Bob & Gracie Ekblad

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Baptisms precarious & precious

09.12.21

Baptisms at Tierra Nueva are momentous occasions that are celebrated by our faith community. Most of our people come out of lives deeply marked by traumas of many kinds.

Addiction, homelessness, and incarceration are often part of people’s journeys. They talk of feeling worn out with life on the streets, and describe in different ways the gentle draw of Jesus’ embracing love becoming an irresistible tug.

Normally our TN pastors try to meet up 3-4 times with each person wanting baptism. Since most all are new to faith in Jesus, these times are precious encounters where people make discoveries, embracing God’s love, and confessing and turning away from evil in precise ways.

Since people are often navigating precarious life circumstances, and chaos often ensues prior to baptism, we’ve learned we must be flexible. We seek to “get away with” each meeting, like we’re stealing from the enemy camp. This means we must seize the moment as unforeseen time slots become available for each individual, rather than counting on set meeting times.

Our baptisms themselves are often quite precarious. Last Sunday morning Lorinda called me disturbed.

“Pastor Bob, we are going to have to change our baptism site. The river bank packed with fishermen, shoulder-to-shoulder. The boat launch is jammed full of trucks with boat trailers! What are we going to do?”

I could see we indeed had a problem as there’s a huge salmon run up the Skagit River right now. I imaged fishermen being frustrated with us taking up too much of the beach, and lures even hooking our new spiritually caught “fish” in their legs.

“What were we to do at such short notice?” I wondered.

Lisa, a faith community member and our new admin person jumped into action. She called her pastor friends who run Cowboy Church in the nearby community of Bow. Soon she had it arranged to have me meet her at a farm with my trailer and load up a large metal livestock drinking trough they use for baptisms—stationed outside a horse-training arena where the church meets. We set it in our garden and Julio filled it with water- just hours before our service.

The baptisms happened at our normal worship site in the garden behind Tierra Nueva—a joyous occasion!  Christina reflected on her baptism:

“I feel great! Actually I feel like I’m whole, if that makes sense. I am confident in why I exist now. Before I felt like I was just a being with no direction day after day. It’s really changed me inside.”

Then a few days later, last Wednesday, Julie showed up at Tierra Nueva. She had missed the preparation meetings for her baptism, and the service last Sunday. She saw the big livestock trough still full of water and asked Julio: “Can I still be baptized?”

Since she arrived right when we were starting our street outreach, we adjusted our plans and did a Bible study on Philip’s baptizing of the Ethiopian eunuch on the desert road in Acts 8.

Julie’s request minutes before was so much like the Ethiopian’s: “What prevents me from being baptized?”

We in turn repeated Philip’s words, addressing them to her: “If you believe with all your heart you may.”

This was the perfect segue to baptism, and our group of eight gathered around and prayed for her, led her into the baptismal renunciations and affirmations. Then Julio and I baptized her then-and-there (second picture below). After she came up from the water we prayed for her back and shoulder, and she experienced immediate healing. What a beautiful time!

We value your prayers for protection and ongoing growth for our newly baptized people: Heather, Christina and Julie.

 

There’s still time to sign up for one of our People’s Seminary trainings. Check them out here: http://www.peoplesseminary.org

 

Joining Jesus as empowered guests, not hosts: Mark 6, part 2

09.03.21

At Tierra Nueva over the past three weeks, 10-12 of us have been meeting on Wednesday afternoons to first learn from the Gospels what it looks like to follow Jesus in mission. We then pray together, divide up into groups of 2-3 and head out onto the streets, where we offer to pray for peace or for the needs of individuals we meet. After 45-60 minutes we come back together to debrief. Everyone returns with stories of positive encounters.

During a recent Bible study we see how Jesus shows that his role as prophet, or spokesperson for God, was not welcomed among his own (Mk 6). He himself could only lay his hands on a few sick people. So, he takes off for the surrounding villages, and then calls and sends the twelve disciples out in pairs to other places.

As the disciples go out with Jesus-given authority and in extreme vulnerability they witness repentance, and lots of freedom from evil spirits and healing (Mk 6:13). How could this story help us experience something similar now?

Looking more closely at Mark 6:7-13 we notice how after calling them to himself and beginning to send them out in pairs, Jesus “was giving them authority over the unclean spirits.” We note that Jesus’ first miracle was to cast out an unclean spirit from someone in the synagogue (Mk 1:23-25).

Unclean spirits are powers that afflict people who are meant to be fully filled by the Holy Spirit. These spirits are associated with undue loyalty, submission, oppression by or outright idolatry to organizations (synagogues, temple, religions), regions (Gerasene), violence (Mk 5:2), legions of the Roman Empire (Mk 5:9), etc. In the gospels they are associated with sickness, psychological torment and even permanent conditions like deafness and muteness (Mk 9:25). Unclean spirits include “religious” or nationalist spirits, as they cause people to fall down, and show their allegiance (Mk 3:11).

They are invisible powers at work everywhere in our culture and larger world, associated directly with “rulers, authorities, powers and world forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” that Paul says we struggle against— and not against “flesh and blood” (Eph 6:12).

Jesus had authority over these spirits and gives this to his disciples- you and me included. But what’s amazing is that Jesus combines this authority with the uncommon partners of extreme humility and vulnerability.

Jesus sends out his disciples without money, or extra clothes—a huge contrast to the church’s normal tendency to serve as host rather than guest. Disciples are only to carry a staff, (which is the same word in Greek as scepter). King Jesus deputizes his disciples and sends them and us outside our comfort zones as dependent guests (not conquering invaders)– to advance the Kingdom of God.

In Mark 6:7-13 we notice that there’s no more mention of the disciples exercising authority over unclean spirits. Rather they act more broadly and freely, preaching repentance, casting out demons and anointing the sick with oil and healing them. Receiving authority over unclean spirts from Jesus opens the way for the Kingdom of God to come close.

There in the Tierra Nueva garden our people were excited about the prospect of this kind of mission. Most of them had experienced hardships like homelessness, addiction, and incarceration. Some had also been on the receiving end of overly zealous Christian mission efforts. Yet they see the need for a scepter, and they like adventure.

My group consisted of Robin and her sister, who came that day for the first time. We started right off praying for one of the women new to Tierra Nueva. She drinks in the prayer and care like a thirsty plant.

We head down the road, noticing a hopped-up car parked by the park where we used to meet for Sunday worship. A big star on the hood catches our attention. A woman sat in the driver’s seek, window rolled down, talking away on her cell phone.

“Let’s pray she gets off the phone quick or we won’t be able to pray for her,” I propose. We pray and she almost immediately ends her call. We approach her and describe our mission, offering to pray.

“Yes, I’d like prayer,” she says. “I want protection from Covid.”

We gathered around her window and each of us pray. We share how we noticed the star, and tell her we believe God sees her as a precious person, a shining star like the one on the grill of her car.

Tears begin to fall, and her eye lashes start to come unglued. She didn’t seem to notice as she soaks up our words and prayers.

We leave her and meet a young man with pierced nose and lips, and a skateboard, who’s waiting for a bus. He, too, gladly receives prayer for his wife and new baby daughter, born two days before.

We return to the garden and hear reports from the three other teams, who had each prayed for 4-6 people.

The following week we head out together again, crossing the street as a group before going our separate ways as small teams.

Together we run straight into a young man we knew from past interactions. He was pushing a shopping cart along with a blanket and other basic necessities he’d acquired. We ask how he’s doing and if he needs prayer. One of our people knew he had just lost his stepmother to a Fentanyl overdose. He is deeply touched as we gather around him and pray. Gracie and Jessica accompany him back to our Tierra Nueva garden, where he waits until we return, to get a ride to the place he’s staying in Sedro Woolley.

Roger, one of our team members, had received an image of someone wearing red while praying two days before. I tell him I have a strong sense we need to head to a particular corner near the police station. Off we go, walking several blocks. We decide to stop by a local clean and sober house, and pray for two men out front, one of whom we knew from the jail. We turn the corner, and pass a Mexican woman and her son working in the yard. She is eager to receive prayer, especially for one of her older sons, who suffers from diabetes. We pray for his healing, and invite her to join us in our prayer walk the following week.

Suddenly Roger nudges me. “Bob, we’ve got to cross the street!” He points to a man with a dark beard fixing his bicycle on the corner—the very corner I had envisioned. Roger notices his red shorts, fitting the description of the guys in his vision.

We cross the street and approach him, and Roger humbly shares how we are out blessing the community, walking the streets and offering to pray for people. “Can we pray for you for anything?” he asks.

The man looks at us in shock. For the longest time he is unable to speak- his lips quivering and face contorting. He asks us to pray for his five-year-old daughter, from whom he was legally separated for some reason unknown to us. This separation is crushing him. Her name is tattooed on his forearm. He cries as we pray, and then shares how he works at a motel, and everyone he knows is struggling with Meth. He asks us to pray for his friends. When he learns I’m a pastor, he gives me a big hug. He knew about Tierra Nueva and says he needs a family, a faith community. He gives us his number and takes ours.

We return to the group in the garden, where everyone shares their stories. Julio, Lucrecia and Chucky had prayed for a woman with Cancer. Jessica and Gracie and stopped by someone from Jessica’s work and prayed for her.

Like Jesus’ disciples who talk with people, cast out demons and pray for healing after Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits—it seems we are stepping into a version of this ministry. We can see that our simple stopping, conversing with and praying for people affected by Covid, Cancer, Fentanyl, the court system makes a difference for them– without needing money or anything material to give. I’m excited to go out again. May the Spirit fill and empower you to step into Jesus’ ministry too.

 

Consider joining us our new Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins cohort, designed for those already serving (or feeling called to serve) amongst poor or marginalized communities. This 12-week CTMM 2021 Module 1 training begins Sept 28, Tuesdays 12:00-1:30pm (PDT).
https://www.peoplesseminary.org/product-page/newctmm2021
Visit our website for more information: http://www.peoplesseminary.org

Facing Our Shattered State

08.27.21

I was struck by the relevancy today of Isaiah’s prophetic words to God’s people prior to the destruction of the nation of Israel and their exile in 587 BC.

“Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; and give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted. State a proposal, but it will not stand. For God is with us” (Isaiah 8:9-10).

This is the situation here in North America. Our Western societies are in rapid decline: greed, corruption, depravity, bitterness, and division abound.

We need to be shattered to the point of authentic humility, because our not-yet-shattered state is bringing chaos at nearly every level. Baptismal death is necessary for resurrection life to emerge out of the rubble.

The United States and its Western allies continue to harvest bitter fruit from their latest efforts at nation-building: Iraq and Afghanistan. People’s belief in military might and expertise has been exposed as futile and pathetic. The United States’ self-interested foreign interventions are not only visibly ineffective, but bring division, corruption, death, and destruction. This is becoming more obvious from day-to-day, as lives continue to be lost and chaos ensues in Afghanistan. The world is seeing so clearly that America is an impotent, false savior.

The rapid victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan this month, despite the US military’s spending of $83 billion and 20 years of training and equipping the Afghan army (under Republican and Democratic-led administrations), exposes the US and its allies’ incapacity and bankruptcy (see Rachel Tecott’s article “Why America Can’t Build Allied Armies,” Foreign Affairs, Aug 26, 2021).

The failure of the president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani to effectively rebuild and govern exposes the failings of Western education, expertise, strategy, and US backing. Dr. Ghani held a PhD from Columbia University and wrote the book, Fixing Failed States: Rebuilding a Fractured World.

America’s domestic situation continues in disarray, reflecting how money and education are also incapable of rebuilding our fractured nation. The United States’ most prosperous cities (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles) are filled with homeless encampments. The Seattle area is home to many Fortune-500 companies, including Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Weyerhaeuser, Expeditors, Costco, Alaska Airlines, as well as giants like Microsoft, Expedia and Boeing. Business and technical competence and wealth abound, yet the downtown to the peripheries are filled with people visibly struggling with homelessness, addictions, poverty and mental health disorders. In major cities across the USA there are myriads of visible, daily reminders of the failure of our nation to effectively care for its own. Added to this are the continuing Covid and opioid epidemics, and the ongoing reality of mass incarceration. What will it take for people to finally acknowledge our broken, shattered state?

Democracy in the United States is in crisis, with partisan division paralyzing effective decision making. Racial divisions, and the scapegoating of immigrants and refugees and general unrest are on the rise. Climate change is wreaking havoc, with storms and forest fires abounding. Increasingly, free enterprise in the name of freedom creates a culture where raw and perverse porn is rampant, violent media, and disinformation abound. Distortion, denial and outright lies are marketed as truth, and swallowed whole by naïve partisan consumers.

“Be shattered, for God is with us!” writes Isaiah prior to Israel’s destruction by the Babylonians and consequent exile. Not a normal message of comfort and love, but a call to extreme humility.

Isaiah’s message is extreme realism. We must honestly face our personal and corporate incapacity, bankruptcy and brokenness, and God is with us as we do this. But this means breaking with those who are stuck in denial, self-justification and blaming.

“For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people,” continues Isaiah (Is 8:11).

What does it look like today for followers of Jesus to “not walk in the way of this people?”

May each of us humbly and prayerfully consider this question. Isaiah continues to wax eloquent:

“You are not to say, ‘it is a conspiracy!’ with regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy” (Is 8:12-13).

Isaiah calls God’s people away from fear, and from false narratives and idolatry. Wholesale allegiance to God is the simple, radical and only way forward.

False prophets are calling for Christians to arise and get politically involved, making our government this way or that way, before it is too late. It is already too late, and government reform is important but will not solve our biggest problems. As Isaiah states: “Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted. State a proposal, but it will not stand.”

Making America or any nation great again is not the way of Jesus, and Jesus himself certainly did not promote the Roman Empire or support Israelite nationalism. Jesus-followers are called to announce the “Gospel of the kingdom”— a “kingdom not of this world,” though fully “in the world.”

“And he (God) you shall fear, and he shall be your dread. Then he shall be a sanctuary, not to the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

John the Baptist was another prophet who prepared the way of the Lord, who showed up in Jesus of Nazareth- a stumbling block for many. John preached a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:4). People came to him, confessing their sins.

Immersion in the waters of the Jordan represents death to the old self, and cleansing from sin. Coming up out of the baptismal waters is a restart- a new beginning, free from their old allegiances. There’s a new availability to receive the Holy Spirit and step into true identity as a son or daughter– each one ready to begin eternal life. Many came to receive John’s baptism, but some didn’t. May we choose to die again under the waters of baptism, agreeing to “be shattered,” which is the pre-requisite to the resurrection life.

 

Consider joining us for a new cohort of our Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins which addresses questions like these, designed for those already serving (or feeling called to pioneer work) amongst poor and marginalized communities. This 12-week CTMM 2021 Module 1 training begins Sept 28, Tuesdays 12:00-1:30pm (PDT).

https://www.peoplesseminary.org/product-page/newctmm2021

Visit our website for more information: http://www.peoplesseminary.org

Insights for prophets without honor

08.18.21

Reading and enacting Mark 6 with 14 young adults from France, Poland, in Hungary in Budapest at the end of July brought the public ministry of Jesus into sharp focus.

We read how Jesus taught in his hometown synagogue. At first his fellow villagers were impressed, asking: “where did he get these things?” They wondered how someone ordinary, like them, could have such wisdom and perform miracles. But then they took offense.

“Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?”

Jesus then made his famous statement: “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household” (Mk 6:4).

Since those familiar with Jesus wouldn’t honor him, they were unable to receive from him. He could only lay his hands on a few sick people and consequently could not advance the Kingdom of God among his own. Jesus was amazed at their unbelief. He expected them to humbly embrace him as a divine messenger, even though he was like them.

This text is highly relevant for followers of Jesus now, serving as a warning that if we are staying within our own insider community and limited subculture, our prophetic role will likely be challenged or stifled. If it happened to Jesus, it most certainly can and will happen to us.

In today’s Covid-struck, divided and even hostile environments, people tend to stay where they are comfortable, and where things are familiar and safe. Human beings self-segregate around national, ethnic, ideological and religious identities. In these settings Jesus-followers can find themselves unable to effectively minister to their own, and consequently can become discouraged by a lack of fruitfulness. Jesus’ teaching and action in Mark 6 speak to our times. But first let’s address a common misunderstanding.

Jesus’ words about himself as a prophet stop many of us from seeing this as relevant to ourselves. We can see that Jesus was a prophet—but what does that have to do with me? More than you might think!

Scripture is clear that every child of God is called to prophecy. Every human is made in God’s image and likeness (Gn 1:26), invited to represent the Kingdom of God through word and action.

When the Spirit of God was placed upon the 70 elders on Mount Sinai (and not just Moses), they prophesied, and when people took offense Moses said:  “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them!” (Nm 11:29).

Moses’ prophetic words were realized at Pentecost, when a tongue of fire came upon the heads of all the gathered believers, and they began speaking of the mighty deeds of God in the different languages of the assembled people (Acts 2:11).

Peter interprets Pentecost as the fulfillment of the Joel 2:28 prophecy that in the last days God would pour out the Spirit on all humankind, empowering people to have visions, dreams and to prophecy (Acts 2:17).

Paul himself urges believers to “pursue love, yet desire eagerly the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophecy” (1 Cor 14:1).

Jesus states clearly here that a prophet (you, me) will not be honored in our homeland (patris), racial/ethnic group (sungenes), and household (oikia)— manifestations of the powers and principalities created by and for Christ (Col 1:16), which become empowered by unclean spirits when they are worshipped.

These same categories God called Abraham to take leave of so he could be a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gn 12:1-4). Jesus himself left his hometown to teach in the surrounding villages (Mk 6:6)– though he continued to engage with his own resistant people.

In Mark 6:7-13 Jesus sends out his twelve disciples in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits (which would include spirits associated with nations, cities, ethnicities, organizations, political entities, businesses, religions, idols, etc…).

After studying Mark 6 we headed to downtown Budapest, dividing up into three to four people, including a Hungarian in each group to translate. Most had never ventured onto the streets in any kind of public witness, and would find it much harder to do this in their own countries and neighborhoods than in a foreign place like Hungary. Once out on the streets in my small group the Hungarian woman translating for us made an interesting observation.

“Hungarians are not used to being approached by one another in public,” she said. “People are wary as the only ones that do this are Jehovah’s witnesses or Hare Krishnas.”

“When a foreigner approaches, Hungarians are more receptive,” she continued. “They are more curious and sometimes can even feel honored.”

From then on one of the non-Hungarians in our group was the first to speak when we approached Hungarians, even if it was in English, and this in fact seemed to work better. Many Hungarians received prayers of blessing and healing from our majority non-Hungarian teams. Immigrants we encountered from other nations (Thai, Kenyan, Palestinian) seemed even more receptive.

In contrast to Jesus, who could only “lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them” in his hometown due to people’s taking offense and unbelief, the twelve disciples appear to have been received as prophets, who preached, like John the Baptist (1:4), that people should repent (6:12). They “were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them” (Mk 6:13). Our groups in Budapest also found that most people we encountered on the streets were open to receiving prayer.

So, if Jesus himself was minimally fruitful ministering among his own, how much more might we his followers today find ourselves blocked in our prophetic function, when people overly familiar with us take offense and resist believing that we too are deputized to advance Jesus’ movement in the world.

This does not mean that we should give up on the people from our homeland, ethnicity and family. Jesus was amazed at his fellow townspeople’s unbelief, suggesting that he hoped to be received. Jesus did not give up, nor did he bow to the pressure to conform to groupthink in the interests of unity.

Jesus went out of his way to expose and denounce Israel’s past inability to receive from their own prophets (Elijah and Elisha)– in contrast to a foreign widow from Zarephath who received miraculous provision from Elijah during a famine, and an enemy Syrian military commander Naaman, who was cleansed of leprosy by Elisha. Jesus’ prophetic challenge was met by his villagers’ attempt to throw him off a cliff (Luke 4:24-30).

Despite his people’s resistance, Jesus continued to engage with them, even though they rejected him to the point of calling for his execution, a dishonor that was foreseen by an earlier prophet: “He was a man in suffering, and acquainted with the bearing of sickness, for his face is turned from us; he was dishonored, and not esteemed (LXX Isaiah 53:3).

May you wisely resist the pressures to remain silent or give up your prophetic role in your own familiar circles. May you grow in your authority over the unclean spirits of our day and age, and go outside your comfort zones and circles of relative sameness, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

As you engage prophetically with your own community and step out beyond the limits of homeland, ethnicity and family, may you experience greater fruitfulness, joining in fulfilling the promise to Abraham to be a blessing to every family on the planet.

Consider joining us for a new cohort of our Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins which addresses questions like these, designed for those already serving (or feeling called to pioneer work) amongst poor and marginalized communities. This 12-week CTMM 2021 Module 1 training begins Sept 28, Tuesdays 12:00-1:30pm (PDT).
https://www.peoplesseminary.org/product-page/newctmm2021
Visit our website for more information: http://www.peoplesseminary.org

Street Chaplaincy in Budapest

08.07.21

Last week my daughter Anna and I were in Budapest, Hungary, where we participated in the Changemaker festival, organized by the France-based Catholic-ecumenical order Chemin Neuf.

About 125 young people ages 18-34 gathered from across Europe for five days of worship, Biblical reflection, prayer and seminars on justice issues like migration, racial reconciliation, climate change and European unity. In the afternoons people broke into project groups. Fourteen people joined my project “Word, Spirit and Justice on the Streets.”

We began each of our three-hour afternoon sessions looking at a Gospel text showing Jesus in action– tenderly encountering the people of his day. We explored together in detail how Jesus approached people– calling them to join him, healing them of their pains and diseases, defending them from accusers, casting out spirits that oppressed them.

After each daily hour of reflection we broke into four groups, which always included one of our Hungarian-speaking participants. We then went out on the streets for an hour and a half to walk, pray, and pay attention, deliberating seeking to attend to what we were noticing, informed by the Gospel account we’d examined. We sought to make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit to respond to people we encountered on the streets, or to initiate encounters.

The neighborhood where the conference took place was in the notorious 8th District, an impoverished area where many Roma people, gypsies and newly arriving immigrants from Eastern Europe live. Drug dealing, homelessness, and prostitution were often visible on the streets.

Participants in my group came from France, Poland, Hungary, Germany and Indonesia. Only one had ever prayed for healing and no one had engaged in street chaplaincy. When we re-grouped to debrief after our first outreach there was both visible relief and excitement. Going out was easier and more fulfilling than people had imagined.

Everyone shared stories of surprising encounters with people on the streets. Each group engaged in respectful listening, and prayers of blessing for people. Some people even prayed for healing.

As we were talking with and praying for a man in a wheel chair who’d lost both his legs we noticed a woman soliciting customers on the side of the road. Our Hungarian group member asked the woman whether she knew God. She answered: “I used to, but not anymore, since I took a bad path.”

We told her that nothing can separate us from God’s love, and how Jesus never gives up on us, showing himself to be a friend and defender of sinners and the excluded. She gladly received prayer, lifting her hands up slightly as we blessed her, tears falling.

In downtown Budapest on the third day my group gathered to ask the Holy Spirit for revelation about what to look for. People received “youth,” a picture of someone with a black shirt with “stop” written on, a black shirt with an orange triangle, among other things.

We turned a corner into a park full of young people. Skateboarders were everywhere. As we were leaving the park I noticed a teenager approaching wearing an interesting t-shirt– thinking to myself how much my friend Jason would love that shirt.

I stopped the youth and asked him where he got the cool shirt. He didn’t want to be bothered but then took my interest as a compliment, telling me where I could find one. I asked if I could take his picture. Just after we parted someone noticed that hidden in the middle of the graphics of his shirt were the words “Stop.” We had stopped, but we had missed this clue that the Spirit had given us in response to our request at the opportune moment! A few of us took off in search of the guy, but couldn’t find him. This experience excited us all, a confirmation that we were hearing from God.Later that afternoon a woman in our group saw a prostitute on the street with a black shirt with an orange triangle. She approached her to offer prayer, and was well received. This amazed her and delighted people, who were not used to the Spirit providing such intelligence.

On the final day, after our group presented our project to all the festival participants there in a public park in the heart of the 8th District, we extended an invitation for anyone to join us on a final hour of street chaplaincy.

Twenty new people joined our group, and we sent out eleven groups of three, each heading out in a different direction. We planned to meet back to debrief an hour later. Seven new Hungarians joined us to help translate, and each group was led by one or two people from our project, who four days prior had no experience of this kind of ministry!

Participants came back excited, reporting moving encounters with people on the streets that included listening to their stories and praying for their healing. I’m sure that my “Word, Spirit and Justice on the Streets” participants are now less intimidated to engage in street chaplaincy back in their home countries. Anna and I return ready to engage afresh with our Tierra Nueva faith community in prayer walks through our streets here in the Skagit Valley.

Consider joining us for a new cohort of our Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins, which is designed for those already serving (or feeling called to pioneer work) amongst poor and marginalized communities. This 12-week CTMM 2021 Module 1 training begins Sept 28, Tuesdays 12:00-1:30pm (PDT).

https://www.peoplesseminary.org/product-page/newctmm2021

Visit our website for more information: http://www.peoplesseminary.org

 

 

The Humble Divinity of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel- new book announcement

06.13.21

I’m delighted to announce the publication of the English translation of the first volume of our French mentor and friend, Daniel Bourguet’s excellent little book on Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. These inspired meditations model contemplative reading of Scripture that truly feeds our spirits, leading us to read the Bible freshly. Please enjoy and excerpt below and you’ll want to get a copy of this book here.

The Multiplication of the loaves

We always speak of the “multiplication of loaves,” but these terms come from modern editors and not from Mark himself. Where are the terms “multiplication” or “multiply”? Nowhere. Mark uses neither term nor their synonyms. The same applies to the parallel accounts in Matthew, Luke and even John: none of them talk about multiplication more in the account of the first multiplication than in the second! This is really amazing. Nevertheless, multiplication is what happened: we have only to look at the outcome — baskets full of leftovers, when to begin there were only a few loaves and thousands of seated people! What exactly does Mark say about this multiplication, which must surely be signaled somewhere in the account?

“After taking the five loaves and the two fish and lifting his eyes to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples” (6:41); that’s all. Jesus did no more than give the disciples the bread he had broken. Nothing says that Jesus multiplied the loaves or the fish. What did the disciples then do with what Jesus had handed them? “They offered it round” (paratithémì).

The verb paratithémi, often translated as “distribute,” more precisely means “offer” or “present,” but not “multiply.” The disciples offered the crowd broken, not multiplied, loaves, as with the fish. Whether the word is translated as “distribute” or “offer,” one can but realize that the loaves were indeed multiplied if they fed such a great crowd, and multiplied to such an extent that there were basketfuls of leftovers. But when exactly were they multiplied?

It’s evident from the passage that the miracle took place between the four actions of Jesus recorded by Mark (take, bless, break, give) and the distribution by the disciples. It took place in a gap in the text, in the inexpressible, because Mark has no words to describe or formulate what happened. When Mark says that Jesus broke the loaves, this doesn’t mean that he multiplied them. The miracle belongs to a place beyond words. The verb “multiply” does exist in Hebrew (râvav) as in Greek (plèthunô), as we see in a verse from the psalms: “Our flocks multiply by their thousands, by tens of thousands” (Ps 144:13); so it seems to me that if Mark is unable to find human words to speak of such a miracle it’s because it has to do not with us but with God. It was a divine work, a work which is beyond anything we are able to say. The miracle invites us to contemplate the inexpressible work of God.

But who actually performed the miracle? The account places the miracle between Jesus handing out the broken bread and the distribution by the disciples, in a moment beyond our grasp. I have a problem saying that the disciples performed the miracle. Mark invites us to believe that it was Jesus who did it. If this miracle was divine and beyond expression, and if it was indeed Jesus who performed what is a divine work, this discreetly once again reveals that Jesus is God.

It also seems right to add that the miracle accomplished by Jesus took place with such humility that it didn’t become apparent in the hands of Jesus but in the hands of the disciples when they offered and distributed the bread to the crowd. I believe that it was only when they began to distribute the bread that they realized that the loaves had been multiplied or were multiplying as the distribution proceeded…

Jesus is so humble that he steps back to let the miracle appear in the disciples’ hands, not his. In a way, Jesus associated the disciples with the miracle in order to efface himself behind them. What humility!

This humility of Christ is found in other miracles, as in the healing of the man born blind (Jn 9:6–7): when Jesus smeared the blind man’s eyes with mud and sent him to wash, the miracle was not yet apparent. The blind man became aware of it after he had washed his eyes. He came back to Jesus, who had disappeared; he “self-eclipsed” in the most complete humility.

When Jesus sent the Syro-Phoenician woman home, no one could possibly have known about her daughter’s healing. Only when she got home, far from Jesus, did she discover the miracle (7:30). Here again, Jesus’ humility is revealed. It’s an overwhelming humility that surpasses any other!

In the other account of multiplication of loaves, exactly the same takes place: “After Jesus had taken the seven loaves, and after giving thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to present them to the crowd” (8:6). Once more, Jesus effaces himself and entrusts the miracle to the disciples; again, the miracle no doubt became apparent not before, but during the distribution….

This self-effacement of Jesus is truly wonderful. That Jesus should do this is nothing new to us; in the account of the paralytic, we have also seen Jesus step back behind his Father to enable us to contemplate the Father in synergy 15. Translating the French literally. The multiplication of loaves (Mark 6:30–44) with him. New here is that Jesus doesn’t include the Father but does include the disciples, as though he was inviting them to participate in the miracle in synergy with him, honoring them to the highest degree, especially when we find in the continuation that the disciples had not understood the miracle at all! Even when drawn into the second multiplication of loaves, the disciples still failed to understand what Jesus had done in conjunction with them or through them. The humble Jesus effaces himself behind disciples who don’t understand. It’s shocking. The truth is that we do no better today: how often is the Lord at work through us, even at times working miracles through us, and we don’t understand what he is doing! Lord Jesus, have pity on us!

Purchase your copy of this book here.

New Life Springing Up in the Wastelands, Isaiah 43:18-21 (part 2)

06.05.21

God’s call to exiles in Isaiah 43:18 to “not call to mind the former things or ponder the things of the past” is a plea to break with our inherited or self-constructed identities, and open ourselves to our true selves and future.

After all, we humans mostly see ourselves and others according to our pasts: our upbringing, education, successes, failures, losses, traumas, hardships, etc. But truly perceiving ourselves through God’s eyes, and stepping into our spiritual identity changes everything.

Earlier in Isaiah 42:1, the Lord presents the very people who were then-and-there enslaved to the Babylonians as “my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” God stakes his claim, countering past and present realities by stating the outside empowerment and mission freely given.

“I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Servant Israel is far from enlightened, qualified or even completely free. They are deaf and blind (v. 18), “a people plundered and despoiled; all of them are trapped in caves, or are hidden away in prisons; they have become a prey with none to deliver them” (v. 22).

This is the people who are called to “establish justice in the earth” (v. 4), be “light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon” (v. 6-7).

The prophet Isaiah calls us to not let the past dictate how we see ourselves now, but to step into the realm of faith, expecting it to be true that: “I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?” (43:19)

Right now as I grieve my mom’s death, we face the departure of more of our Tierra Nueva colleagues, and we continue to lament 16 months of not being able to ministry in the our local jail and prison, Gracie and I are trying to not focus on the past, but anticipate the new springing up before us.

“I will even make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

The words here for wilderness include the Hebrew midbar (desert), used often as the destination of fugitives, the despised and rejected, and prophets (Gen 16:6; 21:14, 20; 37:22). The second word yesiymon can be translated “wasteland,” and is where David retreated with his outlaw fighters when persecuted by King Saul (1 Sam 23:19, 24; 26:1, 3). They can symbolize places of desolation, marginalization, exclusion, and failure.

God himself is making a way into these places, which in our setting certainly include prisons, trap houses, homeless encampments—but also nursing homes, and the very minds and hearts of people struggling with illness, addictions, loneliness, depression, confusion and any chronic mental health disorder. Now it is springing up. Will you not be aware of it?

“The beasts of the field will glorify me,” says the Lord. “The jackals and the ostriches.” Jackals evoke howling mournfully in waste places and deserted sites.

Ostriches are unclean birds, considered detestable (Lev 11:13-19), symbolic of loneliness and desolation.

Both appear together associated with lament and grief (Micah 1:8; Job 30:28-29), dwelling among the ruins or wilderness (Is 34:13; Jer 50:39).

God makes a path to them right where they are, bringing living water- as Jesus does to the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:10). “To give drink to my chosen people” is most certainly a high priority. We are right now feeling called to part of this most holy mission— the new thing in these desolate times.

Who might be the human equivalents of jackals and ostriches in your community—God’s chosen people?

I think of one of our community members who recently relapsed, who we’ve pursued by phone to no avail. A few weeks ago he pulled up in his car in our Tierra Nueva parking lot to listen to our service, sweating and distraught as he was coming down off of heroin. I came to his car window and prayed for him. The next day he went into detox and is now back in treatment. Yesterday he showed up at Tierra Nueva on his bike full of joy. He is excited about the possibility of being one of our worship leaders.

I think of a woman we’ve pursued for 25+ years who showed up yesterday at Tierra Nueva with her grandchildren, wanting a copy of my book Reading the Bible with the Damned, since she’s in it. She’s been an outlier from our ministry due to her own choices, and years in federal prison for running drugs across the Mexican border. But yesterday she returned. She told me she’s $250K bail and expects to have to do some time soon, and wanted prayer.

We all need to come to see ourselves afresh as beloved servants of God, chosen and empowered by the Spirit to advance beautiful Jesus movement in the wastelands of our world. Our current focus at Tierra Nueva is to mobilize our faith community to bring living water to God’s chosen ones, which in our setting are people affected by immigration, incarceration and addiction.

“The people whom I formed for myself will declare my praise” God says, declaring a future not yet present… which we are leaning into now.

 

Consider joining us for Heidi Basely’s upcoming Trauma Workshop. Don’t forget to check out my recent book Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit and series of Guerrilla Bible studies.

Be freed from the past and step into the new: Isaiah 43:18-21 (part 1)

05.24.21

God’s instructions to exiled people in Babylon through the prophet Isaiah strike me as highly relevant now.

“Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?” (Is 43:18-19)

These words help us avoid the trap of old mindsets and ways of doing things so we can re-focus our attention on the new things that the Spirit is initiating in our lives and world.

The “former things” for Jews in exile, included the glorious and romanticized past of Israel’s successes, awesome temple worship and religious feasts, and powerful kings.

Lately, I find myself remembering the early beginnings of Tierra Nueva in Honduras, where we went from village to village on our motorcycle, meeting with farmers in their fields, leading spontaneous reflections on Scripture under trees in corn fields. I think of the many dynamic Bible studies in past years in our local jail, our vibrant worship and gatherings in the months before Covid that brought in the most vulnerable, and many other high points of our lives.

Calling the idealized past to mind stirs up nostalgia and invites comparisons, leading to discouragement and desires to return to the sacred beginnings or traditions that hold power. The Lord prohibits this as distraction that keeps us looking backwards rather than forwards.

“Former things” also include the people’s individual and corporate failures: idolatry, rebellion, refusals to pay attention to the prophets… When I focus on my failures, I can easily despair over things I can’t go back and re-do. It is important to carefully discern how things went wrong, to learn from past mistakes so as to not repeat them. But the replaying of failures must come to an end; otherwise regrets, remorse and discouragement will result, which can be better resisted and overcome through honest confession, repentance, receiving forgiveness and choosing to listen to God’s voice now.

“Former things” can also include past hurts and traumas that have wounded and crippled us, causing us to see ourselves as victims. Israel’s past traumas are called “oppression” (Is 52:4) and “former devastations” (Is 61:4). Blame, resentment, bitterness, hatred towards those who have harmed us can invade our lives. False guilt, shame, self-hatred, and despair can also become installed when we listen to and internalize accusing voices.

Rather, we must learn to identify and carefully name offenses, uncovering the wounds to the healing light and cleansing waters, and engage in the process of grieving, lamenting, receiving God’s healing and comfort, and eventually forgiving.

I don’t believe Isaiah is suggesting escapism, denial or a spiritual smoothing over of past atrocities or brutal ways we were sinned against or participated in sin ourselves.

Right before these challenging instructions of Isaiah 43:18-19, God calls himself “your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel” and describes the destruction of the Babylonian perpetrators and the liberation of the oppressed using the language of Exodus from Egyptian slavery.

The Lord “makes a way through the sea, and a path through the mighty waters. The chariots, horses, army and mighty men “will lie down together and not rise again,” writes the prophet, stating God’s commitment to effectively addressing injustices that traumatize, rather than overlooking them and calling people to forget about past atrocities and traumas. God can be trusted to be 100% about liberation and life.

But everything in the past is included in “former things,” which are not to be called to mind or pondered. We are only to remember God’s past saving actions (Is 46:9), a remembering which is essential so our faith is enlivened so we can watch for the new.

“Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?”

God promises something new that is underway, in the future and even immediately—now! “Now it will spring up! Will you not be aware of it?” This evokes God’s original creation (Gn 2:9), righteousness (Is 45:8), the living word (Is 55:10); recovery (Is 58:8) and newness of life (Is 61:11).

Waiting and watching for the new in the here and now requires active faith, described earlier in Isaiah 43:10-11.

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, and there will be none after me. “I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides me.”

In order to become an active witness of the new work of God in the midst of devastation, I am seeing I must surrender and cooperate with the Lord’s choosing and recruiting movement. We are chosen so that we “may know and believe and understand” that the Lord (identified as Jesus in the New Testament) is true and real—the One—and that there’s not other savior options.

Paul writes about this is in his own way in Philippians 3:13-14

“I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Faith in Jesus is required if we’re to identify and attune ourselves to the “something new” that’s springing up. This is how we receive the mind of Christ, rather than leaning on our own way of thinking.

“Will you not be aware of it?” asks the prophet.

Will I not?

I pray that you and I will be spared from ignorance. I pray that you and I will become freed up enough from focusing on the past to perceive the new works that God has prepared for us in this season. I want to notice and step onto the pathway God is making in the wastelands and drink from the rivers in the desert.

May God bless you with active faith so you will become aware so you can fully participate in the new movement of God in these times.

New life springing up in the wastelands– Bob and Gracie Ekblad news

05.24.21

So far 2021 has been marked by loss, grief and transition, together with some constants and newness that have kept us too busy to write.

On the family front there’s been lots of upheaval. On April 12 my 91-year-old mother left us after months of suffering due to frequent hospitalizations, increasing blindness and hearing loss, and two weeks in hospice at a nearby nursing home. I was the only designated visitor under the latest Covid protocols during her hospitalizations, keeping me busy and giving me a special opportunity to draw closer to my beloved mom. For months our home was abuzz with out-of-town guests, including my parents 19 grandkids, many of their spouses and my siblings.

Two weeks after my mom died my 93-year-old father suffered a stroke and was airlifted to Seattle, where he was hospitalized for a week before being transferred to a rehab facility here in the Skagit Valley where he’s been receiving physical therapy. We are currently determining where he can live now that he’s wheelchair bound and needs daily assistance.

Gracie’s 87-year-old mother has been suffering from worsening dementia from the last few years, and is now needing constant care. For months Gracie researched and then located an assisted living facility in our community, moving her mom out of her home of 60+ years on May 10. This has been a massive adjustment that continues.

In the midst of all this our colleague of 13 years and Tierra Nueva’s Executive Director Mike Neelley, notified us that he’s feeling called in a new direction and will be leaving at the end of August. Our youngest staff member who serves as pastoral advocate Andrew Lewis has also given his notice that he’s moving to Guatemala to pursue a persistent call to disciple young people.

Since March of 2020 we’ve been unable to lead Bible studies in Skagit County Jail and Washington State Reformatory, or travel internationally. As we’ve shifted to offering an array of online trainings, visiting inmates on-on-one in the lawyers’ rooms, and pastoring our people by phone, through car windows and now in-person we’ve felt something new arising.

In the midst of exhaustion, grief and bewilderment we are experiencing God’s faithfulness, expressed in Isaiah 43:1-3.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. “For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

We are now looking at a seriously pruned Tierra Nueva, downsized to four staff, in addition to our Honduran pastor David Calix and our affiliate team in Seattle, Ernesto and Lee Aragon. For years our vision has been for Tierra Nueva’s faith community to be increasingly stewarded by the people we’ve served- those affected by immigration, incarceration and addiction. Now this is imminent.

In October we began meeting for Sunday worship in a park, and we are now meeting with a consistent group of 25 in the garden and parking behind Tierra Nueva, with increasing involvement from participants.

Last month I had a vivid dream that I came into our local jail and found it gutted and empty. I went around to the back to find a massive field of freshly tilled soil, with rows and rows of small plants springing up out of the ground. Yesterday Julio had a vision of us baptizing lots of people down at the Skagit River. I have been moved repeatedly these days by Isaiah 43:18.

“Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past (something that’s hard not to do). “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?…“The beasts of the field will glorify me, The jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness  and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people.”

We are seeing this Scripture as having special relevance for us now, and are looking for the new things, and noticing signs of God’s work of “making a path in the wilderness, rivers in the desert,” (43:19) bringing living waters to the human equivalents of wild beasts, jackals and ostriches– God’s chosen ones.

Lately we’ve been preparing people for baptism, praying for people with chronic illnesses, marrying couples who’ve spent their lives outside of any kind of Christian community (see photos). People we’ve met from the distant past have been contacting us for pastoral support. And our faith community members are often right there to help.

In addition, people from all over the world as well as from our own faith community have been participating in our weekly People’s Seminary trainings. We are also leading a weekly Russian Bible study and recording teachings translated into Arabic. Some of our trainings which were postponed due to Covid are now back on our calendar in places like Lausanne, Budapest, Stockholm, Cape Town, Zambia, Auckland, and Casa Blanca.

Our highest priority for these coming months is to nurture and organize our community of Jesus followers so they themselves can carry forward the Jesus movement in our region, bringing life-giving waters into the wastelands. We are planning our travel carefully to ensure that we’re as present as we need to be to shepherd our ministry into this new season.

We value your ongoing support, which is vital for us to continue our ministry. Please consider helping us financially. If you are interested in monthly or a one-time donation, you can give online here or send a check directly to Tierra Nueva (“Ekblad Support”), P.O. Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233. We highly value your prayers.

May the Holy Spirit fill, refresh and guide you this Pentecost season!

Bob and Gracie Ekblad

Humble, bold and true: Jesus’ power and influence

03.15.21

I’ve been moved afresh by Jesus’ authentic and gentle way of engaging with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar according to John 4. The way Jesus handles his Jewish-male believer status before a woman of another faith in heart of her territory informs and inspires me. How does Jesus deal with outsiders’ perception of his Jewish male supremacy? How does he embody the fullness of grace and truth attributed to him as the Word become flesh?

Jesus first meets the woman when she arrives at the well to draw water. He is already there ahead of her, weary and thirsty from a long journey from Judea. He requests a drink from the woman, provoking her to question why he, a Jewish man, is asking this of her, a Samaritan woman.

Jesus doesn’t apologize for himself and skirts her question. He is secure in his identity and mission. In response to her resistance to him, Jesus shifts from unwelcomed guest to generous host. He offers her living water, a faith-filled move that shows his confidence in what he has to give. After a prolonged conversation where she expresses her reservations and he responds, she finally asks him to give her living water.

When Jesus tells her, “Go call your husband and come here!” the woman denies having a husband. Jesus exercises his power at this point, showing her that he knows what is true about what she’s said, and then brings into the light what she’s left unsaid.

“You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly” (4:17-18).

Jesus first affirms the truth that the woman doesn’t have a husband. In revealing that’s she’s had five husbands and is currently living with a man not her husband he makes use of his prophetic power. I see him revealing this personal background info as a way of addressing her personally, as she’s been keeping him at a safe distance.

Jesus’ use of power does not result in the woman experiencing any visible shame, or admitting the truth of what he’s revealed– though she does acknowledge that he’s a prophet. Nor does Jesus’ use of power keep her from freely bringing up what she considers a serious religious difference that might disqualify her from receiving the desired living water.

“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

The woman doesn’t state her own opinion about whether God should be worshipped on “this mountain” rather than in Jerusalem, but expresses her ancestor’s (“our fathers) distinct belief. Is she baiting Jesus to see if he agrees with her portrayal of where Jewish men believe they should worship—Jerusalem? Is she probing Jesus to see if he’ll require she break with her tradition and religion should she accept his living water?

Jesus’ response takes their conversation and relationship to another level. He boldly and directly tells her to trust what he’s going to say to her next: “Woman, believe me!”

In John’s Gospel, believing Jesus is essential for entry into his family-community-kingdom: “As many as receive him, who believe in his name, he gives authority to become children of God” (1:12). “Whoever believes in him will have eternal life” (3:15; see also 1:7; 2:23; 3:16,18,36).

He goes on to share revelation that fits in the category of prophetic teaching that includes her and her people directly:

“An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you (pl) worship the Father” (4:21).

Jesus declares to this woman that in the future she and her people will worship the Father, a familial title for God that Jesus uses, which is not attached to a particular, exclusive place.

Jesus states matter-of-factly that the proper location for worship that divides her Samaritan fathers and their descendants who worship on “this mountain,” from the Jews who worship in Jerusalem will no longer be relevant.

In one fell swoop Jesus dismisses a divisive distinctive separating Jews and Samaritans in favor of a more inclusive approach- which I like. Jesus removes the borders, de-valuing his homeland, though he devalues hers at the same time. There is nothing inherently sacred about Jerusalem, which certainly means America or the West are put on the same level as marginalized Sychar (which means drunken town).

But then to my dismay Jesus appears to backtrack from his inclusive approach by directly stating to her that she and her people worship what they do not know- something that would make me very uncomfortable. Then he goes even further by unashamedly affirming the particularity of the Jews as the bearers of the message of salvation for all.

“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” (4:22).

Jesus doesn’t protect the Samaritan woman from non-negotiable truths or minimize his difference from her in ways that make me uncomfortable. He openly includes himself in the “we” of “we worship what we know,” differentiating himself for the Samaritan woman, who is among the “you” of “you worship what you do not know.”

Yet he follows this statement with a hope-inspiring prophetic declaration for all people that begins with a “but”- which effectively over-rides his Jewish exclusiveness.

“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (4:23-24).

Here Jesus takes up his earlier prophecy about future worshippers of the Father, but actualizes it into the “now” of the present. In the “now” referring to that very moment that Jesus and the Samaritan woman’s encounter at the well? I believe it is.

I love how Jesus doesn’t present the Father in an exclusive way as “my Father,” which would leave her out. Nor does he assume she’s on board, by calling the Father “your Father” or “our Father.” The use of the definite article “the” before Father frees her and any other listeners to choose to join (or not) the present or future worshippers- accepting to be found by the Father who seeks his worshippers.

At the same time Jesus defines God’s nature as Spirit, and requires his worshippers to worship in spirit and truth.

Despite Jesus’ bold and clear prophecies, the woman doesn’t appear to feel obligated, or to come under Jesus’ control of power. She appears free to set her boundaries, and astutely establishes a sort of checkpoint blocking this potentially dangerous intruder to infiltrate and possibly start up a heretical cult. She wisely says to him:

“I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when that one comes, he will declare all things to us” (4:25).

The Samaritan woman will not believe Jesus’ prophecies without knowing his identity “in truth.” The coming Messiah has the final word, and she affirms her conviction that “he will declare all things to us.”

At this point Jesus does not hold back his identity. He takes of his camouflage and reveals himself to her clearly:  “I who speak to you am he” (4:26).

Here John’s Gospel uses the Greek equivalent of the Lord’s revelation of his name “I am” (ego eimi) to Moses in the desert (Exodus 3:14). Just then the disciples return from buying provisions in town, and the woman leaves her water jar there at the well and heads into her town.

She tells her countrymen: “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

Even after Jesus’ direct revelation of himself, the woman appears free to contemplate, and is not overcome by his power and influence.

Jesus’ way of carrying himself, of living within in Jewish male body, offers help and hope to people like me. I am not proud of my distinctives: my whiteness, Americanness, associations with Western Christian religion– and other status markers that associate me with what feels like a heap of negatives regarding power and privilege.

Jesus reveals a way that is humble and true. He knows who he is and what he represents. He freely offers living water in a way that is at first resisted but then asked for. The rightly-wary Samaritan woman border guard has interrogated him, but finally invites the people to consider confirming him with her tentative endorsement: “this is not the Christ, is it?”

The Samaritan woman does to not herself invite Jesus over the border into her community. The residents of Sychar come out to him and many believe in him because of the woman’s testimony—showing that the effect of Jesus’ power is to empower and deputize.

The final effect of the woman’s testimony is that the community lets Jesus in, welcoming him to stay with them two days. Many more believe because of his word, which shows that finally the best results of bearing witness is that people would encounter Jesus directly for themselves.

The Samaritan villagers’ assessment of Jesus’ identity goes beyond the woman’s question about whether Jesus is the awaited Messiah he’s told her he is. They confess him to be the entire world’s Savior!

“It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world” (4:42).

For another angle on this encounter check out my chapter “Jesus’ recruitment behind enemy lines,” in Bob Ekblad, Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit, available here.

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