Phoebe: More than a talking point

You might have read my previous reflection for Grow Christians about Mary Magdalene, where I talked about her as the first preacher of the gospel. I spoke specifically about how the first preacher of the gospel, the herald of the resurrection we now claim as our identity as Christians, was a woman.  

Today, I write to you about another female preacher of the gospel we now proclaim: Phoebe. Paul writes in Romans, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.”  

So, for obvious reasons, those who celebrate and affirm women’s ordination—of which I am one, as a female priest myself—often cite the ministry of Phoebe as a biblical acknowledgement of women in ministry, because here it sits in front of us.

But, even as someone who is deeply grateful for this acknowledgement of women in ministry in our sacred text, I realized this week as I reflected on Phoebe, I often forget she is also more than just this.  Meaning, she is not just an acknowledgement of women in ministry in the Bible, not just a piece of scripture I can turn to when I’m in an argument about whether or not my ordination was “valid.” Phoebe is a saint, worthy of knowing for simply existing, for simply offering her ministry, for simply being obedient to God, through serving the church at Cenchreae.

In our current context that feels highly politicized, such that just knowing a person’s political beliefs can make us wonder if they are really within God’s favor, and on apps where people can seem to start with a fight before they even get to know one another, and in Christianity where I witness incredible division within the Body of Christ, it feels important to me to not just reduce her to this one talking point, and instead turn to her out of deep gratitude for her obedience and service to God in her own unique way. Because at the end of the day, that is what I hope we are all striving to do: offer our obedience and service to God in our own unique way.

We also live in a context driven by “influencer culture,” meaning we give people massive platforms on the internet and everywhere, and in doing so we say to them: “we are following you, we care what you have to say, and because of even just one post of yours that went viral, we’ve decided your opinion matters more than even the neighbors who live right next to us.”  

With this influencer culture that dominates all of our screens (and I’m guilty of following a few influencers myself so I’m not judging, just noticing what “is”), it feels all the more important to move away from assuming a platform always holds our best wisdom simply because it is large, and toward the quieter voices that still speak powerfully, such as Phoebe’s ministry that was so noticeable within her community that it didn’t necessarily bring her millions of followers and billions of dollars, but instead brought her something much deeper: a calling to serve God as a deacon, through which she modeled obedience and service to God in her own unique way.

So she was known within her community, and she was even possibly a benefactor which meant she would have had some means to share with the community, but instead of using those things to build her own kingdom, she was a steward of those resources for God’s kingdom. We, too, no matter what we might have in this world—whether we have riches, time, or maybe even a large internet platform—are invited to be a steward of our resources for God’s kingdom, in our own unique way.

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of seeing Shrek: The Musical at a local middle school here in Nashville (one of the actors is a child I adore!). There is a part when all the fairy tale creatures come together to sing about “letting your freak flag fly.” I can’t tell you how moving it was for me to see a bunch of middle schoolers singing about letting their freak flags fly. Why? Because when I was in middle school, absolutely no one wanted me to fly my freak flag. While influencers didn’t yet exist on social media, they were certainly present around me. There were fashion trends and you needed to follow them (including a specific size range). If you were a girl, you needed to straighten your hair, or else you weren’t attractive. (I was born with a full head of curls.) I did not fit in; I could not fit into the mold that my community called “worthy.”  

But things have changed! I’m seeing our youth love their bodies and embrace their hair. I know that the feeling of not fitting in still exists, but I’m catching glimpses of a changing culture, a hopeful movement toward encouraging our youth to let their freak flag fly. Phoebe proclaimed a gospel that could have made her an outcast, a gospel many would receive and call as fictional as a fairy tale.  But she, as a deacon, continued to model obedience and service to God, in her own unique way, which is a model we might find serves us if we choose to follow her.

So no matter what your offering is, no matter what your freak flag is that you dare to fly, remember Phoebe. Remember that she is more than a talking point in our arguments (including mine), because she dared to offer what she had to help build the kingdom of God, through obedience and service to Jesus, in her own unique way. May we find our own unique ways to serve God, knowing God gave us all our eccentricities, for the growth of God’s kingdom.