To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Our Scripture for this week is Acts 9: 36-43:
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple
whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works
and acts of charity. 37 At that time she became ill and
died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38 Since
Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two
men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So
Peter got up and went with them, and when he arrived, they took him to the room
upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other
clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter
put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the
body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter,
she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up.
Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42 This
became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Meanwhile,
he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
Tabitha, known as Dorcas in the Greek, is a disciple of
Jesus and a woman devoted to good works and acts of charity. Sounds like a fitting tribute for a follower
of our Savior. She is a special
soul. Her work and presence were the
centerpiece of the support of the widows in Joppa. So that when she died, her loss was felt very
keenly by the whole community.
We know that
ministry to the widows is already a central role of the services the church
offered to the community. In Acts 6, the
church in Jerusalem creates the Board of Deacons to administer the daily distribution
of food. What it took seven men to do in
Jerusalem, it seems to take only one woman to do in Joppa. Sounds about right to me.
When we speak
of ‘fellowship’ in the church, as something to participate in as a disciple of
Christ Jesus here at FPC Merchantville, we often speak of it as a time of joy
and gathering in Christ Jesus.
Our focus on
that aspect of ‘fellowship’ is to recognize that it happens in all
circumstances of our lives. But our
story from Acts today tells the story of what is ‘usually’ meant by
‘fellowship’, about when people gather together. In other words, we gather in the face of
tragedy.
The widows have
gathered to support one another and (although this detail is not in the text)
support the family and friends of Tabitha.
They have come to celebrate her ministry in the community. There is the obvious question that arises
with the occasion. “We have lost
someone, now what?”
In this case,
“Now What?” is a miracle. Peter is close
by, he is summoned. There is not a sense
that the people of Joppa were expecting a miracle. Rather, they sought to share the fruits of
Tabitha’s ministry with Peter. The
writer of Acts, in raising up this moment, wants us to understand that the
miraculous, death-overcoming, power of the Holy Spirit was upon the Apostle
Peter as it was upon Jesus.
But we are
also, in this story, invited in to re-enact the centerpiece of our faith. As in the death of Tabitha, Jesus also
died. As in the person and work of
Tabitha, relief and support and working to make life better in a sinful world
is also the work of Jesus. As in the
resurrection of Tabitha, so too our Lord Jesus was resurrected for our sakes.
So we gather together. In fellowship with one another. As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Participating in the things of life God has
given us as we live into the transformation of ordinary life into abundant
living.
Pastor pete
