I’ve been perplexed for years by calls in the Psalms to exalt or extol the Lord, to lift up the name of Jesus, to declare him worthy of praise and such. If God is already the Creator of the universe, in the highest heaven, and Jesus is at his right hand, how can we exalt him higher than he already is?

For us to declare Jesus as worthy of praise has always seemed presumptuous to me– as if we, sinful humans are in the place of judging Jesus’ worthiness!  So why are we called to exalt our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Scripture invites this action everywhere!

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Ps 34:3).

“Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let your glory be above all the earth” (Ps 57:5).

“Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill, for holy is the Lord our God” (Ps 98:9).

Slowly over the past two weeks I’ve been getting glimpses of something beautiful that I will now try to share.

In order to exalt someone, to extol them, to lift them up, or declare their worthiness they must be perceived to be at a low place– down and lower, and not up or higher. Declaring them worthy is necessary only if they would normally appear unworthy.

God is described throughout Scripture as down with the poor and lowly. The Lord comes down among the Israelite slaves in Egypt, seeing their affliction, hearing their cry because of their taskmasters and knowing firsthand their suffering” (Ex 3:7). The Psalmist writes:

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18).

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” writes the Psalmist in Psalm 139:9, and then answers

“If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me” (Ps 139:8-10).

God is the Creator of the universe, and is victor over death. God’s location as transcendent and down low is clearly stated in Isaiah 57:15.

“I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit. In order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

Jesus is described by Paul in Philippians 2:5-8 as choosing to go down to the lowest place.

“Although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Two nights ago in a humble church on the outskirts of Ndola, Zambia I shared these reflections. A perfect story illustrating Jesus’ lowly, downward presence suddenly comes to mind.

I invite people to read the story of Jesus’ healing of the man who had been ill for 38 years. I invited my colleague from Zimbabwe, pastor Richard, to play Jesus, and ask someone to read John 5:1-2

“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.”

I ask people where Jesus was going, and we notice he was heading up to Jerusalem to the feast. I point to where the drum set and keyboard were up at the front left, and to the lectern up on the stage- all under bright lights (see photo above).

“Let’s say this is Jerusalem, the place of the feast,” I say. “But did Jesus finally go there? What other place is mentioned?” I ask.

I talk about the sheep gate where there were five porticos, where Jesus goes instead of to the feast. I search the room for an equivalent, and notice the cement steps in the far back corner that led outside to the street. That corner was in the dark, and had some mops and buckets. We read the next verse and I suggest we follow Jesus there.

“In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years” (Jn 5:3-5).

I ask if someone would like to be the man ill for 38 years, and the leader hosting the meeting volunteers. I learn later that he is a Major in the Zambian military. He goes and sits in the back corner on the floor.

I ask people what image of God people at the pool would have based on the angel only healing the first person who gets into the pool when the water is stirred.

“God helps the first, the fastest, the strongest, the ones who follow the exact rules,” someone said, and most assume God’s like that.

“Let’s see what kind of God Jesus reveals,” I say.

I then follow Richard (playing Jesus) from the front to the dark back of the room where our “pool of Bethesda,” is located (photo below).

Functioning as narrative, I read the next verse, John 5:6, “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, he said to him,” and Richard takes the mic and asks the man:

“Do you wish to get well?”

I note that Jesus didn’t introduce himself, so the man wouldn’t have known who he was. Jesus reveals a God who comes down into our place of suffering, sees us and respectfully asks us if we want to be well.

I give the mic to the man playing the sick man who responds:

“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Richard then says to him:  “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”

When we read how “immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk,” the man gets up and we walk together back up to the front of the church.

It was deeply moving to see this story acted out. Suddenly it was obvious that Jesus reveals a God who deliberately comes down into the places of suffering, pain and exclusion to exalt the humble. Jesus shows what God is always about– presence to respect, save, heal, call.

Jesus makes no requirements of the man– that he believe in him as God’s Son, the Christ, the Savior. Jesus doesn’t exalt himself in any way. Rather he respects the man, asking him what he wants. He shows his belief in him, speaking a word that empowers him to get up, take up his mat and walk. It’s for us to take note of Jesus and his action– to point them out, to exalt the one who otherwise does this so humbly, almost in secret.

I end by inviting people to hear some words from Mary’s son in Luke 1, and then suddenly decide to ask if there’s a young woman age 13, the likely age of Mary in the room.

A young woman stands and comes to the front. I read how the angel Gabriel visits her, telling her “the Lord is with you.” The angel’s presence and words confirm once again God’s location down-below, with the humble. When young Mary asks how could this happen since she’s a virgin, the angel replies:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).

I invite the young Zambian Mary to read Mary’s own words in Luke 1:51-53. As she reads haltingly into the microphone I suddenly see Jesus, and want to draw attention to him beautiful work– to exalt him.

“He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed.”

Luke’s Gospel presents a man named Simeon as the first to identify Jesus as the world’s consoling, Savior King. In alignment with the Magi of Matthew’s Gospel, who follow a star to the Bethlehem stable, Simeon identifies Jesus in his child state, speaking prophetic words over him that alert us to how Jesus and his way might be identified and received, or rejected now. In a time of socio-political turmoil and partisan division, let’s see what we can learn from Simeon to help us rightly discern Jesus and his Kingdom now.

“And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Lk 2:25).

Luke distinguishes Simeon from other men who lived in Jerusalem by observing that this man was righteous and devout, inviting us to consider what this might mean and where we stand in comparison. All we know about him are his subsequent actions.

Simeon was looking for the consolation (paraklesis) of Israel, which suggests that he hadn’t yet found consolation in the religion and politics of his time. The underlying Greek verb translated “looking for,” prosdechomai, is not the usual verb for literal physical looking with the eyes. Rather its meaning has to do with the action of “looking for, expecting, receiving or giving access to oneself, and embracing.”

In our Tierra Nueva faith community I recently asked the question: “what do we find ourselves going after in attempts to comfort ourselves?”

People mention the expected “drugs, sex, food, money, our image, the Casino, work…,” and we readily confess that our comforts of choice do not fully satisfy. We can identify with Simeon in his wanting and waiting for something more.

Though the Holy Spirit was upon Simeon, and this Spirit is identified by Jesus as the Comforter (parakletos– Jn 14:16,26), Simeon was still expecting something more, or someone in addition to the Spirit. The next verse gives us the key.

“And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Lk 2:26).

The Holy Spirit who was upon Simeon, had also personally revealed to him that he would see (horao) the Lord’s Christ, the Messiah, before he saw (horao) death. The Greek verb horao combines physical and spiritual seeing, suggesting a contemplative posture here. It was this revelation that caused Simeon to ready himself prayerfully, waiting and actively anticipating meeting the expected One. This also required that he evaluate and refuse pretender saviors or false Messiahs—a posture that is desperately needed today, as Jesus warned his followers:

“See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them” (Lk 21:8).

Who or what is actively seeking your allegiance, trust or vote? I feel challenged by Simeon and Jesus to fine-tune my spiritual and political discernment.

“So, what more can we learn from Simeon as he moves towards recognizing Jesus as the one and only Savior?” I ask.

“And he came in the Spirit into the temple,” Luke continues (and notice this is now the third time he identifies the Spirit’s presence). In the first instance, the Holy Spirit is “upon” (epi) Simeon (Lk 2:25). In the second instance the Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon details about the timing of his seeing (Lk 2:26). Now in the third instance Simeon is physically moving (he came) “in (en) the Spirit” into the temple. Simeon models a full-immersion in the Spirit, and this leads to direct action.

Simeon’s movements in the Spirit are chronologically coordinated with the moment Jesus’ parents bring Jesus into the temple in compliance with the Mosaic Law.

“And when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for him the custom of the Law” (Luke 2:27) timely alignment with Simeon becomes possible, resulting in their physical meeting and the pledging of total allegiance. I think of Hebrews 1:6, which speaks of God.

“And when he [God] again brings the firstborn [Jesus] into the world, he says, “and let all the angels of God worship him.”

Let’s look at which law Jesus’ parents were fulfilling here, to understand what Simeon was tuning into.

In direct association with the Jewish Passover, God required Israelites to “sanctify to me every firstborn… it belongs to me” (Ex 13:2). On the eve of Passover, every Jewish family was to take an unblemished, male lamb, in the place of their firstborn son, slaughtering it, sprinkling the doorpost and lintel of each family’s house with its blood. By doing so, the angel of death would “pass over” the family gathered inside the home when Egypt’s firstborn were struck on the eve of God’s liberation of his people from slavery.

The Law indicated that the firstborn could be redeemed either with a lamb, or if the family were too poor, they could sacrifice turtledoves or pigeons. In the case of Jesus’ parents, Luke 2:22-24 specifies:

“they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Many Jewish parents brought in their firstborn sons into the temple to comply with the Law’s prescriptions regarding the redemption of the firstborn in Exodus. In compliance with the Law, Mary and Joseph’s firstborn and God’s firstborn son needed to be redeemed by sacrifices proscribed by the Law, so Jesus’ earthly ministry as the fully-human Son of God could take place—fulfilled in his death on behalf of all humanity as God’s firstborn Son.

Had Simeon considered Jesus’ parents according to normal class prejudices, he may have disqualified this baby as the Messiah, since his parents redeemed their firstborn son with the humble offering allowable to an impoverished couple.

Luke’s description of “the child Jesus” makes use of the Greek noun paidion, rather than referring to Jesus as their “firstborn son.” This aligns the story directly to the Septuagint version of Isaiah 9:5-6, which Simeon most certainly knew.

“Because a child (paidion) was born for us, a son also given to us, whose sovereignty was upon his shoulder, and he is named Messenger of Great Counsel, for I will bring peace upon the rulers, peace and health to him. His sovereignty is great, and his peace has no boundary upon the throne of David and his kingdom, to make it prosper and to uphold it with righteousness and with judgment from this time onward and forevermore.”

Simeon was most certainly also familiar with Isaiah 53:1-3, where in the Septuagint version the Servant of the Lord is here referred to as paidion.

“Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a child (paidion), like a root in a thirsty land; he has no form or glory, and we saw him, and he had no form or beauty. But his form was without honor, failing beyond all men, a man being in calamity and knowing how to bear sickness; because his face is turned away, he was dishonored and not esteemed.”

We can assume that Simeon comes into the temple as a true believer in Isaiah’s report, as one trained by his knowledge of Scripture to know what to look for, to whom the Spirit had specifically revealed that he would “not see death until he saw the Lord’s Christ.”

Right when the parents bring in the child, “then he took him into his arms, and blessed God,” writes Luke, reflecting Simeon’s total embrace of God’s firstborn Son, the Suffering Servant.

There’s no mention of turtledoves or pigeons. Simeon here is embracing Jesus as God’s offering of his firstborn– the lamb of God.  It’s like Simeon is ahead of John the Baptist, who identified Jesus: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).

The underlying Greek verb used here, dechomai, has an especially rich meaning, including “to welcome, to receive readily, to accept, to have as a guest.”

While fully embracing the child Jesus, Simeon next says something that is completely shocking, revealing a profound awareness of Jesus’ identity. He blesses God, and then says to the child Jesus there in his arms:

“Now despota,” says Simeon, not using the expected title kurios that usually translates Lord). Despota means “absolute ruler, master,” and can refer to a human master over servants (1 Tm 6:1; Titus 2:9; 1 Pt 2:18), but also God (Acts 4:24) and Jesus (2 Tm 2:21; 2 Pt 2:1; Jude 4; Rev 6:10).

Simeon’s recognition of who Jesus is causes him to humble himself to the extreme before his Master. He tells the child Jesus: “You are releasing your bond-servant [slave] to depart in peace, according to your word” (Lk 2:29)– which the Holy Spirit had revealed. There as Simeon receives the comfort he’s been actively awaiting, he surrenders himself as a humble servant to the Master Comforter, and then gives his carefully-crafted reason.

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Lk 2:30-32).

According to Simeon, his own seeing of God’s salvation is something possible for everyone. God has prepared it publicly before all peoples, as a revelatory light to the non-Jews, the very glory of God’s people Israel. Yet here we are still not perceiving Jesus’ identity. Even Jesus’ parents don’t find it obvious.

“And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him” (Lk 2:33).

“And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this one is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed — and a sword will pierce even your own soul — to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Lk 2:34-35).

In response to Joseph and Mary’s amazement Simeon blesses them, which they (and we) most certainly need to be able to stay the course before the resistance that he then prophesies.

That Jesus is appointed for the fall and rise of many is demonstrated by Simeon’s own humbling himself as a servant before the child Jesus, his Master. Simeon echoes Mary’s own words in her song in Luke 1:51-53.

“He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed.”

The proud, the rulers and enthroned must bow before the King, while the humble are lifted up, to sit with him at the right hand of the Father. Most certainly this revolutionary Master and Kingdom has been and will continue to be opposed.

Simeon’s words to Mary that a sword will pierce even her own soul, likely a reference to her son Jesus’ execution, will result in the thoughts from many hearts being revealed. May we choose to humbly confess our own thoughts that doubt, resist, and even oppose Jesus’ humble way of saving the world as they come to light. May we choose to “fall” should that be still required, which is the only position from which we can rise.
Order your copy of Daniel Bourguet’s The Humble Divinity of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, volume 1 here and volume 2 here. These fine books will help you read Scripture afresh and strengthen your discernment.

Luke’s Gospel describes Simeon as waiting in the temple for the consolation of Israel. Simeon had grown old waiting, modeling a highly discerning contemplative posture that tirelessly refused mis-identifying a pretender Messiah as the expected one. This patient, discerning, contemplative gaze is desperately-needed now, with myriad deceivers afoot who offer false comfort. The Israeli Defense Force and Benjamin Netanyahu are certainly falses comforts for Israelis now, as is the United States for Israel or for Ukraine. Hamas is a false comfort for the Palestinians, and Joe Biden and Donald Trump for Americans. Simeon invites us to look to the living Word of God, Jesus himself– refusing lies and false comfort from false Messiahs. The consolation (paraklēsis) that Simeon awaits (or looks for) is offered to us by God, as Paul states in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort (paraklēsis) with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Daniel Bourguet, in his beautiful book, Encounters with Jesus, reflects on Simeon’s recognition and embrace of baby Jesus, who Mary and Joseph brought to him in the temple as the true, consoling Messiah he awaited. “Simeon was fulfilled, completely and wonderfully answered, but in a way which was also very sober, requiring absolute faith on his part. The old man had seen dozens and dozens of young couples pass through the Temple, presenting their first-born sons to God in accordance with the law of Moses. Every new household in Israel had to do what Mary and Joseph were doing, and they all passed through the Jerusalem Temple (Lev 12). How did Simeon know that on this day the baby being presented was the one he was awaiting? According the prophets, the Christ had to be a descendant of David and therefore of the royal family. Simeon could hardly be thought mistaken if he had been expecting a child of a wealthy family, presented to God with the offering of a lamb as the sacrifice, just as the law required of those with the means (Lev 12:6).Well, on this day Mary and Joseph were not bringing a lamb but two birds, as allowed by the law if the couple were too poor (Lev 12:8). How was Simeon to recognize in this son of paupers the descendant of king David?” “Mary and Joseph were silent in the old man’s presence. They had told him nothing of what the Bethlehem shepherds had said, nothing of the visit of the magi. The magi had returned home by a route unknown. The shepherds had gone back to their fields. The son of David entered the Temple with no royal escort. Heaven did not open; no angel appeared; there was no shining star. No sign was given by God, no miracle! Nothing! There was nothing to attest to the child really being the Christ! The young couple were there with two birds as an offering and a tiny infant just like any other child of poverty . . . But Simeon knew him! If he knew him it is because of the most unspoiled and pure faith. Only the Holy Spirit could have placed this deep conviction within him, with nothing more than the thought as evidence, “This is him!” The parents had said nothing, and neither had God; there was no need for even the hint of a sign; Simeon’s faith was enough . . . A faith as beautiful as this is a wonder to me in its simplicity. A life fulfilled Your hands have to be empty if you’re going to hold a baby! Simeon’s had been empty for many long years. When he received Christ his heart was complete, his life became full, just in one day; so completed and satisfied was he that he was ready to die. He asked nothing more than that he might depart in peace. Once again we are challenged by this man; what do we understand nowadays when we speak of a life that is fulfilled? So many trifles, so many vanities occupy our lives! Simeon’s life was fulfilled in that one day by a silent baby who he had held in his arms for a brief moment, and that is all! Our lives, so full of the superfluous, seem derisory beside this. Simeon therefore teaches us one thing, forcibly — that Christ on his own can truly fill a life; he can even fill it silently, in God’s silence, and fill it to the point that death takes nothing away. John the Baptist was filled with perfect joy, simply at the sound of Christ’s voice (John 3:29), so what must Simeon’s joy have been to hold him in his arms. “ Luke has no word to describe it; it is beyond words.” Order your copy of Daniel Bourguet’s Encounters with Jesus here. This fine book includes chapters on Zacchaeus, the deaf-mute, the poor widow, and Simeon.

For followers of Jesus “the Gospel” is the life-giving message that God became human in his Son Jesus Christ, to seek out and save the lost, destroying the power of sin and death through dying by execution on the cross. Jesus is raised from the dead, empowering his disciples through the Holy Spirit to announce and embody his kingdom for the salvation of the world.

In diabolical contrast, the Israeli Defense Force has launched a intelligence-gathering system they call “Habsora” (“The Gospel” in Hebrew), that identifies human targets of interest in Gaza to kill, knowingly including Palestinian civilians, including women and children. Christians and others who support Israel’s war in Gaza are effectively aligning themselves with this anti-Gospel of death, which diametrically opposes God’s life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ.

According to Yuval Abraham investigative report published November 30th in the Israeli media outlet +972 Magazine, “A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza” the “Gospel”:

“Is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”

According to MEM, Middle East Monitor’s December 1st article “Israel’s AI system for target selection [the Gospel] has generated ‘mass assassination factory’ in Gaza”:

“The Israeli army has files on the vast majority of potential targets in Gaza — including homes — which stipulate the number of civilians who are likely to be killed in an attack on a particular target, sources told +972. This number is calculated and known in advance, and the army’s intelligence units also know shortly before carrying out an attack roughly how many civilians are certain to be killed.”

“Highlighting the shocking disregard for civilian life, the report found that the Israeli military command knowingly approved the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in an attempt to assassinate a single top Hamas military commander. “The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage,” one source told +972.”

In light vs. dark contrast, “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people” (Mt 9:35).

Jesus’ presence as God’s Son and Israel’s Messiah were identified as being “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). He came to “seek and save that which is lost” (Lk 19:10), and “save people’s lives and not destroy them” (Lk 9:56).

Jesus sends John the Baptist’s disciples back to John to report that his actions are in alignment with signs of Israel’s expected Messiah in Isaiah 35:5-6 and Isaiah 61:1.

“The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Mt 11:5).

As followers of Jesus committed to proclaiming and embodying the Gospel, we must refuse aligning ourselves with any nation (Israel and our own countries included) that engages in the killing of human beings, regardless of official justifications. May we prayerfully work to expose and repent of any agreements we have with the powers of death, fully embracing the life-giving power of God, as Paul states clearly in Romans 1:16.

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Click here to order a copy Guerrilla Gospel. on my weekly podcast “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Spotify or Apple).

As we seek to share the liberating message of Jesus through personal visits, ministry on the street, Bible studies and teaching we’ve come to recognize over and over that it’s not about transmitting knowledge so people can amass facts about God, Jesus, and the Bible. We all need the living Word to pierce our hearts, making it through our indifference, negative expectations, and defenses. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, who reveals, reminds us, and others of Jesus’ teaching, pointing us in the right direction as we call, visit, approach people, and write articles and books.

Jesus recognized that his own example and teaching were not enough for his disciples to bear witness, continuing his movement after his death, resurrection, and ascension.

“I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49).

Once they’d received the empowerment of the Spirit at Pentecost, they stepped into their spiritual authority and were led by the Spirit to exercise gifts of the Spirit like healing the sick, receiving inspired revelation, prophesying, discerning, and casting out evil spirits…

The last verse of Mark’s Gospel states clearly what we need and expect. “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed” (Mk 16:20).

We pray regularly for physical healing at our Tierra Nueva Bible studies, street outreach and Sunday worship, and often hear that it happens.

Last week Mike, a strong, 61-year-old truck driving instructor told us how he’d been living with pain in his right shoulder that was worsening, making it hard to shift gears as he drove trucks and trained drivers. He shared how he’s always been wired outwards, thinking of how he can help people, and has struggled to receive for himself. Since he’d lost his health insurance after being unemployed and didn’t yet qualify for the health plan in his new job, he decided a few weeks back to do something he’d never done—to ask Jesus to heal him! After asking for healing for his right shoulder he said he slept like a baby, awaking to complete freedom from pain, which is gone for good.

While teaching Iranian underground church leaders in Armenia in mid-October, many received healing and were filled with the Holy Spirit in ways that brought refreshment and empowerment for ministry.

We often experience being guided by the Spirit as we seek out people on the streets. Last Friday night we were having trouble locating anyone as the police had been driving people away from the usual places where people gather. When we finally began finding people and served them hot drinks, I was offering to pray for people if they had any particular needs. Nearly everyone was responding: “No thanks. I’m good.”

After hearing these responses and knowing people were in dire need, I suddenly received what I think was an inspired word, which I shared with a group of younger men and women who were inhaling fentanyl smoke from foil they were heating up before me beside the dumpsters of a big box store.

“Actually, you don’t need me to pray for you. You can pray to God directly yourselves,” I said, “There are no barriers between you and God. God loves you just the way you are and wants to help you. There are no hoops you have to jump through, nothing you have to do to qualify. Jesus showed us this when he walked the earth, by freely caring for and openly loving those society excluded, and he’s still alive to help us now.”

A young woman looked up startled from her smoking foil and said “that’s exactly what my mother says. She’s a Lutheran pastor.” Another woman looked up, tears welling up in her eyes. It seemed the Spirit enabled the Word to reach people’s heart. This inspires us to keep watching and expecting the Spirit’s guidance and direct action, which brings the Kingdom of God to the streets.

A woman who attends Tierra Nueva named Kristen (pictured above with her husband Eliazar) and her brother Gavin were miraculously spared from death when their car was hit by a speeding Amtrak train late one night (photos of car below). While she broke her back and Gavin was in critical care for over a month, both are recovering speedily as a result of prayer (listen to her testimony “Hit by a train but saved by Jesus” on my weekly podcast “Disciple: Word, Spirit, Justice, Witness” on Spotify or Apple).

I don’t think I have to convince anyone that war is evil. We all know that it is.   

Here are the statistics for three ongoing wars, as of Nov 18, 2023:

Stats:

• Russo-Ukraine War: since 2014, 514,000 deaths, most of those in the past year since the Russian invasion.
• Israel-Palestine War: 40 consecutive days of fighting; 1400 Israelis killed and 240 hostages in the Hamas attack on Oct 7; more than 11,000 Palestians killed, two-thirds of whom are women and children; 2700 missing. Hospitals have been destroyed. Refugee camps bombed. Homes, churches, and the entire infrastructure of an already desperately poor area have been wiped out. 
• Yemen Civil War: UN estimates over 377,000 killed by the end of 2021, more than half of those because of humanitarian crisis as a result of the war – displacement, starvation (more than half the population facing starvation), disease. 4 million people displaced from their homes in Yemen.
• 108.4 million forcibly displaced peoples, as of the end of 2022. Primary cause is war.
• One of the main results of displacement is that children become more and more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, slavery, and being turned into child soldiers. Since 2005 there are a verified 105,000 children who have been recruited and used as child soldiers – a uniquely horrific aspect of modern war. Children are seen as a cheap, dispensable, effective weapon of terror (See Romeo Dallaire, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children).
  

War is evil. But is war a necessary evil? Is it sometimes required? Could it even be just?

I took a military history degree at the University of Victoria to try to understand something I believed I would never experience personally: war and killing. I discovered that Christians throughout the last two millennia have gone to great lengths to explain war and to justify its continued use as an instrument of the state. St. Augustine, who had first-hand experience in a city under siege, wrote The City of God in the 5th century. In it he gave a series of justifications for when, why and how Christians should fight and kill. Erasmus of Rotterdam, the 16th century Christian Humanist, made a strong argument that Christian nations should never go to war against each other, but allowed that it was still acceptable for Christians to fight in self-defence, as a last resort, and against Muslims. Hugo Grotius in the 17th century developed a theory of Natural Law that put limits and rules on warfare, but still assumed that Christian nations would always find the need to go to war. Carl von Clausewitz in 19th century Prussia developed a doctrine of Absolute War, where the entire might of the State – military, political, economic, social, and spiritual – should be employed to effect the entire destruction of one’s enemy. This demonic doctrine was adopted by the European military thinkers in advance of WW1 and WW2.

At the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) an attempt was made to propose that warfare as a tool of the state – in particular unlimited, nuclear warfare – was immoral. The proposal was severely watered down in order to continue to allow states to engage in war when they found it necessary.

Even now with wars raging around the world, and some of the major participatory countries being led by professing Christians, we face the debate: is it ok – even necessary, even just and right – for Christians to fight and kill in war?

In the past the responsibility for deciding whether or not a war was just lay with the “prince” – the sovereign of the nation. The prince would bear the moral responsibility of the war, and therefore an ordinary Christian soldier could presumably engage in warfare without worrying if he was sinning, so long as his conduct within the war met certain standards. We do not have that moral luxury now (and it is questionable whether anyone really had that moral freedom). In a democracy we must bear responsibility for the leaders we choose and the actions that our nation takes.

So how can we decide if a war is just, or if any war can be just? Five to Seven principles were traditionally evaluated for the determination of whether a war was “just” or not: Just Cause; Right Intent; Net Benefit; Legitimate Authority; Last Resort; Proportionality of Means; and Right Conduct. Traditionally a war must meet certain requirements to be considered just. Two of the most important of these requirements are the separation of combatants and non-combatants; and ensuring that any military response is both appropriate and limited.

There is now no clear distinction between combatants and non-combatants. Wars are very infrequently fought in our age between two armies in a field. More often it is trained soldier versus unofficial insurgent (or revolutionary/freedom fighter), or even civilian against civilian. Those who deal in terror see civilians as primary targets. National militaries say they are able to avoid bombing hospitals and schools (though evidence proves otherwise); but sometimes nation-states don’t even try. It is hard to forget the infamous saying that came out of the Vietnam War: “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

And when biological, chemical, nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction are used or threatened, there are no civilians or combatants, only victims. The notion of appropriate and limited response is likewise obliterated. The Old Testament principle was eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth (Lev 24-19-21). This was a limitation on retaliation. If someone knocked out your tooth, you were not allowed to kill him or her in revenge. You could only take their tooth/the monetary value of a tooth, which was carefully regulated. This is the basis behind appropriate and limited responses. It is not considered “just” to kill 10,000 people if your enemy has killed 100 of your people. Of course, modern weapons take us into the possibility of indiscriminately killing millions at a time, of destroying entire cities through bombardment, even of the elimination of all human life from the planet. We really have moved beyond the realm of measured responses.

But even this, which should make modern war unjust by biblical and even secular standards, is not the real issue for Christians. Jesus took us away from the “eye for an eye” formula. He took us to radical forgiveness and love. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also….You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy. ‘ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:38-45)

This is not woke idealism, not armchair social media virtue signalling. Jesus lived in Judea under the thumb of an oppressive Roman regime that regularly crucified thousands of people to quell rebellion. His family were displaced, twice, by state control and violence at his birth. They were refugees to Egypt. He healed a Roman centurion’s servant, and also one of the guards who came to arrest him. As he healed the man he said “Enough of this!” to his disciples (Luke 22:51). In Matthew’s Gospel he said, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword” (Mt 26:52). 

Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen looked at the example of Jesus, and the state of the world, and wrote the line, “Give me Christ or give me Hiroshima.”

Which then do we choose, as Christians? Christ, or Hiroshima? How do we justify taking a human life, a life for which Jesus died, even if we categorise that person as an enemy? We know that we have responsibilities as Christians to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned – we know this because we have been commanded by Jesus. But we have also been given clear instructions from Jesus, and from New Testament letters, about our responsibilities towards our enemies: 

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:9-21

With these direct commands from our Lord, and from Scripture, why have we tried so hard to justify this killing? Why have we spent so much mental energy attempting to prove why it is acceptable to destroy the life God created, and for whom Jesus died?

For many of us this question only really presents itself in theory: what would I do if? It is easy enough to talk about non-violence when no one is threatening the things you hold dear, quite another to refrain from violence when the threat is in your home. Strong arguments are made on behalf of self-defence, or better still, defending the innocent from aggression. Do I understand the anger and desire for vengeance of those Israeli families who lost loved ones in the attacks by Hamas? Of course. Do I understand the anger and desire for vengeance of those Palestinian families who have lost loved ones in the violence and oppression they have endured since 1948? Of course. Does this justify the taking of lives, including the indiscriminate taking of lives? Because make no mistake, when war happens, it is always the poor and the vulnerable who suffer the most.

But can we remove ourselves from this moral conundrum by saying that we aren’t the ones doing the killing or hurting the vulnerable? Well, we actually aren’t as removed from the situation as we think. War profiteering: making profits off of war, the creation and sale of death-dealing weapons. 

Bob Ekblad has highlighted the following with regards to American war-profiteering: Congress recently approved 14 billion for arms to Israel, 61 billion arms to Ukraine. This has been portrayed as a generous support for US allies, but who is actually getting that money? US weapons manufacturing companies. The fact that American taxpayers are directly subsidising US companies like Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, and General Dynamics make ordinary citizens direct participants in and beneficiaries of the killing and destruction. The stock prices for major weapons manufacturers in the defense sector have increased significantly since Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, and Israel’s subsequent bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza, as stated by Bryan Quinn in the special report on October 26, “The business of war: How arms industry profits from violent conflicts.”

“Morgan Stanley and TD Bank hope for aerospace and weapons boon after a 7% value increase from start of Israel-Hamas conflict,” writes Eli Clifton in his article “Hamas has created additional demand’: Wall Street eyes big profits from war.” 

So, the poor are destroyed and the wealthy – particularly those concerned with the manufacture of weapons – get profoundly wealthier. But is this just happening in America? Canadian arms manufacturers exported an estimated 1 billion worth of weapons in 2022. The Canadian government approved 33 million dollars towards missiles in the Ukraine. Over 21 million dollars in military goods were sold to Israel in 2022. In 2015 a 15 billion dollar deal was struck to send military equipment to Saudi Arabia, weapons which have been used in the civil war in Yemen.

Then there is the matter of United Nations voting. On Oct 28 there was an emergency UN Vote which called for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” in Gaza. “Many considered the resolution to be the last opportunity to prevent the bloody and devastating ground assault that was subsequently launched on Gaza by Israel. The resolution was sponsored by Jordan and passed with 120 votes in favour, 14 against and 45 abstentions. In addition to calling for a truce, it also called for all parties to respect international humanitarian law and allow the “continuous, sufficient and unhindered” provision of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The resolution also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all civilians held captive” (“Canada Fails Humanity With Abstention on UN Vote,” https://www.cjpme.org/pr_2023_10_28_unga).

Canada abstained from this vote. 

On Nov 15 PM Justin Trudeau, evoking some of the ideas of Just War theory, said, “Even wars have rules. All innocent life is equal in worth. Israeli and Palestinian.” Trudeau asked for “maximum restraint” from Israel, but did not call for a ceasefire. Nations are wary about demanding ceasefires from other nations, because they can’t risk their own sovereignty – their own political right to defend their borders and interests, to retaliate, to wage war. 

However, I want to reiterate that for Christians, our primary engagement with this issue must not be political. We do not put our ultimate trust in nations, in the UN, in militaries. Psalm 20:7 – some trust in chariots some in horses but we depend on the Lord our God.

No, these horrific situations of war, and the seeming inability or lack of interest in the world to prevent them, should starkly remind us that there is a deeper reality. This is what the word Apocalypse means – to see behind the veil. There is an enemy of humanity, the thief who wants to steal, kill and destroy. War-making and war-profiteering and the destruction of the poor, the vulnerable, the innocent, the children, are all done in allegiance with this enemy. We are called to see this deeper reality, this spiritual truth. We are called to commit our lives not to the worldly appearance of truth, but to this deeper spiritual truth, revealed to us by the Spirit of God, in and about Christ Jesus. We are invited into the life of Jesus, the one who took in the sword rather than take up the sword. We are called to be utterly different. And the tragic reality is that Christians in this world, by and large, have not been very different at all. They have instead been some of the loudest in the support and justification of violence and war.

The way of Jesus is difficult, and might even appear impractical or impossible. But this does not excuse us from trying to live it, if this is what Jesus has called us to. And I believe it is. 

Jesus calls us to a place of no rights, no retaliation, and no security except what he gives us. His teaching on revenge and suffering and the example he gives of self-sacrifice are clear, though they do not say what we want to hear. Justice will be done, and aggressors will be held accountable, but we must trust that this final judgement will be in the hands of the Lord. Whenever we try to execute that kind of judgement, too much that is good is destroyed along with the bad – just as Jesus explained in the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30).

Here is Jacques Ellul, a man who lived through the Second World War, on the illusory danger of the Christian championship of violence:

“If I think that I cannot reach others except by participating in their revolt, their anger and hatred; if I think that Christ’s consolation is a deluding lie and reconciliation a hypocrisy, then I no longer believe that the coming kingdom is truly present, and I no longer believe in the Resurrection. And because in the depths of my heart I no longer believe these things, I substitute for the Resurrection my mythological picture of it, and I decide that I should have to build the kingdom on earth with my own hands. This unbelief is the truth of Christian championship of violence. All the rest is illusion.” – Jacques Ellul

Let us pray and live that we do not carry on in this illusion, which is the championship of violence.

When Hamas militants massacred 1200 people inside Israel and carried 240 hostages into Gaza on October 7, they succeeded in provoking the State of Israel to unleash its wrath on Palestinians living in Gaza. The Palestinian death toll of largely civilians and children is rising daily—now nearly twelve times more than the original 1200 victims. Weapons manufacturers, the oil industry and larger economy are profiting from this war.

How might followers of Jesus challenge these injustices and offer life-giving alternatives in the face of increasing death and destruction?

I’m amazed lately by how the Spirit seems to be orchestrating encounters with people on the streets. The timing of how these meetings happen is inspiring me to be even more attentive, so I can more consciously participate.

Last week I called the jail to see if they’d let me meet one-on-one with a prisoner I know from the streets. The Sheriff’s deputy told me that if I could get down there before 11:30am there would likely be a visitor booth that would be open by then for a short visit– but he couldn’t guarantee it. So, I drove the twenty-minutes to the jail, only to learn that all the booths were still full… but hopefully one would become available.

Just then the big metal door separating the inside of the jail from the outer corridor opened, and a man who was being released walked out, heading past me towards the front doors. I couldn’t see his face because he was wearing a mask, but I noticed his long, dark hair and thought I recognized him from somewhere. I searched my memory as to where I’d seen him, as he kept walking out into the jail parking lot.

I went over and sat down on a wooden bench opposite the attorney booths and read a few psalms. When one of the attorneys walked out, I got up and checked with the deputy to see if a booth was open.

“Not yet,” he said.

I sat down again and after a second attorney left I went again to the deputy, who then told me it was 11:45am and they were telling him there wasn’t enough time for me to visit. I left the jail defeated, and headed to my car, and drove out of the parking lot and headed towards town, pulling over at the jail bus stop to make a quick phone call.

Right after I pulled over, the man who’d passed me leaving the jail approached, and tapped my passenger window. I motioned for him to wait till I’d completed the call, and he nodded that he’d wait.

When I finished the call I lowered my window. Now with his mask off, a visibly Native American man who’d passed me in the jail, asked if I could give him a ride down to the Westside Bridge in town. I welcomed him into my car, and after taking a seat he asked me:

“There in the jail you looked as me like you know me. Do you know me from somewhere?”

“I think I do know you, but I’m not sure from where. Do you know me? I asked.

“No, I don’t know you,” he answered.

I suddenly recalled that I might have seen his face a week before in a traumatic event in downtown Mount Vernon. I had witnessed a group of police officers gathering around some grocery carts filled with the belongings of some unhoused people, who were not visible from the road. Others were wheeling stretchers up towards grocery carts.

Since there have been many recent overdose deaths, and we know many of the people on the street, I decided to park as close as I could get, which was right beside the aid car. I ran up towards the police officers, identifying myself, and then asking them if there were any overdose deaths.

“No, there’s no one dead yet, just two more affected by the bad batch of fentanyl that’s on the streets right now,” an officer told me.

He went on to share that lately they’ve needed 3-6 Narcans to revive people, if they could revive them.

I noticed a visibly Native American woman lying unconscious on the grass. Police officers were checking her vitals. Another man was being wheeled off in a gurney towards the aid car, who I had walked beside, praying for him. I wondered if this is where I had first seen this man who was now in the front seat of my car beside me.

“Did you by any chance have an overdose last week in Mount Vernon near the freeway onramp? Did the police come and take you off to the hospital?” I asked.

“Yes, I did overdose last week right there. After they took me to the hospital they booked me into the jail on some outstanding warrants,” he answered.

“Why do you ask?” he said.

I told him how I’d seen police officers around two unhoused people and I’d run up to see if they were okay. I told him how I’d walked beside him praying for him as the police wheeled him to the ambulance.

“Seriously man! That’s crazy! Thank you!” he said.

“And what’s especially amazing is that right then I was seeing a vision of four eagles circling around me in the sky above– and they were golden eagles!” he specified.

As I drove him to the Westside Bridge in Mount Vernon I asked him if I could pray for him then and there. He gladly agreed, and I prayed for him and his wife and his people on the Swinomish Reservation, giving thanks that they were still alive, and praying for their protection, and that God would give them the desires of the their hearts.

“Are you sure you want me to let you off by the Westside Bridge?” I asked. “Isn’t that pretty close to the trap house across the river?” I asked.

He told me he wasn’t going to straight back to the drugs. I reminded him that since he’s just detoxed from fentanyl, his resistance is low and he’s especially vulnerable to overdosing.

I told him I was heading out towards the Swinomish Reservation as it’s near where I live, and that I could gladly drive him there.

“No, that’s okay,” he said. “I need to find my wife, and if I get all the way out there and then find out she’s here in town, I’ll have to find a ride back here. But thanks for the offer.

I assured him that I and our Tierra Nueva community would hold he and his wife in our prayers.

Pray for the people on the many Native American reservations in our region, who we are increasingly connecting with, and many of whom are attending our faith community– for deep healing, recovery, and spiritual growth.

On further reflection, I am glad now that a visitor booth didn’t open up in the jail, as I would have likely missed this beautiful encounter. I can see that my plans may not be in alignment with the Spirit, and feel freshly inspired by God’s words in Psalm 32:8.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Please hold us in your prayers as we seek to minister to vulnerable people on the streets (and in the jail) of our community. May you experience being instructed and counseled by the Spirit, making yourself available to God-inspired encounters as you go about your daily life.