Mother’s Day was designated to honor mothers, but it’s often an occasion when we all have occasion to think about and thank God for various women in our lives as well as our mothers. It’s appropriate then that this Sunday’s epistle reading, Acts 9:36-43, focuses on a woman, a good, generous, socially active woman. She is the center and recipient of a miracle done by Peter which is reminiscent of one done by Jesus.
This text was clearly selected as one of the Easter season readings from the Book of Acts (in place of the usual Old Testament readings) because the miracle is that Tabitha/Dorcas was raised from the dead. Like the raising of Lazarus and of the little girl in Jesus’ corresponding miracle in Mark 4, this is not the final Resurrection from the dead for which we hope as Christians. Tabitha along with the others would still die again sometime. Yet even these temporary returns to life reflect the glory of Jesus’ own resurrection and His power over death and life.
For the sermon I’d like to ponder just a little the character of the woman who was raised there in Joppa on the coast of Palestine. Luke takes the time to tell us a bit about her and we should find the significance in the portrait he paints. The first thing we’re told is that she is a “disciple.” That is notable because of our tendency, even millennia later, to think of disciples as men. We focus so much on the male followers of Jesus that we forget that women received the same designations, not only “disciple,” but in at least one case at the end of Romans, also “apostle.” Egalitarian roles in the church are not a modern innovation but were there from the beginning.
The second thing we’re told about Tabitha is that she lived a cross-cultural life. She apparently was known both by her Jewish name in Aramaic, Tabitha, and by the Greek name Dorcas. They both mean the same, “gazelle.” As the story of Acts unfolds, one of the major themes is how the Gospel bridges Jewish and Greek culture, bringing together people who existed side-by-side in cities around the Mediterranean, but who spoke different languages and viewed the world in different ways.
Tabitha is also an example of the social concern and ministry which was part of the early church’s life. In verse 36, “She was devoted to good works and acts of charity,” the latter of which many translations elucidate as “helping the poor.” Reading on in the passage we realize that those who received her “good works” were likely the socially disadvantaged class of “widows,” who in verse 39 are putting on quite a display of mourning. The language suggests that they are not only showing Peter items of clothing made by their patroness but actually wearing what they are displaying to Peter to demonstrate Tabitha’s generosity and service to them.
There is no mention of any family for Tabitha, no husband, children, or any other relatives. Perhaps we can assume that she had none, but had made the women for whom she cared her family.
On Mother’s Day in our church we always invite those present to acknowledge not only mother and grandmothers, but those “who have been like a mother to you in some way.” It’s an opportunity to remember that our lives and the body of Christ are not complete without relationships in the Lord which go beyond blood ties. It’s a space to honor the important role in the church held by those who do not marry or bear children, both women and men. Those good people deserve perhaps a special honor for the love which they offer willingly from their hearts, apart from any natural familial obligation or connection.
That honor to those who live good and godly lives in households of one member among us is seen in the Lord’s guiding of Peter in the miracle given to Tabitha. With just one syllable difference, the apostle says just what the Lord said to the child in Mark 5:41, “Tabitha, get up.” She rose up restored to take up again her ministry of mercy. It was certainly a miracle to inspire belief, as verse 42 says, but it was also a blessing on the way this good woman lived her life. May you and I aspire to be such people even as we wait for our own call from the Lord to rise again at the last day.