Happy Day to you, Dear Readers!

I have made progress on my cleaning out project with a few more boxes delivered to the thrift store. We are having an exceptionally pretty day here in Central Texas after all the rains and flooding of the past couple of weeks. We are grateful for the rain! And we are still praying for those who have suffered from the floods.

Last week, I had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend, Janet Davis, over lunch. We shared with each other the journeys we have experienced these past few years. She is always an inspiration to me and I am blessed to know her. And you can know her as well. She is the author of another great book on biblical women entitled The Feminine Soul: Surprising Ways the Bible Speaks to Women and available on Amazon at this link:

As I was reacquainting myself with her book this week, I was reminded of a perplexing story found in both the gospel of Mark and the gospel of Matthew. Janet does an amazing job of walking her readers through this story. It is the story of Jesus healing the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. We don’t know either of their names, but the event was significant enough for two gospel writers to include it in their chronicling of Jesus’ ministry.

I encourage you to find this story in Mark 7:24-30 and Matthew 15:21-28. The Matthew passage indicates that the disciples are also part of the story.

The setting is the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon, far north of the Jewish-majority towns from which Jesus had come. According to v. 24, Jesus was trying to escape the crowds and have some alone time, but that was not going to happen. The gospels make it very clear that this woman who approached Jesus–literally threw herself at his feet–was an “outsider” by calling her a Greek, a Syrophoenician, and a Canaanite–all the opposites of Jewishness. She was from the region where Jesus had gone for some rest and she was desperate: her daughter was possessed by a demon and she wanted Jesus to heal her.

Jesus’ initial response to her is surprising to our ears because it sounds like an insult. However, I believe Jesus is using this moment as a teaching point for his disciples who are watching his every move. The woman is on her hands and knees begging Jesus for his help, a very vulnerable position, and one that is most uncomfortable for our 21st-century sensitivities. Jesus challenges her request by reminding her that she is indeed an outsider. And yet, this woman remains strong in her mission to get help for her daughter. Her answer to Jesus lets him know that she is fully aware of her status and of his power and she will be grateful for anything he can do.

Janet explains it this way on pages 164-166 of her book: “My imagination tells me this strong woman looked up straight into the eyes of Jesus as she replied. In fact, I think they were both smiling, that kind of wry, knowing smile that said they both knew a secret that most people around them failed to grasp. . . . This woman held a uniquely feminine power that operated outside the realm of an authority structure and politics. It is a kind of power that embraces and even uses our greater vulnerability and plays to our strengths as women because it is rooted in our ability to form strong relationship connections. . . . This Syrophoenician woman possessed a strength that was rooted not in formal structures or systems but in her long-standing relationship with her daughter and her new relationship with Jesus. . . . She was operating from a totally different power grid, a paradigm unstopped by personal insult, inequality, or even injustice. It is the power grid of the gospel that Jesus lived before us and sought to help us understand. He did not use politics or structural authority to change the world; He used relationships and chose vulnerability, love, mercy, and goodness. . . . She and Jesus both understood with deep clarity where real power lies.”

Thanks, Janet! I always learn something from your insights!

Sometimes, our vulnerability can be the door God uses to help us understand God’s power or to allow us to be the conduit of God’s power for someone else.

Questions for the day: When have you been vulnerable and discovered a surprising feeling of power in the midst of it? When have you seen God’s power work through you to help someone else?