Acts 9:36-43
This story displays the miraculous power of a disciple to raise someone from the dead. Tabitha, also called a disciple, was someone evidently important enough in this motley crew of early followers of Jesus that Peter goes immediately when he hears news she is near death.
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. 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.
The book of acts speaks of signs and wonders that let the early Christians know that the risen Christ was among them. This is one of those signs. A woman who had died being suddenly awakened by the words of another disciple who says to her, simply, "Get up."
Tabitha, also called Dorcas, was, the scripture says, devoted to good works and charity, and also a maker of cloth. She was a needed member of the early Christian community because she was evidently a community organizer. She made cloth and sold it for proceeds, she did good works, she helped those in need... she is one of those people in your church who does everything and keeps everything going.
No wonder they didn't want her to really be dead. No wonder Peter resurrects her. Only that isn't what this is about. It isn't about someone's ability to make themselves so needed we can't do without them. It is about someone living fully into the Christian Jesus called her to be and others realizing the importance of her witness. It is about taking the loss that was Jesus' physical presence and breaking away from that loss, transforming it into a new and resurrected way of seeing the world.
You see, Tabitha could have failed to see what was so important about Jesus once he was no longer with them. But, instead, she propelled his power forward into a new day. She did works and devoted herself to charity. She gave her full self to the Way of Christ. She realized that resurrection involves action.
Tabitha had plenty of signs and wonders all her own. She made her life a life to be emulated. She created a presence so strong and vital that those around her needed it to continue. We know people like that. Saints, we often call them. Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others who devote their full selves to the Way of Christ, the way of righteousness and justice and peace and love. Maybe you have your own personal example of such a saint. I know I have a few. Good for them. But if we really want to honor those persons who have propelled us forward in faith, we don't look back at the good they did, rather, we propel ourselves forward into following the path they blazed before us.
We break out of the loss their physical presence leaves in our lives. We resurrect the Way for ourselves, creating all the good we can, whenever we can.
Who do you consider a saint? Who do you wish you were more like? What would it take for you to become a TRUE follower of the Way of Christ?
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My mom's aneurysm provided her fewer and fewer "good days" each year, and yet I always saw her willing to help whenever she learned of need. Whether it was a covered dish for someone dealing with grief or leading Sunday School or volunteering as the nurse for Girl Scouts she always gave of herself. At the time I didn't understand, I thought what difference did it make if she made a meal? One item present or missing couldn't make that big of a difference right? Now that I'm older, I've started looking at life as a big puzzle and each piece is needed to complete the picture. So I try to emulate what she taught by example and I know that my little donation, whether it's money or canned food or picking up a few pieces of litter helps to create the whole picture of life.
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