You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
If Jesus were around in our day, saying the things attributed to him in next Sunday's gospel, would someone have gotten him a prescription for an antidepressant? Suggested he take a little time off, see somebody for that paranoid streak? From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
Peter certainly thought ill of this dark turn: And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you."
When things seem to be on a roll – which they did for Jesus’ disciples – it’s hard to envision it all going wrong. Jesus is drawing huge crowds, performing amazing miracles, and Peter has just correctly ID’d him as the long-awaited Messiah. This is no time to talk of suffering and death, is it?
The hindsight of faith tells us that Jesus was not being neurotically morose – he was telling truth to the people to whom he was closest in this world, truth he was going to have to tell them more than once and finally live through before they actually received it. But those listening to him that day didn’t know that – how could they tell a mood swing from a prediction? How can we, when our news alerts and social media feeds serve up fresh horrors by the hour?
I don’t think we can. We are called to live in hopeful balance, no matter what the circumstances. That means using the benefit of hindsight, which invites us to trust in the God who brings Life out of death, while we look forward to the gifts of God coming to us from our future. The dire events Jesus predicted did come to pass – as did the blessed one about his resurrection. We have been delivered into freedom because of all those events. Can that perspective help us with the feelings of foreboding that world events and our own lives can generate?
Are you anxious today about painful things that might be ahead? Can you invite God into conversation about them, seeking a holy perspective? Where do you see blessing? Might you recall God’s faithfulness to you in your life thus far? Does that help?
When driving, I recognize the need to keep my eyes on the road ahead while frequently checking the rearview mirror. Somehow, that's the balance we are invited to live in faith.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
8-21-26 - Don't Tell....
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
I do not like secrets. I don’t mind knowing them… that’s a rush, to know something not everyone else does. But that rush is short-lived, quickly replaced by the wish that everyone be on the same page, all committed to the same level of transparency. In families, and in communities, secrets are toxic.
If it’s good news, I especially hate having to keep it in! Only the awareness that everyone should get to tell their own stories holds me back and keeps me mum. So I wonder how Jesus’ disciples felt when, after Peter identified Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus followed up with this: "Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah." Was he concerned that the coming clash with religious authorities would develop too quickly if everyone began using that kind of language about him? Did he want people to work it out for themselves?
I wonder if they were able to keep quiet. How could they? If your whole community is yearning and waiting for the Anointed One of God who will deliver you from evil, not to mention poverty, degradation and a hated occupying empire, and you’ve discovered that person, you pretty much want everyone to know. It’s not only Good News, it’s news!
Most of us, on the other hand, have known this too well and for far too long to think of it as news, let alone particularly good. Few of us live in occupied lands; we may be oppressed by feelings or addictions, but rarely by other people. What is it that keeps us quiet, if we are? Do we keep our faith a secret from people around us? Do we feel too unsure about our faith to go around discussing it openly?
I don’t think Jesus wants us to keep quiet about who he is. He wants us to rediscover his love and feel the amazement that God would love us so much as to send his Son into this world to show us what that love looks like. If there is nothing all that new or all that good about our religious life, remember that we are invited into a relationship with God in Christ that delivers new gifts, new promises, new hopes every morning. That’s pretty amazing.
When we truly engage that relationship with Jesus in prayer, we find ourselves talking about it, just as we talk about other people in our lives, as we say, “You know what my friend Susie is doing this summer? You know what my co-worker Joel was saying the other day?” How about, “You know what I sensed Jesus say to me this morning?”
If you’re connected, talk about it. If you feel disconnected, tell Jesus you’re open to a deeper connection with him. If you feel funny talking to him, go talk to someone whom you think knows him and hang out with that person. Sooner or later, the Good News will dawn for us – and then we can't keep it to ourselves.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
I do not like secrets. I don’t mind knowing them… that’s a rush, to know something not everyone else does. But that rush is short-lived, quickly replaced by the wish that everyone be on the same page, all committed to the same level of transparency. In families, and in communities, secrets are toxic.
If it’s good news, I especially hate having to keep it in! Only the awareness that everyone should get to tell their own stories holds me back and keeps me mum. So I wonder how Jesus’ disciples felt when, after Peter identified Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus followed up with this: "Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah." Was he concerned that the coming clash with religious authorities would develop too quickly if everyone began using that kind of language about him? Did he want people to work it out for themselves?
I wonder if they were able to keep quiet. How could they? If your whole community is yearning and waiting for the Anointed One of God who will deliver you from evil, not to mention poverty, degradation and a hated occupying empire, and you’ve discovered that person, you pretty much want everyone to know. It’s not only Good News, it’s news!
Most of us, on the other hand, have known this too well and for far too long to think of it as news, let alone particularly good. Few of us live in occupied lands; we may be oppressed by feelings or addictions, but rarely by other people. What is it that keeps us quiet, if we are? Do we keep our faith a secret from people around us? Do we feel too unsure about our faith to go around discussing it openly?
I don’t think Jesus wants us to keep quiet about who he is. He wants us to rediscover his love and feel the amazement that God would love us so much as to send his Son into this world to show us what that love looks like. If there is nothing all that new or all that good about our religious life, remember that we are invited into a relationship with God in Christ that delivers new gifts, new promises, new hopes every morning. That’s pretty amazing.
When we truly engage that relationship with Jesus in prayer, we find ourselves talking about it, just as we talk about other people in our lives, as we say, “You know what my friend Susie is doing this summer? You know what my co-worker Joel was saying the other day?” How about, “You know what I sensed Jesus say to me this morning?”
If you’re connected, talk about it. If you feel disconnected, tell Jesus you’re open to a deeper connection with him. If you feel funny talking to him, go talk to someone whom you think knows him and hang out with that person. Sooner or later, the Good News will dawn for us – and then we can't keep it to ourselves.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
8-20-26 - Keys To the Kingdom
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
I’ve always pictured an oversized key, like an honorary Key to the City. But I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind when he said to Simon Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
He has just called Peter the “rock on which I will build my church.” And now the keys to the Kingdom? We can only guess at what he meant – that is how theologians and biblical scholars make a living, after all. But we might get a hint of what he intended when we think about what keys do. They lock things, and they open them. They make them inaccessible and accessible.
The Kingdom of God is a reality that Jesus described through image and metaphor, and demonstrated through healing, teaching, and transformative actions that look to us like miracles. It is the realm of God, the reality of God, the Life of God as it unfolds in our own plane of reality. It is power and energy and boundless grace. To be given the “keys” to this reality is to be given power to unlock, release the energy of heaven – or to withhold it. Hence, “…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
We are heirs to this gift, this promise, this frightening spiritual authority. We can keep the realm of God, with all its power and promise and peace, locked up simply by not talking about it, or not exercising the power we’ve been given. Or we can use these keys to open it to everyone who is thirsty for spiritual connection.
We can keep people bound by withholding forgiveness, and loosed by exercising grace. Jesus gave us these gifts not to be locked away in a safe deposit box, but to be spent, drawn down, exhausted… only to find them constantly replenished, like a waterfall.
In prayer today, imagine sitting with Jesus and having him hand you a set of keys. What do they look like? What do they open? Who has the keys to your heart?
There are some things that need to remain bound, I suppose – the power of evil to wreak destruction in our world, for one. Racism, materialism, consumerism, nationalism… there are a few. And so many more things and people and communities that need to be released, set free. I believe God wants us in the “loosing” business, one lock at a time. That's what the keys to the kingdom are for.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
I’ve always pictured an oversized key, like an honorary Key to the City. But I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind when he said to Simon Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
He has just called Peter the “rock on which I will build my church.” And now the keys to the Kingdom? We can only guess at what he meant – that is how theologians and biblical scholars make a living, after all. But we might get a hint of what he intended when we think about what keys do. They lock things, and they open them. They make them inaccessible and accessible.
The Kingdom of God is a reality that Jesus described through image and metaphor, and demonstrated through healing, teaching, and transformative actions that look to us like miracles. It is the realm of God, the reality of God, the Life of God as it unfolds in our own plane of reality. It is power and energy and boundless grace. To be given the “keys” to this reality is to be given power to unlock, release the energy of heaven – or to withhold it. Hence, “…whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
We are heirs to this gift, this promise, this frightening spiritual authority. We can keep the realm of God, with all its power and promise and peace, locked up simply by not talking about it, or not exercising the power we’ve been given. Or we can use these keys to open it to everyone who is thirsty for spiritual connection.
We can keep people bound by withholding forgiveness, and loosed by exercising grace. Jesus gave us these gifts not to be locked away in a safe deposit box, but to be spent, drawn down, exhausted… only to find them constantly replenished, like a waterfall.
In prayer today, imagine sitting with Jesus and having him hand you a set of keys. What do they look like? What do they open? Who has the keys to your heart?
There are some things that need to remain bound, I suppose – the power of evil to wreak destruction in our world, for one. Racism, materialism, consumerism, nationalism… there are a few. And so many more things and people and communities that need to be released, set free. I believe God wants us in the “loosing” business, one lock at a time. That's what the keys to the kingdom are for.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
8-19-26 - God's Rock
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
At their first meeting, Jesus gave Simon, son of Jonah, a nickname: “Petros,” meaning “rock.” He may have been teasing him about hard-headedness. But here, when he is commending Peter for the spiritual insight he has just confessed, he uses his given name, “Simon bar Jonah,” perhaps underscoring the gravity of this moment: And Jesus answered Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
Jesus switches again to the nickname, now alluding to another quality of rock: as a sure foundation. Jesus once told a story about a person who built a house on sand and another who built on rock; the house built on sand washed away, while the one on rock stood firm. Now he uses that image to describe a spiritual edifice, the community of those who call him Lord, that will endure in the face of all that Hell can throw its way.
Does it change our view of “The Church” to see it as a mystical community ordained by Jesus himself, meant to last for all time, not just our little communities struggling to sustain themselves?
How might it alter our critique of its failings when we remember that this community represents a threat to the forces of evil; that it is the object of spiritual opposition? Might that remind us to be more faithful in praying for the church itself, that it be protected and true to its mission to make the disrupting love of God known in the world?
How might it strengthen our commitment to mission to remember that we are meant to be a threat to the forces of evil – we should be stirring up trouble!
Calling Peter the rock on which the church will be built means, in part, that we stand on the foundation of those apostles, who walked and worked with Jesus in his earthly life and witnessed to his rising from death. That’s why we read the teachings and stories and letters they left behind, and give these more weight than later ideas.
Today let’s pray for the church in specific ways:
At their first meeting, Jesus gave Simon, son of Jonah, a nickname: “Petros,” meaning “rock.” He may have been teasing him about hard-headedness. But here, when he is commending Peter for the spiritual insight he has just confessed, he uses his given name, “Simon bar Jonah,” perhaps underscoring the gravity of this moment: And Jesus answered Peter, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
Jesus switches again to the nickname, now alluding to another quality of rock: as a sure foundation. Jesus once told a story about a person who built a house on sand and another who built on rock; the house built on sand washed away, while the one on rock stood firm. Now he uses that image to describe a spiritual edifice, the community of those who call him Lord, that will endure in the face of all that Hell can throw its way.
Does it change our view of “The Church” to see it as a mystical community ordained by Jesus himself, meant to last for all time, not just our little communities struggling to sustain themselves?
How might it alter our critique of its failings when we remember that this community represents a threat to the forces of evil; that it is the object of spiritual opposition? Might that remind us to be more faithful in praying for the church itself, that it be protected and true to its mission to make the disrupting love of God known in the world?
How might it strengthen our commitment to mission to remember that we are meant to be a threat to the forces of evil – we should be stirring up trouble!
Calling Peter the rock on which the church will be built means, in part, that we stand on the foundation of those apostles, who walked and worked with Jesus in his earthly life and witnessed to his rising from death. That’s why we read the teachings and stories and letters they left behind, and give these more weight than later ideas.
Today let’s pray for the church in specific ways:
- Pray for your own community of faith – pray for its ministry and its clarity about where it fits into the larger scheme of God’s mission.
- Pray for the churches in your community, especially how they might work together more effectively.
- Pray for the church in the world, where it is persecuted, and where it is lukewarm and complacent (the latter is a greater danger). Pray for those who face torture and pressure to renounce their faith.
- Pray for transformation for Christians who perpetrate violence against other religions; there are many of those instances in our world too.
And pray for yourself as a part of the worldwide body of Christ. Don’t hold yourself apart, no matter how corrupt or irrelevant church may seem at times. If you do that, you withhold gifts that the church needs to be the agent of transformation and healing Jesus intended it to be.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
8-18-26 - Spiritual Intelligence
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Jesus asks his closest followers, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter gets the gold star: Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
It would take more time and space than we have to unpack the layers of meanings and interpretations in these two titles that Peter uses. Messiah was, and is, a mystical figure anticipated by the Jewish people, one who will deliver them from oppression and persecution. Not all schools of thought equated the Messiah with a divine person, and many assumed the Messiah would be a military savior, not a spiritual one. One strand of prophetic writings held that the Messiah would be of King David's line, a lineage that was never to end.
And what does “son of the living God” mean? It could refer to a divine person, which is how the Christian tradition understands the incarnate Jesus. It could mean a human anointed by God to carry forth his redemptive plan, as some early theologians considered Jesus before that interpretation was labeled the heresy of adoptionism. The phrase reveals God as “living,” not a dead idol but a living entity interacting with her creation. And it clearly indicates Jesus as one specially chosen as God’s instrument.
Peter seems to have hit the nail on the head: And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”
Jesus suggests this awareness is not one that Peter arrived at through reason, but received through revelation. That might give us a new way to look at the disconnect we often experience between faith and reason. Reason is a God-given gift for us to use; it is also a human faculty and can only take us so far. It is our spiritual intelligence, if you will, that we are to cultivate – and we can’t do that by working harder or thinking harder. We do that by learning to receive the Holy Spirit, who brings all the gifts and understanding we need.
Jesus asks his closest followers, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter gets the gold star: Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
It would take more time and space than we have to unpack the layers of meanings and interpretations in these two titles that Peter uses. Messiah was, and is, a mystical figure anticipated by the Jewish people, one who will deliver them from oppression and persecution. Not all schools of thought equated the Messiah with a divine person, and many assumed the Messiah would be a military savior, not a spiritual one. One strand of prophetic writings held that the Messiah would be of King David's line, a lineage that was never to end.
And what does “son of the living God” mean? It could refer to a divine person, which is how the Christian tradition understands the incarnate Jesus. It could mean a human anointed by God to carry forth his redemptive plan, as some early theologians considered Jesus before that interpretation was labeled the heresy of adoptionism. The phrase reveals God as “living,” not a dead idol but a living entity interacting with her creation. And it clearly indicates Jesus as one specially chosen as God’s instrument.
Peter seems to have hit the nail on the head: And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”
Jesus suggests this awareness is not one that Peter arrived at through reason, but received through revelation. That might give us a new way to look at the disconnect we often experience between faith and reason. Reason is a God-given gift for us to use; it is also a human faculty and can only take us so far. It is our spiritual intelligence, if you will, that we are to cultivate – and we can’t do that by working harder or thinking harder. We do that by learning to receive the Holy Spirit, who brings all the gifts and understanding we need.
- What does “Son of the Living God?” mean to you?
- Is God alive for you? In what ways?
- How would you assess your “spiritual intelligence quotient?"
If we want to expand our “spiritual intelligence,” we don’t need to study harder, though study is important for a full spiritual life. We will cultivate an attitude of praise to the Living God, inviting that God to fill us with his life through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then we will more keenly perceive what God is up to around us. We will find our faith emboldened to believe in the power of God poured out in blessing. We will grow in peace and joy and love and all those gifts promised to Christ-followers.
And we will grow better at articulating the hope we have within us, what – or who – it is that we wait for with eager anticipation. Now we live; in the fullness of time we will live in fullness.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
And we will grow better at articulating the hope we have within us, what – or who – it is that we wait for with eager anticipation. Now we live; in the fullness of time we will live in fullness.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
8-17-26 - Who Is Jesus?
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
It’s a mid-course check-in. Jesus has collected a community of followers. He has healed hundreds, fed thousands, forgiven, blessed, released and taught. But does anyone know who he really is? Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Jesus used the title “Son of Man” to refer to himself. This mystery has given biblical scholars plenty to chew on through the millennia. It is a title that appears often in the Hebrew Bible, mostly in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, where it does not suggest divine identity. It might be a title of humility, as well as humanity. In effect he was asking his closest associates, “What are people saying about me?”
Their answers reflected the recent or distant past. Jesus was regarded as a prophet in the mold or even a personification of Elijah or Jeremiah or another of the great prophets of ancient Israel. Some thought he had taken on the mantle of John the Baptist. Then Jesus probed a bit deeper. “Never mind what other people think – who do you say that I am, you who have lived with me and walked with me, trained with me and prayed with me. Do you recognize the fullness of who I am?”
Peter gives an answer which pleases Jesus, which we'll explore tomorrow. Today let’s take the question as directed at us: Who do you say that Jesus is? A role model? A great teacher? A healer? Savior? Prophet? God incarnate?
Try to separate your answer from what you’ve been taught all your life.
We could go deeper, ask the question another way:
How have you experienced Jesus? Who is he to you?
If he’s just a character in a book, a figure from a painting or stained glass window with a bubble around his head, I invite you to explore his “living-ness.” It’s a big claim we make as Christians, that our Lord who died over 2,000 years ago rose again and is accessible to us through His Spirit. We can know him in prayer, in action, in worship, in the sacraments. How do you know him? How would you like to?
Talk to him. Who does he say he is when you ask him?
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
It’s a mid-course check-in. Jesus has collected a community of followers. He has healed hundreds, fed thousands, forgiven, blessed, released and taught. But does anyone know who he really is? Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Jesus used the title “Son of Man” to refer to himself. This mystery has given biblical scholars plenty to chew on through the millennia. It is a title that appears often in the Hebrew Bible, mostly in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, where it does not suggest divine identity. It might be a title of humility, as well as humanity. In effect he was asking his closest associates, “What are people saying about me?”
Their answers reflected the recent or distant past. Jesus was regarded as a prophet in the mold or even a personification of Elijah or Jeremiah or another of the great prophets of ancient Israel. Some thought he had taken on the mantle of John the Baptist. Then Jesus probed a bit deeper. “Never mind what other people think – who do you say that I am, you who have lived with me and walked with me, trained with me and prayed with me. Do you recognize the fullness of who I am?”
Peter gives an answer which pleases Jesus, which we'll explore tomorrow. Today let’s take the question as directed at us: Who do you say that Jesus is? A role model? A great teacher? A healer? Savior? Prophet? God incarnate?
Try to separate your answer from what you’ve been taught all your life.
We could go deeper, ask the question another way:
How have you experienced Jesus? Who is he to you?
If he’s just a character in a book, a figure from a painting or stained glass window with a bubble around his head, I invite you to explore his “living-ness.” It’s a big claim we make as Christians, that our Lord who died over 2,000 years ago rose again and is accessible to us through His Spirit. We can know him in prayer, in action, in worship, in the sacraments. How do you know him? How would you like to?
Talk to him. Who does he say he is when you ask him?
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
8-14-26 - A Turn of Mind?
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
One of the words I learned in my first year of divinity school was “Immutable.” Traditional Christian theology asserts this as one characteristic of God. It means “unchangeable” or “cannot be acted upon.” How God could be deemed “immutable” is puzzling, as there are stories in both Old and New Testaments in which God seems to be swayed from an announced course of action by some human input. Abraham’s dickering with God over the fate of Sodom is a prime example.
In this week’s story about the Canaanite woman who implored Jesus to heal her daughter, Jesus seems to change his mind. Let’s review the conversation: She came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”
The notion that Jesus – God – could change his mind is troublesome for those on the “predestination/ everything-is-preordained” end of the theological spectrum. For them, Jesus must have planned all along to accede to the woman’s pleas, and was somehow testing his followers or setting up a miracle. That scenario does not work for me. Not only does it clash with the story as both Matthew and Mark present it, it makes Jesus look manipulative and cruel in addition to rude and uncaring. That does not square with the way he is portrayed in most Gospel scenes.
I go for the plainer sense of the words as we have them – which show Jesus making a transition. While no one knows why he at first rebuffed this woman, after she likens herself to a dog eating crumbs under a table, he is moved by her humility and faith, and pronounces the healing of her daughter. Perhaps he recalled his own teaching that even a mustard seed of true faith Is sufficient to move mountains. Perhaps he was moved by her calling him “Son of David.” Perhaps he truly looked at her for the first time. We only know he arrived at a different place than he started from.
Why should this surprise us? Exercising free will is intrinsic to what it means to be a human being made in the image of God. That, according to our Genesis story, is what got us into trouble in the first place. But it is our also our will which allows us to accept God’s grace and forgiveness. If it is both human and divine to exercise free will, then we should rejoice that Jesus displayed this quality. It gives us yet another point for connecting with him, and enlivens our relationship with him as we interact with him through the Holy Spirit.
Though it is comforting to know that Jesus was capable of a turn of mind, I dare say it is more often our minds that will be changed as we seek God’s wisdom. We are invited, as we live in Christ, to come to share the mind of Christ. (“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 2:5), to allow our wills to be united with the will of God. Are there issues in your life in which you feel you and Jesus want different things? Have you brought that up in prayer? Are you willing to be shown God’s view on that matter? Can you tell God yours? No time like the present...
If we leave this story with nothing else, I hope it has given us a renewed awareness of how lively our relationship with God can be. It’s not a stiff, stale historical drama – it’s up-to-the-minute eyewitness news. So let’s keep our eyes open, and our minds as well, and bear witness to the healing love of God, which never comes too late.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
One of the words I learned in my first year of divinity school was “Immutable.” Traditional Christian theology asserts this as one characteristic of God. It means “unchangeable” or “cannot be acted upon.” How God could be deemed “immutable” is puzzling, as there are stories in both Old and New Testaments in which God seems to be swayed from an announced course of action by some human input. Abraham’s dickering with God over the fate of Sodom is a prime example.
In this week’s story about the Canaanite woman who implored Jesus to heal her daughter, Jesus seems to change his mind. Let’s review the conversation: She came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.”
The notion that Jesus – God – could change his mind is troublesome for those on the “predestination/ everything-is-preordained” end of the theological spectrum. For them, Jesus must have planned all along to accede to the woman’s pleas, and was somehow testing his followers or setting up a miracle. That scenario does not work for me. Not only does it clash with the story as both Matthew and Mark present it, it makes Jesus look manipulative and cruel in addition to rude and uncaring. That does not square with the way he is portrayed in most Gospel scenes.
I go for the plainer sense of the words as we have them – which show Jesus making a transition. While no one knows why he at first rebuffed this woman, after she likens herself to a dog eating crumbs under a table, he is moved by her humility and faith, and pronounces the healing of her daughter. Perhaps he recalled his own teaching that even a mustard seed of true faith Is sufficient to move mountains. Perhaps he was moved by her calling him “Son of David.” Perhaps he truly looked at her for the first time. We only know he arrived at a different place than he started from.
Why should this surprise us? Exercising free will is intrinsic to what it means to be a human being made in the image of God. That, according to our Genesis story, is what got us into trouble in the first place. But it is our also our will which allows us to accept God’s grace and forgiveness. If it is both human and divine to exercise free will, then we should rejoice that Jesus displayed this quality. It gives us yet another point for connecting with him, and enlivens our relationship with him as we interact with him through the Holy Spirit.
Though it is comforting to know that Jesus was capable of a turn of mind, I dare say it is more often our minds that will be changed as we seek God’s wisdom. We are invited, as we live in Christ, to come to share the mind of Christ. (“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 2:5), to allow our wills to be united with the will of God. Are there issues in your life in which you feel you and Jesus want different things? Have you brought that up in prayer? Are you willing to be shown God’s view on that matter? Can you tell God yours? No time like the present...
If we leave this story with nothing else, I hope it has given us a renewed awareness of how lively our relationship with God can be. It’s not a stiff, stale historical drama – it’s up-to-the-minute eyewitness news. So let’s keep our eyes open, and our minds as well, and bear witness to the healing love of God, which never comes too late.
© Kate Heichler, 2026. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)