"The Funeral That Almost Was"

The story before us in God’s Word today is a beautifully simple story. It’s the story of a woman named Tabitha who lived in the Israelite city of Joppa (Joppa was the seaport city that Jonah fled to when trying to get away from God when he called him to go to Nineveh). A Christian congregation appeared quite early there and one of the disciples there was a woman by the name of “Tabitha,” which is the Aramaic form of her name, meaning “gazelle.” The Greek equivalent Dorcas also means the same thing.

We don’t know a lot about Tabitha. We don’t know if she was married or widowed or single. What we do know about her is simply and beautifully stated in v.36, where it says Tabitha was “always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36). In v.39 we also see that Tabitha would sew clothes for other people, and she must’ve made quite an impression by that with others because when she died all those who had benefitted from Tabitha’s service were showing off her handiwork to Peter when he arrived at her funeral.

There are so many delightful things to notice in this text. One of them might be the simple fact that these friends of Tabitha think that by calling Peter he could actually make a difference even now, after she had died. Tabitha isn’t just sick, or even gravely ill. She is dead. What a testimony to the reality of Christ’s power and presence at work in this early Christian community, that they expected a miracle at this time.

But just as real as that obvious, outward miracle, is the hidden power of the risen Christ at work in the living faith of Tabitha. Let’s both miracles in mind as we read this story about “The Funeral That Almost Was!”

We’re told that (vv.37-40) “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.”

Peter kneels down in prayer because he knows that as a man, he can’t do anything for Tabitha on his own, but he knows who can. And so do the people who called for Jesus’ apostle to come. “Turning toward the dead woman, [Peter] 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.”

Coming out now to the others with Tabitha, Peter now has two announcements to make: 1.) “The funeral today will be very short.” And 2.) “Tabitha here would like some cookies.” With all those widows and the Ladies Aid, there were cookies. And that was the end of that! Call it ”The funeral that almost was!”

(vv.42) “This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.” Believers were encouraged in their faith by these events, and perhaps unbelievers there, too, that day were led to consider Jesus, and also believed.

Again, is such a beautifully simple story. But we don’t want to make the mistake of focussing only on the miracle of Peter raising Tabitha from the dead that overlook the simple beauty of Tabitha’s faith.

Again, all we have is this short, beautiful little string of words about her: “She was always doing good and helping the poor.” But Tabitha’s life preached a powerful sermon, too.

Sometimes you hear Lutherans say we shouldn’t eulogize the dead at funerals. We shouldn’t talk at all about their works because we don’t want that to take away at all from Christ’s work, because that’s far more important. And I get that.

But we can talk about both things at the same time and still give all the glory to Christ. Because we know why Tabitha did what she did. The reason she was always doing good and helping the poor was a power hidden deep in her faith, for the crucified and risen Christ was alive in her! Where else did her impulse to help others originate from?! It came from a heart of love for her Savior, Jesus, who loved her and gave himself up for her. In serving others Tabitha was really serving her Savior who served her in the highest way by sacrificing himself for her, taking away all the guilt of her sins. As a disciple of Jesus, she first received the good works and the mercy and charity of Christ. Her most desperate need for salvation had been fully met by God in Christ—that’s why she was always looking to meet the needs of others. Some do that in more visible ways because of their calling in life, but servants like Tabitha do them in their daily life, just to be nice and helpful to others. Tabitha knew she wasn’t holy on her own because of her good deeds. She knew Christ deserved all that glory!

So eulogizing the dead is one thing. But talking about the things Christ was actively doing through a person during their life, is just another opportunity to talk about Christ for us on the cross, and Christ in us by faith. Christ for us on the cross saves. Christ in us as we live a life of thanksgiving to him for our salvation is a wonderful miracle of the Holy Spirit at work in us through the Means of Grace.

So, we have this beautifully simple biography of Tabitha here in this text. Just this short string of words. “She was always doing good and helping the poor.“ That’s how the Holy Spirit sums up Tabitha’s life. It’s short, but sweet and says a lot. You actually get this a lot Scripture. There’s this brief synopsis of a believer’s life—just this short string of words that defines them. Take Simeon for an example. The Bible says he was, “Righteous and devout, waiting for the comfort of Israel.” (Luke 1:25) That’s what defined Simeon. Just a few words, but it says a lot about him. Think of Noah and how the Spirit summed him up by saying, “He was a righteous man, a man of integrity in that generation. Noah walked with God.” (Gen.6:9) Or Job. Job, we’re told was “blameless and upright, a man who feared God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1) And then there’s my favorite one—Enoch— “Enoch walked faithfully with God,” we’re told, “and then he was no more, because God took him away.” (Gen.5:24)

This was all the Spirit had to say about Tabitha: “She was always doing good and helping the poor.” (Acts 9:36) That’s all, but that’s a lot! Tabitha, for her part, could not preach and did not teach. She just helped those she could as best she could. And she didn’t look for a great reward. She just quietly went about her business using the talents and other gifts God gave her to show her love for her Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s why she was so willing to serve the people around her she knew could not pay her back. And when she died, those who mourned her were the evidence of her faithful, loving service.

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When she was raised by Peter from the dead, we have no record of her entering a convent. No doubt she continued as she had before, doing good and helping the poor.

It’s sad but on more than one occasion in my ministry, I remember people saying to me that they didn’t want a funeral, and the real for that was they were worried no one would show up, maybe because they were this horrible person half the time toward others.

Do you know anyone like Tabitha? Someone who was kind and focused on the needs of other during their life? Today is Mother’s Day, so maybe thoughts turn to a loving mother, or someone who was like a mother to you. A kind friend next door, or church member that was like a Tabitha, and not as a means toward an end, but just because they enjoy helping people, meeting needs, and doing good. It makes me think of the blessing and purpose spoken over you in the benediction we hear in the Service of Word and Sacrament: “Brothers and sister, go in peace. Live in harmony with one another, and serve the Lord with gladness.” (Ps.100:2)

If we’re not careful, we might skip right over it on the way to reading about the spectacular miracle of Peter in raising Tabitha from the dead. And I’m sure that if you met Tabitha and asked her to tell her story, it wouldn’t have taken her too long to jump to this part about her being raised from the dead, too! We’re told that Tabitha “became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” Which by the way, is incredible to me that Tabitha’s friends actually thought Peter could make a difference, even now, after she had died!

39 So Peter rose and went with them (and after he put everyone else outside), it says, “[Peter] 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. 41 And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

So it is a beautifully short story in Scripture, about a woman who is beautiful to God because of her beautiful Savior, Jesus, and it showed.

lived a beautiful life and then died, and everyone took time to admire her sewing and knitting work, and remember the beautiful things they remembered about her. The end.

We might want to jump right away to talking about the miracle Peter does in raising her from the dead, and we’ll get to that in a bit, but, just as remarkable as that obvious miracle by Peter, is the one before that in Tabitha’s life.

Before I get to her story, let me just mention something about the Book of Acts in general. Acts is a history of the early Christian church. It’s written by the evangelist Luke and is meant to continue and pick right up where Luke left off in his Gospel. It tells about the things that happened in the church and through the Church in the action and describes things these early Christians did, both good and bad, in the days and months and years after Christ‘s ascension to heaven. Since the apostles are Christ’s appointed leaders in the Church, this book is sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles, and so even though we see what Christians in general are up to in this book, the apostles is a little misleading. As a history While it does tell about things the apostles did—their

Again, her story is beautifully simple. What a brief and simple biography is presented of her here. She’s described

You know, at first glance we wouldn’t expect this story of Tabitha to be included in the Bible had Peter not raised her from the dead. We’ve seen some remarkable things so far. In Acts one you have the ascension of Jesus. In Acts 2 you have the incredible story of Pentecost, with the Holy Spirit descending in tongues of fire on the disciples heads. The power of the Holy Spirit enables them to speak the gospel in other languages so that many believe and are baptized. God enables them to perform miracles. They are rescued from prison multiple times by angels. Who can forget the miraculous story of Paul’s conversion at the beginning of this very chapter. So, like I said, all these remarkable things happening every where else in this Book might lead us to skate right over Tabitha’s simple story.

Evidence of her faith. Seamstress. Looks out for her neighbor. Things done for someone else, someone in need. Weeping and showing her work; they obviously love her and have benefitted from her merciful care. She is a disciple of Jesus which has received the good works, mercy and charity of Christ himself. The great need she had to be redeemed from sin and hell has been met fully by God in Christ. His great work of bleeding and dying for her fills her desperate need for salvation. We all have been recipients of God grace and mercy. He taken care of our greatest need and everything else in between. Like Tabitha, we are free to look beyond ourselves, trusting that God’s going to take care of us and reaching out to our neighbor in need. That’s what Tabitha did and that’s what she was known for. Some do that in more visible ways because of their calling, and yet she does them in her daily life, just to be kind and helpful. And of course, all the while, her works are possible through faith; Jesus‘ perfect life and innocent death on the cross has sanctified her works to make them presentable to God by faith in Christ. Apart from Christ, even the righteous things we do are stained by sin. So before we talk about Tabitha’s works, we talk about how God in Christ had mercy on her and did his good works for her to release her from her sins, and to release her to do good works in the joy of faith.

Good works as though they mean something before God or counts somehow for salvation. Luther was fond of saying, “God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does.” It does mean something that God has brought you into the world, baptized and washed you clean of sin and set you apart for good works that he plans out in advance for us to do. By the power of the Spirit they were able to be who they were able to be in life, and were a blessing to others.

These accounts in the Book of Acts demonstrate how Jesus is not ascended and gone out of the picture.

We’ll talk more about that miracle in just a minute but the Holy Spirit must want us to learn more from this story than God’s power over death. It was no accident he included the details of Tabitha’s service, for in Tabitha we have a Christian who exemplified Jesus’ words from our Gospel reading this morning: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

She’s dead.

Ask a doctor and he will tell you that the heart stops beating and the brain stops functioning. Ask an evolutionist and he will say that it’s just a natural part of life. The body dies and decays to feed other life forms—it isn’t scary they say, it just completes the circle of life. Some comfort! Ask the local college and they will put you in a class where the word death is repeated so many times that you finally get used to the idea.

Death was not a natural part of God’s plan for us. Death came because of the fall into sin. It is not something that he wanted for us and that’s why he sent his Son to suffer on the cross and to be raised again on Easter Sunday morning. So that when we die in this life we can say we fall asleep in Jesus because we will awake immediately to life eternal in heaven. There is no soul sleep after we die as we wait in casket in the ground for the resurrection. The soul of the believer goes immediately to be with God in heaven, and on the last day, our body will be raised from the ground and restored to a heavenly body that will then be reunited together with our soul in the new heavens and the new earth. All of this will happen because Jesus conquered over sin and death for us.

That said, in this life, with these bodies, we do die. And there is great grief and sorrow at the death of a loved one. And the church has a big part to play in the ability of the family trying to grieve the loss of a loved one, and in doing that, witnessing to the resurrection.