The stillness of this scene gives us a sense of the quality of Jesus' abiding communion with the Father. The calm, the glassy water, even the Jordanian desert in the background evoke a stillness before God and in God, in which His Spirit communes with our spirits, communicating Himself in His categories, on His terms, in His language beyond words.  

Spiritual Community is rarely as iconic as a DaVinci fresco. More often Spiritual Community is messy and somewhat chaotic: someone's fallen asleep, others are embroiled in some debate, another may be looking on skeptically, having already given up and given in to betrayal. But Christ is the true source and center of Spiritual Community, not the community itself! A shared experience of Christ brings us together, and both the positive and negative experiences of community drive us back to abiding communion with Christ.

Abiding in the Father, Jesus shares His communion with the community, and invites others in to experience the love of God in a community of communion. Even those, who have been objectified by society, and rejected by the legalistic, religious establishment are welcome when love calls them to transcend their own self-judgment and feelings of unworthiness, and be loved to the core by God, and are invited in to the community. The essence of spiritual ministry facilitates the redemption, fulfillment and transcendence that God longs to enact in the lives of his fallen image-bearers.