Phoebe's Messenger Service
The next chapter in a series on strong women in the Bible
Last week we discussed Mary Magdalene being the first person to share the news of the Resurrection. Yes, the Apostles were learning from Jesus, performing miracles and spreading the Gospel to people, but Mary Magdalene got to tell everyone that Jesus had risen from the dead and that Christ’s ministry was only beginning.
While men get most of the attention in the Bible, women subtly slip in with highly important tasks. Phoebe is another one of those chosen women.
I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is [also] a minister of the church at Cenchreae, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the holy ones, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a benefactor to many and to me as well. (Romans 16:1-2)
Phoebe gets two lines in Paul’s letter to the Romans, but they are packed with meaning. Paul calls her a minister, or in Greek diakonos. In the New Testament, deacons and deaconesses were plentiful as Jesus requested “helpers” to spread Christianity. Diakonos also means “server,” which indicates that deacons and deaconesses offered assistance to evangelizers as needed.
It was probably no small task to be a server or deacon for an Apostle. After all, a lot of people were not kind to the Apostles as they tried to spread Christianity. Paul, for example, spent a lot of time in Roman prisons and was likely beheaded. A deaconess like Phoebe might have been putting her own life in danger.
Props to Phoebe, then, for agreeing to hand-deliver Paul’s letter to the Romans. We have no idea how she traveled or with whom, but we know that Paul entrusted her to put the letter into the proper hands and to be available to interpret its meaning.
Phoebe was “a benefactor” to Paul and to other early Christians. We can assume that Phoebe was well off enough to contribute to the evangelization mission. Perhaps that makes her role as letter-carrier even more significant. A wealthy woman would not feel the need to “serve” someone else. Phoebe could have hired someone to deliver the letter for her. Clearly her female intuition, along with her faith in Christianity, prompted her to carry the letter and ensure that it was received.
Once again, we see a woman who gets things done. Equally as important is that Phoebe wasn’t afraid to do what she knew was right. We can garner so much inspiration from a woman like that, even if we don’t know much else about her. We all possess those same qualities, but it’s our desire to use them that gives us Phoebe-like power.
RESOURCES:
https://canadianbibleguy.com/2017/09/18/pauls-ministry-team/
https://orthodoxdeaconess.org/faqs/
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/deacon-deaconess/
https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-St-Paul-the-Apostle-die
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/16
NEXT WEEK: What was it like to be a woman in the First Century AD?