Sermon: A Disciple to Follow
Here again we see Easter message - the miraculous move from death to life – a reminder of the gospel truth that God, in Jesus Christ – has “transformed the world toward well being.” And today this transformation toward well being is evident in the person and work of a particular disciple whose name is Tabitha. Or is her name Dorcas? Well, actually, it is both. It’s confusing you know to have two names - something that happens at times to me when I go to the hospital and try to visit some of you - someone like Jimmy Fox, one of our members, or Jeannie Koerber or Carol Daugherty, our church’s financial and administrative secretaries - or “that multitude that no one can count” (or number)” out there, who have a familiar name which is not the same as your first name. All the hospitals know is Charles Fox and Doris Jean Koerber and Linda Carol Daugherty. I remember years ago my wife Judy mentioned this in a sermon, and a number of you came up to her afterwards and said, “If I’m ever in the hospital, as for so-and-so.” For those of you to whom this applies, you could remind me of this sometime – especially if you are admitted to the hospital. Tabitha – and Dorcas – for some reason Luke felt compelled to give us both of her familiar names – one in Hebrew, and another in Greek. She lived in Joppa – which is modern day Jaffa. Joppa, being port city on the Mediterranean Sea, had both Hebrew and Greek speaking people and cultures. So people who spoke different languages knew her and received her support. Perhaps this why Luke gives us both of her names, in two different languages. It seems that Tabitha did not discriminate in her care and support toward; Dorcas helped so many with her acts of charity. She offered support and clothing to both Jews and Greeks – to any who were in need. It is only here in Acts that we know anything about this woman – 7 verses, in chapter 9. Notice please that she is identified – directly - as a disciple – the only woman in all of the Bible to be so identified. Luke does tell us - back in his gospel account - that there was a group of women who followed Jesus, with “the twelve” – with the 12 disciples. These women - “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, and many others” – they provided for Jesus and the 12 - out of their own resources. But here in Acts, Luke actually identifies Tabitha as a disciple – right in the first sentence: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.” Luke identifies her as a disciple – just like he earlier identifies the 12 disciples in his gospel account - Peter and James and John and all the rest. Unlike some, even in our day, Luke does not discriminate either – both women, and men, were true disciples of Jesus, and as such both women and men can and certainly are “called to all ministries of the church.” Tabitha is - I would suggest, a disciple for us to follow – a model for us to follow today. Right here in Luke’s introductory sentence we see something of why this is so. As a disciple, Luke tells us, “She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” Later Luke tells us that she made tunics and other garments for the widows – both Greek and Jewish widows – the most vulnerable group of poor people of the time. Good works, and acts of charity. Practical, genuine, real acts of giving to those in need – here is the model Tabitha offers us. Apparently she was so generous and giving that when she took ill, and died, the community was devastated. Who would help the many widows of that city, the ones she had cared for? How would they survive now with her gone? When she died, we are told they washed her – and placed her “in a room upstairs” – “in an upper room” – familiar words in the gospels and here in Acts. In the Bible wondrous and amazing things happen in upper rooms. Some of other disciples there in Joppa knew that Peter himself – one of the original 12 - was at the time in a neighboring city, in Lydda. So they sent a delegation over to meet Peter, and they urged him to come without delay to Joppa – which he did. When he got to Joppa, they took him to that room upstairs – where Tabitha was laid out. Here the story takes on the familiar narrative of Jesus when he healed the daughter of Jairus - a story that was clearly known to the early church, a story recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. And here Peter, now following the pattern of Jesus, is himself proclaiming the Easter message of God, in Christ, transforming the world toward well being. Just as he saw Jesus do only a year or so back, Peter sends everyone out of the room – and kneels down and prays. He takes the woman’s hand, and said, “Tabitha, get up.” “Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.” During her life – and now in her restored life - this disciple Tabitha could now continue to make real and practical this message of Easter – how God is transforming the world toward well being. She could continue her life of good works and acts of charity. And Peter, in this miracle in the upper room, in this unexplainable happening which is beyond our understanding - Peter is revealing the power of this gospel truth – how God is indeed transforming the world toward well being. Peter is making this gospel truth real in the life of this particular disciple, and for the life of this community in Joppa. For the widows, and for the larger community as well - because word of all this spread, and “many came to believe in the Lord” – many, like Tabitha, became disciples of Jesus Christ. A few months ago now there was a family who stopped by our church, mid afternoon, on a Sunday. There was a gathering of folks here, meeting in the Fireside room - it was a Bread for the World training meeting about the Offering of Letters – which is still going on by the way, you can pick up information in the Lobby. One of the folks at that meeting, an elder of this church, a woman disciple like Tabitha, she met with the family and learned they were from South Dakota. They were here in Louisville for a family funeral, but then they had some car trouble, which meant a costly repair bill, and two more nights here in Louisville. One night they stayed in a hotel, but that was pretty expensive. The next day, late in the day they paid for the car, but that took most of the rest of their money. That night they tried to find lodging at Wayside Mission – but they were told that to stay there the mom and dad would have to be separated and stay in different places, and they and the two small children were not comfortable with that. So they spent that second night in their now repaired car. They did not have any credit card. When they drove by and saw cars in the parking lot, they came her to Beulah. They were very embarrassed about all of this, but they were hoping the church could help them with gas to get back South Dakota. What they really needed was enough for six tanks full of gas – enough to get them back home. I got the phone call about this on my cell phone – Judy and I were actually out doing some shopping. I told the person who called where I keep some money in my study for just such things – but that I didn’t have enough for all of that gas. The woman thanked me, and said she would work this out – she believed this request was genuine and she really wanted to help this family. By now others at this training session were aware something was up. By now too the two little children were running around - up the hall way and into the gym – and the parents asked if this was OK, since they’d been cooped up in the car all night and now most of the day. Of course, that was all right. So the meeting was stopped, the situation was explained – the hat was passed – and with genuine and overflowing gratitude on the part of this family, they were sent on their way with over $200 – with hopes that this would be enough gas money to get them home. And the money I had in my study for such purposes was never touched. What a Tabitha-like example for us to follow. What a Dorcas like modeling of the Easter message – of God, working through Christ – who by the Holy Spirit is still at work in you and in me - and clearly in this group of Bread for the World disciples - working to transform the world into well being in very real and practical ways – in this case, to help a family find their way home. It is yet another sign of this Easter power at work in our world. In these days of Easter, and in all of our day, let us follow the example of Tabitha – and like her – continue to do our part in transforming the world into well being – the well being God has in mind for us all. And all God’s people said. Amen. (Ordination, Installation) |