Grass is able to grow through asphalt! All it needs is a single source of water from which to draw supernatural strength.
I remember the yellow asphalt roller that my grandfather used to drive. It thoroughly compresses the hot asphalt mass. When the asphalt cools, even lorries with sizeable loads can drive over its surface. To cut out some part of the laid asphalt, a spade and determination are not enough; an asphalt cutter must be used. As time goes on, in some places the shoots of grass break through the asphalted mass, stretching upwards with a strength that is incomprehensible, considering the thin and fragile blades of grass.
In science, this phenomenon, which fascinates many, is explained by the term “turgor”. Turgor is the internal pressure of plant cells, which provides plants with their endurance and rigidity. Turgor is also referred to as hydrostatic pressure, the strength of which depends on the amount of water in the plant cell. If enough water accumulates, growth takes place, and nothing, not even asphalt, is able to stop the manifestations of turgor.
Water is at the foundation of this strength, persistence and upward movement.
But at the foundation of a believer’s strength, persistence and forward movement is the Holy Spirit.
It is no secret that in the Bible the Holy Spirit and the giving of the Holy Spirit are many times described with terminology characteristic of water, e.g. “I will pour out My Spirit” (Joel 3; Acts 2).
In the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of Matthew we read of John the Baptist, who preaches and baptises in the river Jordan those who have repented of their sins. After some time, John points out that he is not the last prophet, and that God’s work in renewing humanity has not ended with the forgiveness of sins. Looking to the future, John proclaims:
“I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance from sins, but He who comes after me is mightier than I; whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
To “baptise” with the Holy Spirit literally means to “immerse” in the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel of John (Jn 4:13–14), Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well, where she has come to draw water. Jesus promises her something more than ordinary water, which serves to quench thirst for a short time. He promises the woman living water that wells up to eternal life. Jesus’s theological discussion with the woman at the well is the most profound theological revelation of what kind of religion God expects from his worshippers — to worship Him in spirit and in truth. For some, the still more essential aspect of on which mountain (read – in which congregation) one may worship God and on which one may not, from which well one may draw water and from which one may not, was long ago resolved there — at Jacob’s well. The foundations of Orthodox liturgy and the principles of ecumenism were proclaimed to a woman at the well, who, moreover, was not a Jew but a Samaritan. To none of his male disciples did Jesus deliver such a master’s-level private lecture in theology. After receiving the revelation, the Samaritan woman felt empowered to evangelise in her city, and, very possibly, turned many souls to God.
Further on, in the text of the 7th chapter of the Gospel of John, we read:
“On the last, great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out: ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink! Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his body shall flow streams of living water.’ This He said of the Spirit, which those who believed in Him were later to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory” (Jn 7:37–39).
The Holy Spirit possesses the force of hydrostatic energy, which is potentially available to every believer.
Strength is needed in overcoming resistance and difficulties. But the strength of the Holy Spirit, which is like flowing water, was what enabled believers in times of persecution to stand firm, to triumph and to bear witness. Some bore witness with their lives, some with their deaths. The Holy Spirit is given to believers so that they may stand firm in difficult times. The Holy Spirit is given from on high to men as well as to women. Moreover, the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God gives, He chooses Himself, and asks no one’s opinion.
Today marks exactly one year since the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia took the decision (03.06.2016.) to exclude women from the ministry of pastor, thereby taking on the role of judge over the gifts given by God to women and over the calling given to them by God.
But…
The forgotten factor is the Holy Spirit and the strength of the Holy Spirit, which is promised to believers regardless of gender. The Bible clearly states that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life, because the text of the Bible must be read with the help of the Holy Spirit and bearing in mind the revelation of God’s approaching kingdom, rather than hiding behind a backdrop of black letters.
Catherine Booth, the wife of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army movement, who preached the Gospel in the face of her era’s patriarchal societal notions about women, as well as the passages of Scripture 1 Tim. 2:12 and 1 Cor 14:34 (which, according to scholarly research, were not in Paul’s manuscripts, but were written down only in the second century), used to say:
“The Holy Spirit is the highest law!”
Catherine Booth knew nothing of biblical manuscript research, nor of exegesis, nor was she an expert in fundamental or systematic theology. She felt. The Holy Spirit had revealed to her what was what. The Holy Spirit had given her the gift and the responsibility to preach the Gospel.
The strength of the Holy Spirit, like turgor, takes no notice of the artificially placed barrier, even if this barrier is the hot asphalt pressed on top, which at first causes burns to the grass. But faith is strengthened in fire (see 1 Pet. 1:6–7). The energy of life and the ability to break through, given from on high, will sooner or later realise itself. Water is needed, the Holy Spirit is needed! The streams of water will accumulate, the dam will break, the Holy Spirit will be poured out and will set women free to minister in Latvia.
Come, Holy Spirit!
A blessed feast of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost)!
Your LLSTA editorial team