Guided to God's Priorities

Last week I returned from a trip to Honduras with my Tierra Nueva colleague, Mike Neelley. There we experienced the Spirit’s guidance towards both the “least of these” and towards church leaders with whom we needed to be reconciled for the sake of Jesus’ Kingdom.

Honduran Tierra Nueva director Angel David Calix had planned that we visit some of his family and our old friends, assuming this would be good.  En route to the village he received calls from his brother who stated he needed to take care of his cattle. Then David learned that his sister-in-law was off to a larger town to receive a remittance from a daughter in Spain. He thought of the parable of the banquet in Luke 14:16-24, where invited guests excused themselves in favor of pressing obligations, causing the host to send out invitations to the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame along “highways and byways”.  Who then should we visit before our scheduled gathering with the faith community?

As David was considering what we should do he felt God brought to mind people on the extreme margins of his community: an older woman Veneranda, known as the village witch who he’s been reaching out to, her granddaughter Izaguiere, whose husband had died of AIDS and her daughter, Alejandra, both of whom are infected and shunned by the community.  Others came to mind who live on the outer edges of a village that had suffered a massive exodus of over 25 families after eight men had been murdered in a string of vengeance killings. David, Mike and I visited and prayed for a number of families along this trail on our way to the gathering, where we sang, discussed a text from the Bible and prayed (see http://youtu.be/MdmYpiLx4nE). 

Several of people who had once been part of our group stayed in their homes because they are now attending the Baptist church. Pastors prohibit their members from going to any other gatherings, which sadly means that any of our people who attend other churches are under their control and therefore “off limits”.  As I was preparing to travel to Honduras I kept finding myself praying for unity between Christians, and thought that maybe we should seek out some pastors, offering to pray for them in a gesture of reconciliation.

The next day was to be spent in Minas de Oro, going house to house meeting and praying with families who David regularly visits as part of our “Hogares en Transformation” (Homes in Transformation) emphasis. We hiked high into the mountains above the town to meet and pray for Juan Baptista (John the Baptist), a man who had spent his life drinking and fighting, who now is serving as one of David’s right hand men (pictured below). 

I noticed off in the distance a team of oxen yoked to a traditional trapiche, a press used to extract the juice out of sugar cane to make sugar. I wanted Mike to see this operation and asked David if we could take a detour. He said there was time in our schedule to stop by the sugar-making operation. As we were walking I remembered that Doña Petrona, the widow of one of our first Tierra Nueva promoters lived just beyond the trapiche. I asked David if we could visit her place and he agreed. As we approached Petrona’s house her son, a man in his late thirties named Noel, greeted us and offered to escort us to his mom’s adobe house further up the mountain. 

He shared how 32 years before he had accompanied his father to our first course on sustainable farming at our farm on the outskirts of town. He expressed gratitude for Tierra Nueva and then told us that he was the pastor of the Baptist church. This was a total surprise, and I realized that we were being guided by the Holy Spirit right into this important meeting.

As Doña Petrona served us all strong, sweet Honduran coffee we shared Tierra Nueva’s mission to share Jesus’ extravagant love to people on the margins. He said he hadn’t known this was our mission. We offered to pray for him and he was deeply moved, saying that pastors in Honduras rarely if ever have people offer to pray for him or other pastors he knew. I felt a strong confirmation that my sense of urgency about praying for pastors was part of God’s agenda for this trip, which led us to visit Lucho, the pastor of a Pentecostal church in town.  He welcomed our prayers, as did a number of Catholic lay leaders and priests in training, over the next few days.

It was exciting to experience the Spirit’s guidance as we traveled from village to village, from house to house. May you, too, experience God’s guidance as you go about your daily tasks this Christmas season.

Please pray for David as he continues to reach out to pastors, promoting unity in a deeply divided community.  Listen to his description of his mission here http://youtu.be/w_rIVO_uDmY

Pray also pray for healing of Isaguire and her daughter Alejandra and for ongoing conversion for their grandmother Veneranda, as she is now actively turning away from the dark side to Jesus. 

We are seeking to raise $20,000 to build buildings in Mal Paso and Minas de Oro that will serve as a training centers and gathering places for our growing faith communities.  If you would like to contribute you can give electronically through this link: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift/gift.php?giftid=E4EB2CF9D2AC4AF. Or, you can send donations to Tierra Nueva, Attn: Honduras, PO Box 161, Burlington, WA 98233, USA.

Being Remembered

The men in jail with whom I read Scripture are often moved by Jesus’ embrace of the thief dying beside him who pleads:  “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.” Jesus’ immediate response, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” is a promise of personally being included in his company-- the best news the thief could hope to hear.

Being called by name and included is synonymous with being valued, wanted and acknowledged: “His sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out” (John 10:3). Jesus told his disciples to “rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (Luke 10:20). 

It is very common for the men and women in jail to tattoo the names of their kids on their bodies. So God remembers us to the point of tattooing us on his hands: “I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Jer. 49:16).   Being remembered and remembering another indicate that we are known, valued and cherished.

Recently I was driving down to a state prison where I minister to Spanish-speaking inmates.  Suddenly I thought of the name of a man I used to visit in that prison, a man whom I have known for 19 years.  He had a dramatic conversion while in prison, and we had been in regular contact the last two years of his sentence. I met with him a few times during the summer after his release as he’d expressed interest in getting involved in our ministry.  When he stopped returning my calls, I stopped by his house several times but never found him home.

I had stopped pursuing this man, but God who never forgets brought him to mind and gave me a strong urge to call him.  A close friend of his answered the phone. She told me she was there with him in the hospital and passed the phone to him.  I was shocked to hear that he had survived a serious car accident early that morning and was in bad shape. After the Bible study in the prison that day, I visited him in the hospital.  Bashed and bruised, with pain throughout his body, he told me he wanted to get back into regular contact with me and return to God. He happily received prayer.

A few days later I visited him at his home.  I shared how his name had popped into my head as I was driving and how surprised I was that I’d called on the day he was hospitalized. 

“You mean you didn’t know I’d been in an accident?” he asked, even more surprised.  He then went on to share how I’d called him at other crazy times. 

“One time at like two in the morning you called me from some airport in Europe or somewhere. I had just put on my ski mask and loaded my gun and was ready to go out to do a job.  You asked me how I was and if I was staying out of trouble.  It creeped me out, and I called the hommies and told them I wasn’t going out.”

Last Monday while teaching a Hebrew-based exegesis course on Isaiah 49, I was moved by the literal translation of Isaiah 49:1: “Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar.  The Lord called me from the womb; from the body he caused my name to be remembered” [literal translation]. 

The servant mentioned here is Israel in Babylonian captivity, suffering the consequences of an “offender” people group. The servant is described earlier as blind and deaf, “a people plundered and despoiled; all of them are trapped in caves, or are hidden away in prisons” (Isa. 42:18–20). Yet the Lord had chosen the servant, putting his Spirit upon him to bring justice, to be “a light to the nations, to open blind eyes and bring out prisoners from the dungeon” (Isa. 42:1,6–7).

The downtrodden (but called) servant addresses the pagan peoples, telling how God had caused his name to be remembered from the time he was born—a sign of God’s persistent and personal love.  The servant knew this would be good news that would move the far-away people, just as it moved my friend from the jail. 

How does God cause people’s names to be remembered today?  Who is remembering the names of those often forgotten: offenders, the excluded, and us-- people suffering the consequences of personal or other people’s sin?  

God’s coming into the world in Jesus shows us that the primary way God acts in the world is through people. God speaks to us, bringing people to mind for whom we’re called to intercede and possibly visit, call or pursue in some way. Gracie and I often think of people, sometimes in the middle of the night, and pray specific prayers we each feel moved to pray—only to learn later that the timing was really important. 

May we attune our ears to God’s voice this Advent and respond, stepping into partnership with God’s outreach to others—a pursuit that concretely demonstrates to people that they are remembered, valued and loved.

On another note: Gracie and I were in Toronto with a team from Paris leading a training on holistic liberation.  Here are two of our presentations from October 24 (mine is the first hour, followed by that of my friend from Paris, Gilles Boucomont). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QA9Rc47FBY&list=UUI2UfDEgXYiMOaMowryN_IQ

Reflections on Jesus' call to jihadists and us: the militant, violent non-violence of love

News of jihadist brutalities in establishing an Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq and Syria has impacted me deeply.  Beheadings of American and British prisoners, reports of violence against Kurds, Christians and even fellow Muslims with differing views is appalling and invites response.  How do we respond to the current climate of terror and unrest in the Middle East that is in alignment with Jesus’ teaching and example of suffering, saving love?

Retired US Marine Corps General John R. Allen’s recent call to arms must be recognized as incompatible with Jesus’ way:

“The execution of James Foley is an act we should not forgive nor should we forget.  It embodies and brings home to us all what this group represents.  The Islamic State is an entity beyond the pale of humanity and it must be eradicated.  If we delay now we will pay later.”

Many who value tolerance and peacemaking are at a loss as non-violent approaches appear impotent before those imposing a fundamentalist theocracy in the Middle East, and their military opponents led by the United States.

President Obama’s strategy to build a broad alliance to destroy the Islamic State enjoys broad support—especially since drones and bombing campaigns rather than ground troops are killing with reputed accuracy.

Yet these airstrikes are taking the lives of growing numbers of young men and women from many countries drawn to Islamic State in the prime of their lives—each one a beloved child of the God. This growing “human sacrifice” is empowering an escalation of hatred that will lead to far more death and destruction in the Middle East, Europe and beyond.  Might we be on the verge of a Third World War?  What might those who follow Jesus offer as an alternative approach to resisting violence on all sides?  

In the place of active non-violent resistance I suggest that Jesus followers recognize and embrace Jesus’ example and call to what I reluctantly call militant violent non-violence.

Regarding non-violence I affirm that Jesus refused to use violence against human beings no matter how antagonistic.  He modeled non-violence or even anti-violence towards people.  Jesus also practiced a kind of spiritual violence that must be re-discovered today if God’s reign on earth as in heaven is to become make a visible difference.

Jesus begins his ministry as the new kind of Joshua, showing God’s saving action through consistently distinguishing human beings from invisible predatory powers.  Jesus loved people through healing, freeing, cleansing, recruiting, teaching, challenging, rebuking, forgiving, commissioning and other contextually appropriate actions. 

At the same time Jesus identified and mercilessly attacked the invisible predatory powers that occupied human beings and institutions he encountered: evil spirits, sickness, legalism, superiority, discrimination, religious spirits, death, and others forces (see Eph 6:12). 

Jesus’ invades territory occupied by the ruler of this world (John 12:31), destroying his works (1 John 3:8).  Jesus’ first miracle in Mark and Luke’s Gospels is to cast out unclean spirits from a man in the synagogue—most certainly a confrontational act which was followed by many acts of liberation (Mark 1:34; 5:1-20; Matt 8:16; 9:32-33).

Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus himself kill or in any way harm anyone, his Jewish enemies and the Roman occupiers of Palestine included.  Jesus never calls on others to exercise violence against human beings or legitimates appropriate defense of the homeland.   Never! 

When Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist is beheaded by Herod, rather than calling for vengeance he withdraws to a secluded place, where he ends up being moved by compassion for the crowd who pursues him, whom he heals, teaches and then feeds 5,000 (Matt 14:13ff).  Jesus commanded his followers to love and forgive their enemies and to pray for persecutors. Jesus taught his followers to flee to the mountains when they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies rather than give their life in homeland defense. 

Jesus’ practice must be discerned and embraced as the standard for now, and Christians must renounce the use of physical violence as “the legitimate use of force,” replacing this with radical practices such as enemy love, prophetic exposure of injustice, Spirit-guided and empowered acts promoting reconciliation and peace, intercession, prayer and fasting, acts of service and mercy that creatively embody Paul’s call “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21) and more.

Jesus in his earthly mission was “militant”-- defined as “combative and aggressive in support of a political or social cause (in his case proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God) typically favoring extreme, violent or confrontational methods.”  Jesus’ activism and “violence” must challenge the fearful and passive attitudes of many tempted to draw back from engaging proactively with people caught up in violence against humans and creation or in silently going along with the crowd.

Now is the time to discover and implement a true combat that effectively identifies and destroys the underlying powers the wreak havoc on our world.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”  (2 Cor 10:3-5).

In stark contrast to growing calls to use violent force against violent force, now is the time for a new movement marked by prayer and active proclaiming and embodying of Jesus’ kingdom and the “violence of love,” defined here by Archbishop Oscar Romero, a Salvadoran believer martyred in this midst of his prophetic resistance:

“The only violence which the gospel admits is violence to oneself.  When Christ lets himself be killed, that is violence—letting oneself be killed.   Violence to oneself is more effective than violence to others.  It is very easy to kill, especially when one has weapons., but how hard it is to let oneself be killed, especially when one has weapons.  But how hard it is to let oneself be killed for love of the people.”

Jesus prepared his followers for persecution, for social chaos and wars, which he assured would come-- and we are certainly seeing them now.  Jesus announced his kingdom with signs following everywhere.  In the end he let himself be killed by violent, hate-filled people for love of the world, embodying on the cross God’s choice means of combating evil. 

Jesus’ whole earthly ministry was a recruitment effort aimed at multiplying workers who were 100% about announcing the Kingdom of God that was fully “in the world but not of the world.” Now is the time for a new missions movement that is fearlessly committed to embodying Jesus’ humility and sacrificial love in the darkest places of our world.  Jesus followers can offer a calling that offers meaning and adventure that can brighten the hearts of would-be jihadists and bored young people the world over?  I believe that it does and will.

Let us turn away from passivity and from fear, welcoming God’s perfect love to drive it out and to fill us with courage to resist.  Let us resist the fascination with war and death, inviting the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds.

Let us pray for young Muslim men and women throughout the world who might be tempted to join the jihadists, for Islamic State head Abu Bakr al-Baghadadi, for President Obama and other world leaders and for American and other military personnel-- that the light of Christ would shine brightly, leading them and us in the way of true peace.  

Let us pray for ourselves and for the body of Christ around the world— that our witness would rightly reflect the priorities of the God of life, inspiring people to consider and choose Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

See the following articles that describe the people being recruited into this war.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29052144

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/04/jihad-fatal-attraction-challenge-democracies-isis-barbarism

Receiving the Rejected One

This week in Abbotsford, BC I shared on the topic of healing rejection with a group of 150 Korean Canadian and Korean young people working with Love Corps.  They were preparing to spend two weeks ministering in smaller groups to First Nations people on thirteen different reservations in British Columbia.  

Many First Nations people, like the inmates, gang members, addicts and undocumented immigrant workers Tierra Nueva serves, have suffered deeply from rejection.   Embracing Jesus as the embodiment of God himself as the Rejected One helps us accept today’s rejected ones and receive healing for our own rejection wounds.

There are a number of biblical texts that associate people’s embracing of society’s rejected ones as synonymous with receiving Jesus.  In Matthew 25:40 Jesus states to those who cared for the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick or imprisoned “to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” Mother Theresa’s Sisters of Charity and Jean Vanier’s L’Arche communities have inspired Gracie and I to anticipate experiencing God’s Presence in encounters with the rejected.

I have been painfully aware how Jesus himself is so often rejected today, and shared this recently with inmates and with our Tierra Nueva church.  I asked people if they had themselves experienced rejection, and what that was like.  Many inmates and people in our congregation looked down, expressing feelings of hurt, shame and anger.  I then shared about Jesus’ rejection today and in his own day in ways that made Jesus feel closer and more like them.

I recounted how while in Israel in March I became aware of the Hebrew acronym used by many Jews, “Yeshu”-- meaning ‘may his name be erased.’   Muslims themselves reject as blasphemous Jesus’ claims to be God, or any title such as “Son of God” or “the One of reveals the Father.”  In mainstream circles in Europe and North America I run into many who express outright distain for Jesus and his followers.  

While preaching at an outdoor worship service in a park in Paris last month a group of young men burned a New Testament, and tried to disconnect our sound system and throw water on us.  In my sermon that very day I was speaking on how Jesus was rejected in his day, which should alert us to expect this now too.  

In John 1 the Word who is God, the life and the light of all humanity, is described as not recognized by the world and not received by Jesus’ own people (John 1:9-11).  Isaiah 53’s depiction of the suffering servant is cited as being fulfilled in Jesus’ rejection and martyrdom. 

“He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Isa 53:3).

People’s rejecting of Jesus should alert us to his special importance. Peter invites us to welcome and highly value this rejected one.  “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God… Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and the one who believes in him shall not be disappointed”  (1 Peter 2:4-6).

As we receive this rejected one and believe in his name, we will not be disappointed.  Rather, God gives us the authority to become children of God (John 1:12).  Receiving the Rejected One, Jesus, results in an experience of our spiritual birth and adoption into God’s family as we are “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

I shared with the Korean youth how showing God’s love and acceptance to society’s rejected is more effective if we first come to Jesus for healing of our own rejection wounds.   This Tuesday night the Holy Spirit powerfully touched many young people who had suffered rejection, bringing comfort and encouragement to many who were crying.   On Wednesday night it seemed most everyone came forward after the service to receive their acceptance and empowerment by the Spirit for ministry—which began the next day on the reservations.

In Hebrew’s 11:13 believers are urged to join Jesus in his outcast status: “let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”  Attaching ourselves to Jesus in his rejection places us amidst today’s excluded as their friends. 

Join us at Tierra Nueva as we seek to draw close to Jesus the rejected one.  You will find new energy and spiritual authority to fully embrace and accompany the precious rejected ones you encounter “outside the camp.”    

Check out our free online kingdom theology course:  My colleagues at Westminster Theological Centre in the UK and I welcome your participation in a course “Living the Christian Story.”  Register here: http://www.wtctheology.org.uk/theology-without-walls

News Update

July 1 marked the 20^th anniversary of our move from Seattle to Burlington to start Tierra Nueva del Norte in July of 1994.  We realized this that very day just after we were unexpectedly upgraded to Business Class on a flight from Munich to Vancouver after three weeks in France and the UK.  We are grateful to God to be increasingly sharing what we’ve learned these past 33 years to raise up, equip and encourage leaders for God’s larger mission throughout the world.

Never would we have imagined that our calling to show marginalized Honduran peasants God’s dignifying love would have led to Tierra Nueva being established in Washington State amongst immigrant workers, inmates and gang members and now in the UK through Tierra Nueva Europa.  The Holy Spirit expertly leverages the heart of what we’ve been about in ways that astound us.

In June we traveled to France because the church we worked with in Paris for a year had gifted us with a round-trip ticket, and Bob was invited to speak at a conference there, “L’eglise qui croit” (the church that grows), that drew together leaders committed to the growth of the body of Christ in France.  Bob was asked to speak about what we’ve learned in starting a church with people on the margins of society who are normally excluded from traditional churches.  What is most exciting to Gracie and I is our own beloved Tierra Nueva faith community, which is growing up disciples of Jesus who come from prison, addictions, gang involvement and 
homelessness.

Our message was very well received in Paris, and was followed by an invitation from Jean Vanier to share with L’Arche Community leaders about how to introduce Jesus to not-yet-believing people interested in ministry to the poor.  Bob is in the midst of writing a book Experimenting with God, which will hopefully serve as a primer for people exploring faith in Jesus.   

While in France and in the UK speaking at Westminster Theological Centre’s theology conference, we were impressed by the need for training in the theology and practice of ministering to unreached populations.   The growing demand for training has led to a re-envisioning of our role in this season of our lives.

Recently we decided to move from Executive and Associate Directors to General Directors of Tierra Nueva.  Rev. Mike Neelley is stepping into the role of Executive Director, freeing us to focus more on expanding the vision and scope of Tierra Nueva, overseeing TN’s international mission and equipping leaders locally and abroad through The People’s Seminary.   

We will continue to spend two-thirds of our time in the Skagit Valley, strategically supervising some of our leaders who supervise others, training new apprentices, developing TN’s praying ministry and ministering in the jail and prison.  Part of Bob’s work with The People’s Seminary includes part-time teaching of Old Testament and Missions at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and at Westminster Theological Centre in the UK.   A primary role is to develop The People’s Seminary’s offerings locally and internationally

We are excited about the launch of our Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins (CTMM) beginning in October in Burlington.   Plans are in the works to start CTMM’s in London (January 2015), Seoul (March 2015) and eventually Paris and other places.  Preparing practitioner-trainers who teach this course is a high priority if we are to expand this training nationally and internationally.   All of these trainings will include weekly distance-learning materials that will be available on a new The People’s Seminary website.

While being ‘empty nesters’ frees us for a broader ministry together, having Anna in University and Luke in art school means our expenses have never been higher. Currently we are lacking $2,000 in regular monthly support.  We value your prayers and also your financial partnership with us as we step into this new stage of our life and ministry. If you feel led to give here are three options.
 


1)   Online E-giving through: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift/gift.php?giftid=5C7582D0-5705-4EF9-ABB5-F1DB00D9447B


2)   Donating via PayPal through:  http://give.fivetwo.org/give.tierra-nueva.org/


3)   Sending checks earmarked “Ekblad Support” to Tierra Nueva, PO Box 410, Burlington, WA 98233
 

May God richly bless you as you engage in God’s highest calling.

Bob and Gracie Ekblad

Airplane Shepherding

On a recent plane trip from Los Angeles to Portland I sat beside a middle-aged Mexican-American woman wearing the blue uniform of what I thought was an operating room doctor or nurse.  I asked her if she was a doctor, and she said she was a dental hygienist.

Once in the air I put my tray down and opened my journal and my Bible and began to write.  She looked over curiously and asked: “Are you a….. are you a…?” “Christian?” I asked.  “Yes, that’s what I mean,” she responded.   I told her that yes, I was a believer in Jesus.  “What about you?” I asked.  “No, I’m Catholic,” she responded.   I told her that Catholics and Christians believe in Jesus and use the same Scriptures, and that most of the people I’ve ministered to for the past 32 years are Catholics.   “Are you actively involved in a Catholic Church?” I asked.

She told me that she went every Sunday morning to the 8:00am Mass.  “But Catholics and Christians are not the same,” she insisted.  “I go to Mass but afterwards I feel empty.  The priest doesn’t have time for me as there are so many people.  The Christians I have met pray for me.  I can feel God’s love when they pray,” she said.

While  I know from first-hand experience that in a church context it is difficult as a pastor to be fully present to each individual during Sunday worship.  I also know many very sensitive Catholic ministers and lay people who could have been the ones praying for this woman, and dynamic Catholic churches that may have welcomed this woman more effectively, it didn't seem appropriate to come to the defense of the Catholic church or to point out that not all Protestants offer to pray for people.  I listened and sought to be the face of the church there, where she was.

She told me she was on her way to her son’s graduation from a university in Portland.  “I am so proud of my son and so glad that I have been able to help him get all the way to this point,” she said.  I asked if her husband was going too and she told me he was already there ahead of her.  She went on to tell me that they had been divorced for two years after a difficult marriage marked by alcoholism and abuse.  That evening she was going to see him for the first time since they separated and was feeling distraught.

Earlier before the flight Christian friend of hers had asked her to stop by as she wanted to give her chocolate chip cookies.  “After she gave me the cookies she prayed for me. When she prayed I like God’s love and peace were so real,” she said, and began to tear up.  Moved by her distress I offered to pray for her if she wanted.   “Yes,” she said.  “I really need it.” As I prayed for her she continued to cry, and then asked me what I was reading.  I shared with her from Psalm 23 and John 10.

I showed her how God is presented in Psalm 23 as our shepherd, meeting our needs.   When he is our shepherd he makes us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside quiet waters— which from a sheep’s perspective would be a paradise-like place of lush abundance, restoration and rest.  God wants to restore our soul and to guide us, and promises to be with us through dark times and care for us in the face of hostilities.   “Do you feel you need this?” I asked. “Definitely,” she said.

I then read her from John 10, where Jesus is associated with shepherd imagery.  “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture… The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly…. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”  I asked her if she believed in Jesus, and she said she did.  I asked her if she had received the Holy Spirit, and if not, whether she’d like to.  She said she did, and I prayed for her again.

At this point I needed to use the restroom at the back of the plane.  As I returned to my seat I thought to myself, “now I’d like to do some reading.”  Though I had just been to two and a half days of stimulating lectures by N.T. Wright at a conference on the Apostle Paul, I was feeling a longing to read.  I sat down and opened my Bible to that day’s Old Testament reading from the daily lectionary: Ezekiel 34:1-11, and was struck to the core by these verses.

“Thus says the Lord God, “woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?... Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost… And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd… and there was no one to search or seek for them.”

While I did not feel guilt over wanting to read, I became keenly aware that I had been given the opportunity to care for someone in deep distress.  I turned back to the woman, who began sharing more of her life.  She told me that she was now with another man and that they have a daughter who is now six months old.  Early in her pregnancy she was planning to have an abortion. Then right before her appointment she met a Spanish-speaking Christian who offered to pray for her.  “Without me even telling her I was pregnant she prayed over my womb, directly speaking to my unborn baby about how much her mother loved her.  I felt both convicted and inspired, and decided to keep the baby,” she recounted.

I was inspired to hear how people at key moments in this woman’s life, outside of church contexts, had responded to the Spirit’s recruitment, engaging in Jesus’ shepherding ministry.   While we ourselves are in need of being continually nourished and refreshed, let’s not forget that there are opportunities all around us to seek and find scattered and distressed sheep, bringing them into Jesus’ fold.

Jesus' Mission to Jericho

The ancient city of Jericho has long been associated with conquest. In the Old Testament, Joshua led the Israelite army into the city, where they slaughtered all the men, women, children and animals (Joshua 2–6). On a recent visit to Jericho, I noted the big red warning sign posted by the Israeli military, prohibiting all Israeli citizens from entering the now Palestinian city due to ongoing conflicts arising largely from aggressive Joshua-inspired Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

In Luke 18:35ff, Jesus enters Jericho.  Greek-speaking readers of Scripture were certainly aware that Joshua’s name in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), ∆Ihsouvß is spelled exactly the same as Jesus. So how does Jesus, Son of God’s entry into Jericho differ from that of Jesus/Joshua son of Nun’s?

As Jesus approaches Jericho “a certain blind man was sitting by the road, begging.”  When he hears from the crowd that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by he cries out: “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” The blind man “sees” Jesus as David’s son, meaning the Messiah, and then calls him Lord, using the Greek equivalent of the divine name.   Jesus heals the blind man, who then follows him into Jericho glorifying God. 

In two jail Bible studies this past Sunday I invite inmates to take note of the next character on the scene, Zaccheus, and to summarize what we know about him.  He is a chief tax collector who is rich and too short to see Jesus over the crowd (19:2). 

I briefly describe a chief tax collector as a despised collaborator with oppressors, and invite comparisons.  In the jail the men come up with undercover cops, drug cartel chiefs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE), and debt collectors.

We talk through Zaccheus’ reaction to Jesus’ entry.  The men point out his curiosity and possible desperation since he runs ahead and positions himself so deliberately in a tree to check Jesus out.  “Some of you may be coming to the Bible study to check out Jesus from a distance,” I suggest, looking around the circle of men.  Let’s see what happens in the next verse.

“And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” (19:5)

The men are surprised by Jesus’ total awareness of Zaccheus’ interest.   I drop the idea that Jesus may be a kind of bounty hunter, deliberately looking for people who have active warrants from heaven because of their known interest or readiness.  The inmates comment on how Jesus knew Zaccheus’ name, told him to hurry and come down, and how he invites himself to stay at his house.  Jesus "looks up" to Zaccheus in this encounter-- which for a person "short of stature"who is also despised would have deeply affected him The men are moved that Jesus doesn’t judge him, and outdoes Zaccheus in eagerness to know him.  Jesus doesn’t waste any time either, but sets the hook quickly into this wily fish lest he get away. 

Jesus models his own instructions to the 72 missionaries he sends out praying, looking for the person of peace who they are to stay with as guests (Luke 10:7). The scandal of Jesus’ inclusion of Zaccheus is stated clearly about those who saw it: “they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner” (Luke 19:7).

Zaccheus responds enthusiastically to Jesus’ offer to be his guest.  “He hurried and came down, and received him gladly” (19:6), inviting further links with Luke 10:8-- “And whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 

But before Jesus heals or announces the Kingdom, the notorious “criminal” identifies him as Lord much as the blind man had.  Restorative justice is taking place spontaneously in response to Jesus’ full embrace: “Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”  “Today salvation has come to this house” Jesus says, “because he too is a son of Abraham.”

Jesus here reveals a radical perspective of conquest as salvation that illuminates the earlier Joshua story, offering a critical key for appropriating it now.  Jesus comes to Jericho on a campaign to save: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (19:10) and begins with the most wayward of its Jewish residents.

Readers should also note that right before this story Jesus states that he’s heading to Jerusalem to be mocked, mistreated, tortured, killed… and resurrected (Luke 19:31-33)- reminding us that his own death on the cross was his way of achieving victory as Messiah.

Luke’s choice of words brilliantly connects Jesus to the spies sent by Joshua to view the land rather then to Joshua’s actions of destroying the city.  Jesus, like the spies has his eyes open to seek.  But with a clear agenda to save.  He enters and stays with Zaccheus—the then equivalent of Rahab the prostitute—a direct ancestor of king David and Jesus (Matt 1:5).   Zaccheus’ timely receiving of Jesus matches Rahab’s receiving of the spies (James 2:25), leading to their consequent salvation.

I end the jail Bible study by returning to  Jesus’ urgency in connecting with Zaccheus and today’s equivalents-  we ourselves.  

“From this text it looks to me like Jesus is looking to connect with people who are drawn to him.  If you are experiencing a desire to receive this Jesus who is seeking after you, maybe it’s time to seize the moment and hurry to welcome him” I suggest. 

Connections happened for many on Sunday and the Kingdom of God advanced.   Gracie and I had a nice visit to Jericho, and I find myself praying that Israelis would recognize and follow Jesus as their Messiah and Lord like the blind man and receive him into their lives like Zaccheus.

May you too have eyes to see and welcome Jesus.  May God empower you to connect with and recruit today’s Rahabs and Zaccheuses into Jesus’ company.  May you move towards Jerusalem this Palm Sunday with renewed awareness of what it looks like to follow Jesus, with his priority to seek and to save those who are lost.

I invite you to view a recent TV broadcast about how this is happening at Tierra Nueva at: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2014/April/Tierra-Nueva-Transforms-People-on-the-Margins

The People’s Seminary welcomes applicants to our Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins beginning in October in Burlington and January in London http://www.tierra-nueva.org/upcoming-tps-courses

Indiscriminate Sowing

This past week I’ve rediscovered one of Jesus’ parables that I often read with impoverished farmers in Honduras.  Reading Matthew 13 with inmates and at Tierra Nueva has proved fruitful, and deeply encouraged me as I’ve heard good news echoing back.

I start out sharing with a jail-room full of mostly construction workers, mechanics, welders, electricians and farm workers how Jesus was working class, the son of a carpenter, a man whose hands were likely calloused.  According to the Gospel accounts he mostly hung out with ordinary people, frequenting normal, non-religious place: roads, sea, mountains, villages and homes.  I invite someone to read Matthew 13:1-2

“On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea.  And great crowds gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.”

I’ve seen how this kind of beginning helps people envision Jesus as closer, and opens them to hearing his teaching as possibly more relevant.  Next, before reading the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:3-9. I talk a bit about the basics of planting seeds. 

During our years in Honduras I learned what Jesus’ audience would have already known.  Seeds are food, whether they be wheat, corn, rice or beans.  Planting seeds requires sacrificing a part of your food supply.  For poor farmers who suffer shortages of basic grains, saving seed once the food supply has run out is difficult.  Farmers who depend on seasonal rains to water their crops are usually planting or watering when their grain reserves are at optimal value.  Good farmers carefully prepare the soil and plant with deliberation.  Knowing this prepares us to hear Jesus’ parable the way First Century Palestinian peasants likely would have heard it.

The sower in Jesus’ parable appears reckless.  Seeds fall beside the road where they’re snatched up by birds, on rocky ground where they sprout up quick but then wither in the sun; among the thorns where tender shoots are choked out and finally into good soil where they produce an abundant harvest.   “How would other farmers view such a farmer?” I ask.

“Careless and irresponsible,” someone says.

“He doesn’t discriminate but throws seeds everywhere,” says someone else.

The idea that this sower doesn’t discriminate or judge gets people’s attention.  Many of the men are used to experiencing different kinds of discrimination: exclusion from jobs because they’re felons, from drug court because they have violent offenses, being shunned by family because of their addictions, being pulled over by cops because of their skin color…

We discuss about other explanations for the sower’s planting tactics: that he carries an abundant supply of seed, that his planting approach is marked by faith and not wastefulness as he believes that even unlikely places can produce, that he may consider the seed especially powerful.  I invite people to read a relevant text from Isaiah 55:10-11 regarding the abundance and potency of God’s word.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” 

The sower’s generosity and faith has inspired and motivated me— in our leading of weekly Bible studies in rural Honduran villages, or in jails, prisons and seminaries. I have seen thousands of people receive the seeds of God’s word, but harvested relatively little that we’ve been able to see.  I have clung to Isaiah 55 and feel my faith enlivened as I read it again.

“God’s word is raining down 24/7 and is effective at its mission,” I say as a statement of faith.  And yet we see from Jesus’ explanation of the parable in Matthew 13:18-23 that in spite of the sower’s liberal, faith-filled sowing, problems on the receiving end can block productivity—and we at Tierra Nueva have certainly experienced this.

Jesus states that the seed is God’s word, and the different soil conditions represent people who hear God’s word.  Seed that falls beside the path is like seed that doesn’t penetrate into one’s mind and heart because of a lack of understanding (v. 19). 

I pull out a vitamin that happens to be in my pocket, hold it out and drop it on the cement jail floor.  It does not penatrate but it bounces, and the inmates can see clearly that something could easily snatch it up. 

“If seeds are God’s words, how do they enter into us?” I ask.   Answers include “through our minds,” “through our experiences,” and finally “through our ears.”  The idea of vitamins (or seeds) entering people’s ears makes some of the guys laugh.  Yet the graphic illustration brings home Jesus’ final words: “He who has ears, let him hear!”

Jesus invites personal responsibility.  Like the Old Testament prophets Jesus calls people to hear-- emphasizing receiving the word to the point of understanding.  Predatory evil is lurking, ready to snatch what doesn’t enter.   Jesus’ learners need to be aware of this and seek understanding.  Rocky soil represent those who accept God’s words “with joy”, but lack depth (of understanding?).  These words dry up in the face of opposition and people fall away—an experience that many in the room say they can relate to.  Finally the seed that fell among the thorns are words that get choked out by worries and the seductions of wealth—and Jesus’ realism here makes us all trust him as we can all relate.

We are inspired together by the final possibility—that of being the good soil that produces at different levels of abundance due to our understanding of the word.   But how then can we grow in our understanding?

It is clear from the entire story that coming to Jesus as learners is the key to gaining access to the mysteries.  I invite the men into the center of the text—without venturing into the most difficult terrain of Matthew 13:12-17, at least not in this Bible study.  In Matthew 13:10 the disciples came and said to Jesus: “Why do you speak to them [the crowds] in parables?”  Jesus responds: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.” 

Luke’s account adds precision as Jesus’ disciples “began questioning him as to what this parable might be” (Luke 8:9).  Coming to Jesus with our questions results in understanding.  Relationship with the sower—the receiving ground with the one who plants results in the word producing!

The sower is certainly Jesus himself, who in the Luke 8 account is depicted just before as going about from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.  Jesus had seen his seeds produce in hard ground, and his traveling party witnesses to his fruitful ministry: twelve disciples and “some women who have been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses”—including Mary who had had seven demons cast out!

Over the course of seven Bible studies on this text in the past eight days I have  seen in people’s eyes levels of understanding.   On each occasion I myself experienced Jesus’ words sinking deeper into my heart. I have felt freshly inspired as one of Jesus’ disciples to persevere in my indiscriminate sowing, and also to receive with greater deliberation.  I can see the sower’s persistent generosity in my own life, and note each of these different soil conditions in myself in a single day.  I can see that God’s word keeps falling into me, regardless of my receptivity.  I am moved by divine generosity and am inspired to hear and understand. 

May you receive the powerful seeds of God’s word into your heart, with the promise of abundant harvest.

The People’s Seminary invites applicants to the following courses:

“Focused Living: discerning your calling as a participant in Jesus’ Kingdom.” All Saints, Woodford Wells, London, Paul Rhoads, September 9-10, 2014.

“Towards  a New Theology and Practice of Liberation,” London, September 10-13, All Saints, Woodford Wels, Gilles Boucomont and Bob and Gracie Ekblad.

Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins, beginning October 8-11 at Tierra Nueva, Burlington, WA

Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins, beginning January 14-17, All Saints Woodford Wells, London. 

More information available at: http://www.tierra-nueva.org/peoples-seminary

Questions?  Write Anne Park at: annepark@tierra-nueva.org