Karen Hollis | March 2, 2025
Epiphany 7/Thecla 7
Seventh Stage of Spiritual Transformation:
Today we come home to the place where the call first came. We have all experienced coming home in one way or another. Like returning for summer holidays after the first year of university and home looks a little smaller or a little different than it did before. Or coming home after a work trip that stretched us into spaces within that we didn’t know we had. I remember our family trip to Europe when I was 15. We were gone 6 weeks and my eyes were opened. I walked downstairs the morning after we returned, my mom had a huge stack of mail in her hands, and I looked around at my home - it didn’t look smaller exactly, but different, because my perspective was so much bigger.
We began this journey with the light of epiphany shining straight at us, as if to communicate something or to alert us to an insight has been born within us. We received the insight and searched for a path within us from where we were to that possibility. When the path became clear, we saw the open door before us, and with courage, walked through. On the other side of the door, we found ourselves on a pilgrimage that tested our readiness to embrace this new way of seeing. Coming through that test, we were presented with a choice point . . . to either return to the old life . . . or die to the old life and become something new. When we were ready to proceed, we gained access to inner resources to protect and defend our new self in our new circumstances.
Today, as we return to the place where the call first came, instead of experiencing the light shining toward us, the light shines from within us. We come back to this place, not as anyone else’s expectation, rather we belong to ourselves. We return to our former circumstances with new perspective, additional inner resources, and engaged in a new life.
Even with all this newness, who we were and who we are now are the same person – through our spiritual transformation, we have gained access to more of ourselves - it was there all the time, but now we have access to it. With this newness of self, we are able to navigate these old familiar spaces in new ways, with new possibilities.
I invite us to honour this final stage of spiritual transformation with a brief time of silence and acknowledging our own inner light. Maybe you think of it as God dwelling in you, or your divine essence, or your soul. With some breath, let us connect with that spark of life that lives in us.
With another couple of breaths, let’s bring our attention back into the room and hear what coming home looks like in Thecla’s story.
Luke 9:28-36 Now about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly the disciples saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
Just as Moses and Elijah were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and the disciples were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And the disciples kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Thecla 38:4-5, 40:2-4, 42, 43:1b–3 And the governor immediately sent forth a decree saying, “God-fearing Thecla, slave of God, I release you.” And the women all cried out in a loud voice, as if from one mouth, and gave praise to God, saying, “One is God who has saved Thecla!” so that the whole city shook from their voice.
And taking some young men and young women, she bound herself up and stitched together her garment - a robe in the fashion of a man’s - and departed for Myra. And she found Paul speaking the word of God and waited near him. And he was astonished when he saw her and the crowd that was with her, wondering whether another trial was upon her. But observing this, she said to him, “I have received a bath, Paul. For the one who worked together with you for the good news also worked together with me in my baptism.”
And she returned to Iconium, and went to Onesiphorus’s house and fell on the floor where Paul had sat and taught the words of God. And she cried, saying, “God of me and of this house where the light shone on me, Christ Jesus the Child of God, my help in prison, my help before governors, my help in the fire, my help with the wild animals - you are God and you are the glory forever. Amen.”
And she called her mother and said to her, “Theocleia, Mother, can you believe that the Lord lives in heaven? For if you desire money, the Lord will give it to you through me, or your child. Look, I am standing before you.” And bearing witness to these things, she departed for Seleucia, enlightening many with the word of God.
Reflection:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
We conclude Thecla’s story in the place where we began with this 6th Century fresco, located in the Cave of St. Paul, above the ruins of ancient Ephesus in Turkey. As we discussed previously, we have Paul outside Thecla’s window – his hand gesture tells us that he’s teaching. Then to either side of him are images of Thecla at the beginning and end of her journey. To the left she is at her window listening, and to the right she is depicted the same size and height as Paul, which tells us they are equals, and she has that same hand gesture, which tells us she is also teaching. Now that we have heard Thecla’s story, in what ways does this fresco look different to you from the first time you saw it?
I noticed right away that on the left she seems confined behind a barrier, and on the right Thecla is out of the confines of her previous context – on the right she is freed from the circumstances of her birth. When she returns to Iconium, she finds her mother and says: “Theocleia, Mother, can you believe that the Lord lives in heaven? For if you desire money, the Lord will give it to you through me, or your child. Look, I am standing before you.” Because of time, I left out the part of the story where Queen Tryphaena, the woman who houses Thecla before she goes in the arena with the wild animals, adopts Thecla in a way. She gives Thecla an abundance of garments and gold to fund her ministry. Thecla’s mother believed their only path for survival was for Thecla to marry and remain within the transactional system of power. But now, Thecla stands before her with more power within than in the whole transactional system, with more than enough resources to provide for her mother what she needs.
Thecla says to her I AM standing before you. Another I AM statement, proclaiming that she is both her mother’s child and a woman who belongs to herself. The two people are not separate, they are one and the same . . . Thecla is simply more of herself than she was before.
When I look at the fresco, I also see the relationship between Paul and Thecla shift from a teacher/student relationship to one of equals, colleagues, and siblings in Christ. The last time they had a conversation about her baptism, Paul tells her the world is a dangerous place and she is fair. What if there are more and worse trials put on her and she is not able to be brave? He’s making an argument that the world isn’t ready for her – indeed it was not – though I still wonder if Paul is also not ready for a colleague like her.
This time Thecla has a completely different conversation. She says to him: “I have received a bath, Paul. For the one who worked together with you for the good news also worked together with me in my baptism.” No longer asking permission, Thecla comes with grounding and clarity as she reveals to Paul her identity as God’s beloved, which was affirmed in her baptism . . . the light of her truth is shining from within her. It’s reminiscent of Jesus standing on the mountaintop, revealing his fullness to his disciples, bright as a flash of lightening. Jesus frames for them his identity within the context of their tradition and they hear words from God that follow the baptismal pattern: ‘this is my son, the beloved.’
Thecla not only tells Paul she has been baptized, she also frames that event in terms of their emerging tradition . . . the One who works with Paul is also the One who works with Thecla. The holy spirit cannot be contained or controlled and does not abide by human rules. The spirit of God lives and moves among us and calls us to collaborate and Thecla simply said yes.
Even with all of his resistance to her formation, Paul responds by saying: “Go and teach the word of God.” This is not just an expression of support, this is a commissioning. He sends her to teach, which makes Thecla an apostle. An apostle is one who is sent. Mary Magdalene is the first apostle. The risen Christ tells her to go and tell the others of the resurrection. Along the way, the church has made a big deal of the apostolic line of succession. An apostle must commission another apostle, which was eventually given the language ordination. One who has been ordained can then ordain. This simple response from Paul places Thecla in the apostolic line.
The Jesus movement and the early church looked to Thecla as a teacher and leader. Since then, as we all know, there has been a lot of resistance to female leadership in the church. You notice that the eyes and hand gesture of Thecla are scratched out on the fresco – someone came behind the artist and made some adjustments to fit the current view.
Scholar John Dominic Crossan has a book about Paul and in the center of the cover there’s an image of Paul that is similar to this one and Thecla is pictured just on the edge of the cover in a shadow. Crossan’s question is this: is Thecla moving out of view or into view? Perhaps now we are ready for her. Her story has always been deeply resonant.
Thecla is so many of us, who have been held back by our circumstances. She is a symbol of one claiming their own life, and a spark to inspire others . . . which is probably why her story was not canonized. When the governor lets her go, the text says: “the women all cried out in a loud voice, as if from one mouth, and gave praise to God, saying, ‘One is God who has saved Thecla!’ so that the whole city shook from their voice.” In their day, women had no power on their own, but that day, when they throw all the perfumes into the arena to lull the wild animals to sleep, they realize they have power as a collective . . . they have power together.
According to theologian Meggan Watterson, in the early church, the names for the groups that formed often began with “sy,” like synod. That prefix means “with” in Greek.1 I am with you, you are with me, we are not alone. Everyone is included. I was always taught that gathering was the defining characteristic of Christians. Not only gathering, but standing in solidarity. This with-ness made the early church powerful and distinct. On through the ages, we connect with that power when we stand with women, queer folk, indigenous peoples, people on the margins, when we allow our truth to shine from within and speak together as one clear voice.
1 Meggan Watterson, House of Mary Magdalene gathering, May 5, 2024.