The Organic Gospel AFFIRMS ITSELF!

Text:  Acts 9:36-43

Theme:  “The Organic Gospel Affirms Itself”(3^rd in A Series)

4^th Sunday of Easter/Good Shepherd Sunday

April 17, 2016

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

A location is given for where she lived:  Joppa, a coastal town on the eastern seaboard of the Mediterranean.  There is no word on whether or not they put her on the prayer chain, but they did call for the pastor.  Her illness, apparently, was both rapid and terminal.  The call to have clergy stop by came after she died, interestingly enough.  “Please come at once,” urged the messengers who spoke with the pastor/apostle Peter.

The first thing we’re told about her, besides her location, is that she is a disciple.  Let that sink in.  We get that information even before we learn her name.    There’s nothing about what church she belonged to.  Similarly, we don’t know whether she was against hydraulic fracking – or some ancient equivalent.  There’s no report on her wealth or lack thereof.  What wildflower did she like the most, Indian Paintbrush?  We are not told. 

There’s not much to go on really.  It’s difficult to plug her in to the proper demographic.  We’re really good at that these days – sticking people into various and sundry groupings before we even know their names.    I suppose it didn’t matter so much, back then, to do that.  Maybe all that mattered was that they were human beings. 

Her name certainly mattered.  Luke gives us both her Aramaic name (Tabitha) and her Greek name (Dorcas). 

Is there anything else we need to now?  Yes, actually.  It’s easy to overlook if you’re speed-reading.  It says, simply, that she, Dorcas, was “always doing good and helping the poor.”  “Ah, she’s a ‘good-two-shoes”, comes a thought from the gallery.  “Yep,” I say – and the world, being what it is, could use a few more of those.  It’s not people who TALK about how they’re doing good and TALK about how they’re so wonderfully helping the poor.  No, it’s about the people who are actually doing the deeds.

This little story of Tabitha (or Dorcas, if you prefer), tucked away into the larger narrative in the Book of Acts, has inspired poets.  This from Robert Herrick’s Dirge of Dorcas:

For Tabitha; who dead lies here,

Clean wash'd, and laid out for the bier.

O modest matrons, weep and wail!

For now the corn and wine must fail;

The basket and the bin of bread,

Wherewith so many souls were fed,

Stand empty here for ever;

And ah! the poor,

At thy worn door,

Shall be relieved nevermore.

Farewell the flax and reaming wool,

With which thy house was plentiful;

Farewell the coats, the garments, and

The sheets, the rugs, made by thy hand;

Farewell thy fire and thy light,

That ne'er went out by day or night:--

No, or thy zeal so speedy,

That found a way,

By peep of day,

To feed and clothe the needy.

And poet George MacDonald wrote this in his poem, Dorcas:

The King shall answer, Inasmuch

As to my brethren ye

Did it-even to the least of such-

Ye did it unto me.'

Home, home she went, and plied the loom,

And Jesus' poor arrayed.

She died-they wept about the room,

And showed the coats she made.

Thus far George MacDonald.  And it was the clergy/pastor/apostle Peter who saw the coats.  That was enough for him; he needed no further convincing. The proof was irrefutable:  the gospel had affirmed itself in the life of the Lord’s disciple, Tabitha.

To the shock, amazement, and, ultimately, the joy of all her disciple friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ was about to affirm itself again. 

Pastor Peter sends out the disciple-friends, the widows and witnesses to all the good Dorcas had done in her life.  He is alone in that room.  He kneels; it is the biblical posture of worship.  He prays.  Gazing, then, on the lifeless body in front of him, he says:  “Tabitha, get up.”  She opened her eyes and saw him.  She sits up.  He takes her by the hand and then presents her to her disciple-friends, the believers in Joppa.  Words gets out about this, and many more believed – that is to say, they became disciples of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.  Call it a ripple effect.  That’s what happens when the gospel affirms itself.  It calls forth it’s own response.

This morning, we rejoice that the gospel is at it again  -- this time in the life of Elijah Padia who is confirmed this day.  What confirmation celebrates is that the Lord’s mandate – make disciples by baptizing and teaching – has been done in the life of Elijah.  He has been baptized; he has availed Himself of instruction in the Lord’s Gospel.  Mindful of the Lord’s words – “He who confesses me before others, Him I will confess before my Father in heaven” – he affirms the faith this day. 

Of course the gospel that always affirms itself, has been at work in Elijah for quite some time.  I recall just one instance when this young believer, nurtured by his family with your support and prayers, came back from a mystery work trip to New Orleans.  He shared what he saw in the still blighted portions of that city.  He spoke of the good they were able to do and the help they were able to provide for the poor.  It sounds like Tabitha to me.  The gospel affirms itself; it works.  We’ve seen the evidence. Like the pastor/apostle Peter, we need no further evidence. 

Lord, let there be a ripple effect.

Amen.