A sermon preached in Christ Chapel by Nathan Jennings on the Feast of St. Thecla of Iconium, Friday, September 23, 2022. The Gospel appointed is Luke 24:1–11.
But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
St. Thecla of Iconium is an important saint in the East and was in the West until Rome suppressed her veneration at Vatican II because she didn’t seem historical enough.
The tradition of her veneration goes back to the apocryphal Acts of Paul. She is a very important woman in that book.
In these Acts of Paul we learn that Thecla is a virgin betrothed to marry, when she listens to Paul preach the virtues of virginity for three days straight! So, she breaks off her engagement. This enrages her fiancé and her mother. She then flees and follows Paul in his peregrinations. Along the way she preaches the word of God – even to men!
In one of these city-states some no-good nobleman tries to sexually assault her so she fights back and then promptly gets accused of assaulting a noble.
Immediately before they attempt to execute her, Thecla hops into some water and baptizes herself! Then they throw her to lions and the lionesses miraculously protect her from the roaring and ravenous male lions!
It is not hard to hear the symbolism of this story.
Next, she gets away only to jump into eel infested waters! Then a lightning bolt straight out of heaven strikes the water, killing the eels, but she remains miraculously preserved!
Thecla then lived out the rest of her long days in ascetic solitude in a cave in a mountain above the port town of Seleucia
In the end, evil men come to rob her of her life-long virginity. So, she miraculously disappears into the wall of her cave. The end.
Thecla took back her sexuality from the men and evil structures of her passing age and she offered it up as a living sacrifice of praise and thanks to the risen King of Kings, her Lord and our Lord, Jesus Christ. She was therefore, a clear and present threat to the worldly structures of Rome and corrupt ancient city-states.
Thecla was basically awesome. So, no wonder she was venerated for so long. And gathered a loyal and devote following of both lay and monastic women – and men.
But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
And yet, in our enlightened West, we have not recognized her nor venerated her for so very long. The powers and principalities of our passing age have found her story an idle tale.
In the Gospel of Luke assigned to us this morning, we hear again the amazing, good news that Joshua the Anointed has been vindicated by his Father in Heaven after a horrible and unjust death and restored to life and immortality! Alleluia!
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground
Then the angels of God deliver the evangel of the cosmos to the first women to become living members of the risen body of Christ.
They said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.
We also have another story folded within this story of the victory of our God. A story of the role of women in the early church, their struggles, and God’s grace and providential design.
Like Thecla of Iconium almost a century later, God gave his greatest message to be stewarded by faithful women. And they were not believed on by the men.
10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
Jesus Christ is not the only one vindicated in this story. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women (?) were also vindicated, as the men who followed Jesus would soon learn that what had sounded to them like an idle tale, the gossip of womenfolk, was the best news that they, or anyone else, would ever hear or could ever hear:
Jesus Christ is Risen, Alleluia!
Is it so crazy to believe the miraculous tales of the holy life of Thecla, when we all profess together here today to believe that a first century son of Israel is currently still living and sitting next to God Almighty above the skies?
Perhaps, even if only for today, we can believe Thecla’s story as we celebrate and affirm the story of Jesus. For the stories of the Saints just are the story of Jesus. Perhaps, we can listen to the stories of God’s women, today.
We who believe that Jesus Christ was vindicated by his Father, perhaps, even if just for today, we could choose to believe that an ancient, holy woman, was vindicated by God, time and again, and, like her Lord who disappeared from a tomb, so too she could disappear from her cave home, her ascetical tomb?
I wonder what will happen when we make this choice to believe a woman’s story.
Sisters in Christ, always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within you.
Brothers in Christ, the next time a woman has something to tell you, listen to her.
Then, together, as one family of the one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us join our sisters that went before us, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, Holy Thecla of Iconium, and “the other women,” known and unknown, sung and unsung, and proclaim with them in our own day:
Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, but risen. Alleluia.
The sermon ends here.
For our Sowing Holy Questions blog, Nathan has provided some questions and reflections:
I would like to circle back to a question I posed in the sermon: Is it so crazy to believe the miraculous tales of the holy life of Thecla, when we all profess together here today to believe that a first century son of Israel is currently still living and sitting next to God Almighty above the skies?
How do we become comfortable with some miraculous stories, but not with others? I am happy to see St. Thecla restored – I hope we see the return of St. Christopher soon, as well! These narratives are about the manifestation of the divine in our mundane “historical” world. The restoration of a seemingly “fantastical” saint and her story to our observance of the Sanctoral Cycle is a sign to me of the work we are doing to “re-enchant” our world, after the secular turn.
Who are the women in my life I have listened to and, through listening, found transformation? I think especially of my colleagues here at Seminary of the Southwest. As I wrote this sermon, our Dean and President Cynthia Kittredge was on my heart. I also recall transformative conversations with Jane Patterson (miss you!) and Gena St. David. I have been profoundly shaped by my female colleagues over the years here at Southwest, and I am so thankful.
How about you? Who are the women you have listened to, and found transformation?
This fall, Sowing Holy Questions focuses on beloved community.
