A Tale of Two Healing
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
A feature of Luke’s writing is that he would use characters in comparison and contrast to each other. We see that in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke in the example of Zechariah and Mary. In Acts, we can also see that in how he portrayed Peter and Paul. Many times, the pairing features a male and female counterpart, like Zechariah and Mary, or Simeon and Anna. Being a companion of Paul who preached that there is no longer men or women in Christ, Luke’s writing has a lot of equality. Both men and women are equally important in God’s redemptive plan. So, when we read Luke’s writings, we should always be on the lookout for such character pairs and seek to understand what did Luke intended to communicate through such comparison and contrast.
In today’s passage, there is also a pair of characters. A helpless paralyzed man and a capable female disciple who was a model of good works to the poor. If they were in the same city, Aeneas would most likely have benefited from Tabitha’s ministry. What was Luke’s intention in highlighting these two stories?
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
At the end of last week’s passage, it says that the church throughout the region had peace after the conversion of Saul. This seem indicate that the persecution against Christians cooled down after the chief persecutor was gone. The verse goes on to say that the church multiplied as it walked in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Nice statement, but what did that look like? What did Luke mean by that?
Today’s passage followed Peter as he made a ministry trip among these churches.
There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed.
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
It is unclear whether Aeneas was a believer or not. The way that he was presented here gives the impression that he was most likely not. He was paralyzed for 8 years. Since this incident seems to have happened quite early in the early church movement, he could have been paralyzed for the whole of the time of Jesus movement, perhaps even when Jesus was on earth doing His ministry. Aeneas was a helpless man who couldn’t do anything to help anyone. He couldn’t even go to look for Jesus or the apostles for help.
On the other hand, Tabitha was a female disciple who excelled in good deeds and serving the poor. The word “disciple” in this verse was only used once in the NT in the feminine form and it is in this verse. Tabitha was being highlighted by Luke to be a model female disciple. She used her abilities to served the poor and needy. Many widows seemed to have benefited from her service. Tabitha was a model of a life lived in the fear of the Lord. She was well loved in the community. So, when she died, people in the community came running to Peter for help.
While both of them had a different background, both came to a point in their lives that they needed help.
And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose.
But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.
While Peter was the person who gave the commands that led to the healing in both cases, he could not do anything by himself. In the first healing, he specified that it was Jesus who was healing the man. In the second healing, Peter knelt and prayed first. Perhaps he was taking time to talk to the Holy Spirit to know whether He wants to raise the dead. This was the first time any of the apostles tried to raise the dead after all, so it is not hard to imagine that Peter needed a moment to tune in and make sure that the Holy Spirit wanted to do this. In each case, Peter was dependent on the Holy Spirit to work.
And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
The end result of both healing is similar, many people came to faith. Miraculous healing were signs that testified to the truth of the gospel message. The powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit testified to the reality of the gospel message and caused the churches to multiply as we read earlier in 9:31.
It was amazing that the Holy Spirit healed the man who was paralyzed for eight years. It was even more amazing that He would raise the dead through a fallible human being. This shows the humility of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is humble. Do not take glory for His work.
The Holy Spirit is humble. Do not take glory for His work.
So far we have looked that the similarities between these two healing stories. But what is different?
So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them.
And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
The story of Aeneas does not have any other details. It was a straight forward story of healing by the power of the Holy Spirit. Honestly, it adds nothing to overall narrative of Acts if it were on its own. It was already established by this point in the narrative that the Holy Spirit was working powerfully through the apostles. However, the presence of this short story helped to highlight the second story by contrast. The story of Tabitha was the first time we saw resurrection. But more than that, the contrast between these stories lies in the details of this second story.
The word “widows” was repeated in these two verses. The widows benefited from the service of Tabitha. They were well loved by her through her service. They were weeping. This shows that Tabitha not only ministered to them. She had a relationship with them. Just imagine the joy and delight when they see her alive when Peter opened the door! The Holy Spirit comforted them by raising Tabitha from the dead. That was the comfort of the Holy Spirit for them.
The Holy Spirit cares for our pain and loss
The Holy Spirit cares for our pain and loss
Of course, the Holy Spirit did not comfort everyone by raising their loved ones from the dead. That would have been clear to the original reader of Acts. But this case of raising the dead to bring comfort illustrated that the Holy Spirit do care about the pain of our loss, just as how Jesus also raised widow’s son in compassion in Luke 7. Jesus and the Holy Spirit both did not raise all the dead. But these stories show that they have the power to raise the dead and that they do care. Many of us had lost loved ones. We can become frustrated when God did not answer our prayers for their healing when they were sick. The temptation is to feel that God do not care. But He does care. He knows what is the best and it is better for them to be with Him than to remain here. When we face lost, we should hope in God and pray. He may do a supernatural thing and reverse our lost like in this story, or He may do something else. But we can trust in His caring heart and that He will know the best way to comfort us. Look to Him.