An Astonishing Imitation (May 8, 2022) Acts 9.(32-35) 36-43

The Acts of the Apostles is full of stories of the apostles of Jesus (those who had seen Jesus face to face) doing great deeds of power to show the world that Jesus was the Son of God and that he was alive and in glory. But there are two characters in the book who stand out among the rest. Those two are Peter and Saul, later known as Paul.

These two became leaders of the Church; one in Jerusalem and the surrounding environs and the other in the Gentile world that was the Roman Empire. And both played a large and important role in what they said and did. Peter led the Church through the days after the ascension of Jesus and through the first heady days after Pentecost. He will continue to be a leader in the Jerusalem church bringing Jews and later some Gentiles to Christ.

Saul/Paul is, of course, very well known for his work among the Gentiles and for his letters to those churches. He takes center stage about halfway through the book and goes from there.

But today we are talking about Peter. Peter who is traveling the area of Judea bringing the word of the Way to those who will listen and to those who believe. He is traveling to the city of Lydda when we meet him after the story of Saul and his amazing visit by the Lord. It would appear that with Saul not persecuting the Church, it is growing by leaps and bounds. We are told in a passage before our text for today: “Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.[1]”

And it is with this in mind that Peter is traveling to Lydda. There he meets with a man named Aeneas. This might have been something that Peter was traveling to do, or he might have met this man in talking with other followers of the Way. However he met him; he discovers that Aeneas is paralyzed. In fact, he was confined to his bed for eight years, a long time. We do not know if Aeneas was a beggar or if he was taken care of by those around him; we are never told. What we are told is that he is sick and when one is sick that is no small matter. We are also told what Peter did. He told him that “Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed!”[2] In the Greek this has the meaning of “Jesus Christ heals you right now!” There is no time frame or waiting period. It is immediate. And he is to get up and make his bed which he does immediately.

This is an imitation of what Jesus did with the man at the pool of Bethsaida in John 5. There the man told Jesus that he could not be healed because he could not get into the pool quickly enough. Jesus told him to get up, take his mat and walk. Peter, in imitation of Jesus, does the same thing. But notice that Peter does not claim that he is the one who is healing the man. It is Jesus who is doing this work and only Jesus. Peter is the one through whom the work is done, but someone else is doing the healing. This is important because there were many healers in those days. Something like this would have enhanced Peter’s reputation and given him great prestige.

Because of what Peter has done through Jesus, there were many conversions to the Lord. This would have been the purpose of Peter going to the Lydda. He does not go there of his own accord but because God is leading him where God wants to go.

Now as Peter is in Lydda the scene changes to a city about ten miles away named Joppa, the same place from where Jonah tried to flee from his mission so long ago. It is here that we are told that there is a disciple named Tabitha or Dorcas. We are given both here Aramaic and Greek names though that is not an important part of the story. One very important part of the story is that she is named as a disciple. In the Greek this is the feminine form of the word and this occurs only this time in the entire Second Testament. She is a disciple, one who is following the teacher. It is important that she is a disciple because of the work that she is doing. She is “devoted to good works and acts of charity.”[3] She is a helper of those who are one of the most neglected members of society in the ancient world, the widows. If widows did not have family to care for them, then the only thing that they could do was turn to begging. And here is a woman doing good works among those who are some of the most downtrodden in the society.

But somewhere along the way she becomes ill and dies. We don’t know what happens, we are just told that she dies. And so, those who know her have washed her and laid her in an upstairs room. It is important to know that they have not rub anointing salts on her to prepare her for burial. This is because of what happens next.

Somehow those in Joppa knew that Peter was in Lydda. So, they sent a couple of men to find him and to ask him to come and to come quickly. Perhaps they told him what had happened and that they wanted him there to see if he could and would do something. So, Peter goes and in so going he shows something very important: women matter. In a society where women were not taken seriously it would have been easy for Peter to say, “Ah, it’s only a woman. No big loss.” But Peter does not. And in doing so he shows that women matter to God and to him as well.

Peter comes and finds the group of widows in mourning. They take him upstairs where the body is located. They show him the tunics and other clothing that Tabitha had made for them. Perhaps they were wearing those garments and were showing Peter just how much Tabitha had cared for them. And they showed Peter just how much they loved her with their weeping. This was not the weeping of professional mourners, but the honest weeping of women who have lost a friend and a helper. Willie James Jennings says this about what was happening: “Here glory joins strong grief because to lose someone who cares for the weak and vulnerable, whose life is turned toward making a difference in the world and who is making a difference, is a bitter loss. The widows have lost Tabitha and a disciple is gone.”[4]And it is here that Peter steps in.

He tells those gathered to leave the room. Now whether he thought about it or not, Peter had been in similar situation before with Jesus. Jesus was asked to come and heal a ruler’s daughter and he went. When they found that the daughter was dead, Jesus had all those who were mourning leave the room. There were only the disciples and the parents. Perhaps Peter thought about this when he made everyone leave the room, perhaps not.

Peter then kneels down and prays. I am sure it was a fervent prayer, a request for God to do something to reverse what had just happened. A prayer for God to bring back this disciple.

Then Peter turns to the dead body and states “Tabitha, get up.” The word that he uses actually means rise. It is the word used when describing the what had happened when Jesus was raised. In other words, Peter had no doubt about what was going to happen. He had seen it happen before with Jesus and he knew that God was capable and willing to raise this disciple up from death.

The Spirit moves and Tabitha opens her eyes and sees Peter. Then she sits up, maybe wondering what just happened to her. Why is Peter here with a big smile on his face? What is going on?

Peter the gentlemen, helps her to her feet and presents her to those who were mourning. How astounded they must have all been. How the tears of mourning must have turned to tears of joy. How the praises to God were raised. And how the story of what had just happened flew from this house to all those in the area. The text tells us that it became known throughout Joppa (cities were not quite the huge metropolises that we have today) and that many became believers because of this. Notice that they became believers not because of what they had seen but because of what they heard from those who were trustworthy to tell the story.

The story ends with Peter staying with a tanner named Simon. This is important because tanners were considered unclean by the Jews. Peter is not afraid to stay in a place with someone considered unclean and who might have a bad reputation. But it is also where he is staying when God visits him with a vision to not call those who are Gentiles unclean and where he is called to visit a man named Cornelius. But that is for another time.

They say that imitation is the ultimate form of flattery. It is told that artists will study the masters and then work to imitate their works. When they have mastered what those who have gone before them have done, then they can begin to work on their own pieces of art.

Or think about comedians whose repertoire is impersonations. They study the people that they are trying to be and they work hard at making sure they are spot on. In so doing they imitate those who they wish to be a part of their act.

Peter was imitating Jesus. He knew that he could not be Jesus but he imitated him in these two stories. He had seen Jesus heal the man at the pool and he had seen Jesus raise the daughter of the ruler. In his own healing and raising of the dead, Peter imitated the one who had done it before. He also knew where his power came from and that it was not from himself. He called upon Jesus to heal Aeneas and he prayed that Tabitha would be raised from the dead. He knew that he was only imitating and that the ultimate person who could and would do the work was Jesus the Son of God.

We are called to be imitators of God. We are called to be ones who do the work of God in the world and who do the good works and acts of charity like Tabitha. Paul tells us in Ephesians: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us…”[5] We are called to imitate the one who first loved us and who gave his life for us.

As imitators of God, we are to be ones who stand up for the oppressed, for the widows and orphans, for those who do not have a voice, for those who are sick and those who are poor. We are to be imitators of Peter and Tabitha, ones who never doubted that Jesus would heal and that the dead would be brought back to life. And the good news is that we can do this. We have one in Jesus who will go with us and who assures us that we are not alone. That we can be imitators of God and that our trust is founded on a firm foundation. So let us go and be imitators because in doing so there will be those who see and hear us and maybe because of us they will believe as we do. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [3] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [4]Jennings, Willie James. Acts. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. First edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. [5] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.