are commissioned by Jesus to proclaim the gospel (Matthew 28:19). In this sense, we are servants. If we are not greater than Jesus, our master, how can we do greater works than Jesus? Moreover, Jesus is God and works miracles and we do not possess Jesus' power. How can we do greater works than Jesus' works? Furthermore, how does Jesus' going to the Father enable us to do greater works than his?

This is a good example of the difficulties one meets when he reads the gospel of John. When Jesus speaks, he speaks equivocally. When the disciples asked some concrete earthly questions, Jesus almost always brought out the spiritual dimensions in his answers. For example, when he said he was going to his Father's house to prepare rooms for the disciples, we cannot blame Thomas for understanding it in a rather physical way. That is Jesus was going to a physical location, to a house of concrete stones to prepare rooms, perhaps 12, for them. Today, even if we understand Jesus to mean his upcoming passion, resurrection and ascension, and that we would like Jesus to show us the means, the way, to be our guide to heaven, his answer "I am the way, and the truth and the life" (14:6) seems not to be the kind of answer we expect. We expect a road-map, a game-plan or whatever but not "I am something ...". Jesus did not seem to have answered our question. But in a profound way, he did answer our question. In order to go to heaven, to return to the Father, we need to establish and maintain a good relation with Jesus. We need to know him. This, I think is what Jesus meant when he said "I am the way".

Now, what about our doing greater works than Jesus's work?
What works has Jesus done on earth?
First of all, Jesus confined his mission to Israel. For example, when a Canaan woman begged Jesus to drive out the demon in her daughter, Jesus replied that he was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Now, the gospel is spread throughout the world, as instructed by him. In a sense, we have done greater works than Jesus's works.
Secondly, Jesus cured diseases, leprosy, blindness and even exorcism. Nowadays, we do the same and better still, we nearly eliminate most of the diseases in ancient times. Of course, our life expectancy is longer and we have newer medical challenges to deal with. Moreover, our attitude towards illness has changed. Instead of seeing it as a punishment from God, we are more compassionate, like Jesus, towards the sick. Thanks to the teaching of Jesus which was rather revolutionary at his time. Today, we are more Christianized and civilized. We respect human rights and we do charities in greater scale.
Thirdly, Jesus preaches a kingdom of God which is to be established through self-renunciation, through putting God at the centre of our life. Nowadays, many ideologies have sprung up from Jesus' inspiration to build a utopia on earth. Though they could only establish a totalitarian regime instead, we cannot deny that they have done greater works than Jesus in scale. These failed experiments indicate that it is not easy to remove the aspirations to power and might over his fellow men from the heart of man.

Of course, there are still works which we have not yet excelled him. For example, Jesus fed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Today, we are still unable to eradicate world hunger. Poverty and slavery in the form of human-trafficking and prostitution are still around. Fortunately, we still have time to work humbly on the solution. This is not yet the end.

Dear Lord, I thank You for empowering us to do greater works than what you have begun. Help us along the way to build up a better relationship with You and the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.