diff --git a/src/content/jwt.xqm b/src/content/jwt.xqm
index 263a399..83e0bd3 100644
--- a/src/content/jwt.xqm
+++ b/src/content/jwt.xqm
@@ -108,11 +108,15 @@ declare function jwt:epoch-to-dateTime($ts as xs:integer) as xs:dateTime {
     $jwt:epoch-start + xs:dayTimeDuration(concat("PT", $ts, "S"))
 };
 
+(:~
+ : encode an item() for use in the JWT
+ : TODO: refactor to use arrow expressions again
+ : after existdb issue is fixed.
+ :)
 declare
 function jwt:encode ($data as item()) as xs:string {
-    $data
-        => serialize(map { "method": "json" })
-        => util:base64-encode-url-safe()
+    util:base64-encode-url-safe(
+        serialize($data, map { "method": "json" }))
 };
 
 declare
diff --git a/src/test/jwt-spec.xqm b/src/test/jwt-spec.xqm
index 9e392d1..9105fa4 100644
--- a/src/test/jwt-spec.xqm
+++ b/src/test/jwt-spec.xqm
@@ -124,10 +124,13 @@ function jwt-spec:future-token () {
 
 (:~
  : handle arbitrary token 
- : NOTE: this test fails with an NPE while calling it from Xquery directly works
+ : NOTE:
+ : This test failed with an NPE in jwt:encode while building
+ : the $jwt:header variable.
+ : Calling the same code in a module directly always worked fine
+ : the implementation of jwt:encode was now refactored only to be extra sure.
  :)
 declare
-    %test:pending
     %test:assertError("invalid-header")
 function jwt-spec:arbitrary-token-with-separators () {
     let $instance := jwt-spec:instance()
diff --git a/src/test/mocha/xqSuite.js b/src/test/mocha/xqSuite.js
index 59e0283..0703a9c 100644
--- a/src/test/mocha/xqSuite.js
+++ b/src/test/mocha/xqSuite.js
@@ -60,30 +60,20 @@ describe('xqSuite', function () {
         .catch(done)
   })
 
-  it('should return 0 errors', done => {
-    expect(result.errors).to.equal(0)    
-    done()
-  })
+  it('should return 0 errors',
+    ()=> expect(result.errors).to.equal(0))
 
-  it('should return 0 failures', done => {
-    expect(result.failures).to.equal(0)
-    done()
-  })
+  it('should return 0 failures',
+    ()=> expect(result.failures).to.equal(0))
 
-  it.skip('should return 0 pending tests', done => {
-    expect(result.pending).to.equal(0)
-    done()
-  })
+  it('should return 0 pending tests',
+    ()=> expect(result.pending).to.equal(0))
 
-  it('should have run some tests', done => {
-    expect(result.tests).to.be.greaterThan(0)
-    done()
-  })
+  it('should have run 12 tests', 
+    ()=> expect(result.tests).to.equal(12))
 
-  it('should have finished in less than a second', done => {
-    expect(result.time).to.be.lessThan(1)
-    done()
-  })
+  it('should have finished in less than a second',
+    ()=> expect(result.time).to.be.lessThan(1))
 
   after(done => {
     client.delete(testCollection)