I wonder if there's a linguistic connection between the name "Tabitha" used here, "Tabitha, get up" and the word "Talitha" used in Mark, "Talitha, cum" ("Little girl, get up").
The similarity between "Tabitha" and "Talitha" seems just too convenient.
Just musing...
Eric in KS
More from me...
I just did a quick look in Strong's and discovered that "Talitha" is from a Hebrew root meaning "lamb" and that "Tabitha" is from a Hebrew root meaning "gazelle"...
Still musing...
Eric in KS
One more item....
According to dictionary.com, "gazelle" derives from an Arabic word "ghaz?l" meaning "a wild goat" ... this gets even closer to "Talitha" and "lamb"...
I don't know what this may lead to, but I keep musing...
Eric in KS
Tabitha/Dorcas: a woman disciple? but women were not highly regarded in the public sphere; they weren't even considered credible witnesses in court. Simon: a tanner? Tanners worked with animal carcasses, which were ritually unclean. And Peter stayed with him! What kind of a church were they trying to build? Where are the bank presidents, the doctors, the high-class, respectable citizens? Where are those who can come to church dressed "decently," in suit-and-tie? Those who are dismissed from the world's tables are always welcome at the Lord's Table... (Gee, Eric, looks like we're building a church of wild goats!) Danny in CA
Peter never raised anyone from the dead. God did that. Peter just prayed. I once attended a Bible study in a person's home. After the study, two of the Charismatic Catholics there planned to "try a faith healing" on a woman there who was in a wheelchair. They laid their hands upon her, spoke in tongues and had her try to stand up. They then said that the healing had worked, and that it would take awhile. Sad story. If their focus had been on God's power, instead of their own, I wonder if it might have worked? Peter never made himself out to be a god -- he humbled himself before the people in Joppa, and conducted himself in such a way that whatever happened after he prayed for Dorcas/Tabitha, made the people believe in the Lord, not in Peter. He certainly learned to take Jesus' example seriously and to "Tend his sheep." I also find it wonderful and awesome that this occurred in a sea port -- how quickly the Good News must have been able to spread from a seaport!
Just my thoughts. JK in ND
Danny in CA said "(Gee, Eric, looks like we're building a church of wild goats!)"
First -- how I wish I was in CA!!!! I miss the Golden Bear State (where I grew up) a lot sometimes!
Second -- there are times I think that a church full of wild goats is exactly what I have!
Third -- I'm still musing....
Blessings, Eric in KS
ministry with the least, last and lost... healings/raisings from the dead... sounds a lot like the ministry of Jesus. A ministry that did not stop with his ascension, but still goes on in His Name by others.
That is the direction I am looking right now... that healings and ministries continue past the "glory years" and that we are invited to take part in them (and receive them where needed)
jjinchassc
I think the most obvious thing here is that Jesus said that we would do even greater things in his name..........this is an affirmation of that promise. I agree that it is God's power and not Peter's........however, Peter was obedient. Did the praying and left it in God's hands.
Thanks to Danny for his insights about what kind of people the church welcomes. I like the idea of wild goats in church........I am thinking that Jesus called us sheep. Sheep are not the brightest creatures on the planet...get lost easily and keep wandering away.
JK in ND:
A church member once wanted to lead a Bible study in one of my churches. She used that venue to make anti-denominational (in this case, UM) comments and to make huge claims about having raised (already-embalmbed) people from their caskets. However, this same church has some literal walking miracles in it. If I decide on this text, I'll have to tread lightly.
The difficulty in separating sheep from goats (in this case, faith from snake oil) might ring more true than we'd guess.
revo
I appreciated the observation that it was the Lord, and not Peter, that people believed in as a result of this miracle. So often people in ministry want to accomplish "miraculous" things and win the praise of their people. Really, we should be looking to the example of Peter, who humbly prayed--and also to the example of Dorcas, who was devoted to good works and acts of charity.
Just a few musings as the week begins... RevLJD in NY
I (Mehrke in SD) shared the first four comments with the midrash bullitine board group and got this response: Eric in KS Re your musings over Talitha and Tabitha. A couple in our congregation have just named their baby Talitha ... Geoff Anderson UK
I am just beginning to look at this passage and can see pitfalls
1. Dorcas was healed because she was a good worker 2. If God heals - why not my sister, son, etc.
The Bible tells us right from the beginning that the disciples healed (Mark 6:13) And I believe that the disciples are still used by God in healing - maybe not dramatic - but just as real. I think I am going to preach about the power of Jesus and the power of the disciples of the early church and our need to claim it today The point to this was not Peter - but believing in the Lord - (v. 42) It is tricky business - to remove our egos when we are used by God and to faithfully put ourselves out there in claiming the healing power in the face of the suffering of those who are not healed in tangible ways - Margot
Thank you Margot about your comment about removing our egos when it comes to healing or any other act of ministry. On Sunday night I held a healing service -- it was the first time I've ever been asked to do one. How interesting that the lectionary reading for this week is about healing -- or rather raising from the dead.
The request for a healing service came a few weeks ago and I needed to pray and think about it first. Was God really going to use me as a vessel for his healing power? Did I really believe that God could remove the cancer from this man's body?
I came to realize that healing is possible, and I know that prayer does make a difference. If God does not remove the cancer, it is still possible for God to bring wholeness and healing to this man's spiritual self.
Did Peter go through all this self-analysis when he was asked to go to Dorcas' home. Was he as uncertain as I was (am)?
What do you believe about healing? Have any of you ever been part of a healign service and have your prayers been answered?
Searching for answers A minister in Canada
About healing I have not been involved in healing services - but as a pastor I trust when I pray and touch a parishioner that it makes a difference. I always pray for healing in "every way possible" And I have had people tell me afterwards that "it helped." I believe that God is always using us for healing. And some people have a spiritual gift for healing which makes their healing ministry more effective, perhaps. I find the whole thing intriguing and I think that our churches (mine!and me!) are not living up our potential for allowing God to use us as his disciples. I go into all of this with trepidation and humility and excitement Margot
To: A minister in Canada
I am a new Lay pastor. Only in service to my circuit since early December. Until Sunday I never had a response from the people beyond a kind word.
On the way to prepare for the service early Sunday, I was moved to offer an anointing to any that desired, primarily for healing. I had 8 people come forward for anointing and prayer.
Never have really seen a service for healing suddenly I was asking people with needs to come forward.
Some in the pews were in shock, heck I was in shock. The people needed something to give them more hope. God made something happen.
One 88 year old lady told me today that she regained full hearing in 1 ear. She had feared surgery because of problems she is having. She was singing all day. She flushed her toilet just to hear the sound.
Some how it seems that this specialized service is an awakening of the spirit in thoes with needs. A focus of the Body of Christ for the common good and a common hope.
oops.. Pastor Tom, Ga
Eric, you're one a-musing guy! I've been doing a little musing myself. Here's a couple of things I noted on first reading. Anything here of merit beyond curiosity?
For Margot- I, too, noted that when Peter came the widows cried and showed her handiwork. It seems to me an attempt to justify her healing/raising. "See how she was loved, is missed, was useful?" But then Peter puts them all out, as if to say that doesn't matter, you don't have to earn/deserve God's favor. Reminds me of the episode where a gentile asks Jesus to come and heal someone. As they go along the pharisees are recommending the man to Jesus. "He's done good things for the jews of this city, yes, you ought to help him." they say, not noticing that Jesus is already on the way to help. All that was needed was the trusting request.
Another thing I noted and "mused" over was this- 9:40,"he turned to the body", not to the woman, the girl, or the wild goat for that matter, but to the "body". That's about as im-personal a way to say "the empty vacant form" as I can think of. She(it) was dead, but peter called "her" back to it, and she came. Any theological background or insight here? I just thought it was a kind of pointed and odd phrasing. Anyway....
Here's one more little sentence that may have preaching possibilty, verse 41,"He gave her a hand and helped her up." Do we ever fall short, getting folks saved then not taking their hand and helping them to walk in this new "way"? Maybe the answer is in the end of the verse-"Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive" Incorporation in a church fellowship is so important to keeping new converts "alive". Still mussing(not a typo), tom in TN(USA)
I remember I was once asked to do a funeral for a woman who died at a youngish age (65). I didn't know the woman, I just happened to be the onley minister in town during the month of July. When I visited with the family they told me that their mom was a seamstress, and that she donated a lot of her handiworks to a project working with the homeless in Toronto (500 kilometres away -- she paid for hte postage) Just like Peter, I was shown the clothes she had recently made.
Of course, these people were not expecting God to use me to raise her from the dead. Why are we assuming that Peter arrived with this in mind? He could have gone to Lydda simply to make a pastoral call.
I'd like to explore how Peter came to feel she could be raised from the dead. Did he recall the time that Jesus raised Jairus' daughter? Did he remember how Jesus too, sent everybody out, except for Peter (!) James, and John? Did he receive a sudden insight from God that Dorcas could be raised? Or was he just wondering how far he could go if faith could move mountains?
I too, am musing in Canada
The very first time I annointed someone they got worse. Scared me half to death. It took a lot more faith on my part to do it again. But it seems like no matter where I go if there is a healing service I get asked to do the annointing. But lets remember that healing comes in many ways. One service I annointed a fellow pastor who had just gone through a divorce. The next pastor had just found out he had postrate cancer. The next pastor had just lost a son and was hurting. all three of these needed healing. The same power that was in Jesus and in Peter was also promised to us. I often here if I only had more of the holy Spirit. The ireal issue is the Holy Spirit getting more of me. Harold in Alabama
Many mainline denominations are rediscovering the power of healing services. My denomination, United Methodist, included a healing service in the most recent edition of our Book of Worship. Healing services can be very powerful and meaningful. There is always the danger of misunderstanding and people who are full of misguided expectations. I believe that God always brings healing. It isn't always given to us in the way that we expect. I read a book on prayer a good number of years ago entitled "You Can Pray as You Ought" I can't recall the author's name at the moment. He talks about healing, and his take on healing has stuck with me ever since. I try to teach it to every congregation I serve, especially when we undertake services of healing and anointings. God sends us healing in 5 different ways: 1. Through our natural bodily porcesses; 2. Through the wisdom & skill of medical professionals; 3. Through what we know as "miraculous" healings; 4. Through acceptance ("My grace is sufficient. . .") 5. Through death Our society denies the reality of the last healing, but it's the ultimate healing, if we are true to our belief in the Resurrection power of Christ! And, if you accept that death is the ultimate healing, that raises new questions & issues about the raising of Dorcas. Why DOES God choose to resuscitate her? To demonstrate God's Resurrection power? To confirm Peter's authority as the first of the apostles? Was her death premature, even in God's plan? Is she raised because she has more work to do here? Was it the grief of those whom Dorcas had helped that moved God, and Peter in God's will, to raise her? Hmmm, more musings! Ken in WV
Hello everyone! I know many of you from your writings. Today I'm going to let you know me a little bit. Last year people were upset that on Mother's Day I didn't spend the whole sermon talking about mother's- this year we'll honour them a week earlier than the world does. This Sunday I am going to talk about faithful women who have helped me, healed me, taught me, fed me, through their faithful service to Christ. We're going to honour the work of God through the women in our lives, women disciples like Dorcas. I may just use a suitcase full of articles made by women for me and share, for each item, how God used faithful followers to speak intimately to my heart and help me on my faith journey.
P.K.Mc in Canada
Ken in WV -- thanks for the 5 types of healing. I'm going to use that.
Just wanted to clear something up in case some of you misunderstood my comments about the attempted faith healing -- I VERY FIRMLY believe in healing services, prayers, etc. I also know first hand that God can and does still perform healing miracles. My point was that PETER did not raise Dorcas -- Peter prayed, God heard Peter's prayer and Dorcas was resurrected. I don't even think Peter himself thought he could raise anyone from death, but I have read a commentary that hinted that the friends of Dorcas must have expected her to be raised because after washing her body, they did no bury her immediately as was the custom of that day. The scripture reading says that Peter turned back to the body, which means that as he prayed, he was turned away -- was he repulsed? afraid? sad? intense? When Peter offers her his hand and helps her up, it is just like Jesus taking Peter's mother-in-law's hand after he healed her. So much of what Peter said and did seems to point to his accepting Jesus' request that he "tend his sheep." Just more rambling....
JK in ND
JK in ND, Thanx for the insight. It backs up another made earlier, that this disciple's name was Tabitha (Dorcas in the Greek, it is explained, but Peter, calling her, said "Tabitha,") and this is similar to Jesus' word to Jairus' daughter, "Talitha,cum."
There is a joke(for want of a better word) about a young pastor called to the hospital bedside of an aging, now dying, matriarch. She asks for prayer. Not knowing her spiritual condition, he asks,"What would you like me to pray for?" "Why, for healing, of course!", she retorts. He squeaks out a half hearted prayer full of loopholes,'never the less, thy will be done' sort of goo, finishing with "..in Jesus name, amen." She sits bolt upright, throws off her covers, jumps up and runs down the hall shouting,"I'm healed! He's done it! I'm healed!" The pastor shakily returns to his car, leans his head on the steering wheel 'til he can get his breath, then shouts to the heavens,"Don't You ever do that to me again!" I imagine a similar reaction, myself.
I wonder if Peter didn't, on being coerced to come hurredly to the bedside of dead Dorcas, go dragging his heels, muttering,"What do thet expect of me?" Shooing everyone out he begins to pray. "Lord, what now?" These above similarities to Jesus' words and actions make me think that the Holy Spirit led peter to be the first to ask "What Would Jesus Do?"(WWJD). As he thought of Jesus in such bedside situations, the Lord's words come back,"Talitha? Hmmm,...(turning back)... Tabitha! Cum!" As she sits up, Peter again does what Jesus did, offers a hand. "WWJD" maybe more than a merchandiser's catch-phrase. It just may be the question that leads us to emulate in faith the words and actions of that pioneer and perfector of trusting God, Jesus. Who knows what might follow?
OOPS! Above unsigned from tom in TN(USA)
Someone wrote about lending a hand and helping someone up. I like that, and I think it's appropriate for my two congregations.
I also like the five types of healing. I got a little bit of a funny reaction when, in the bulletin, I extended Christian sympathy for the family of someone who'd just died (they knew he was terminal) and I added a sentence, "and we rejoice in his healing." He'd had cancer and was in pain, and everyone WATNED him to be pain-free, but somehow acknowledging death as merciful seemed "weird" to some people. (Or maybe it was just because I put it in the bulletin announcement?)
Thanks for your insights. I LOVE this website!
revo
Writing before reading your posts--a dangerous habit:
I'm so impressed by the image of the women gathered around Tabitha's bed, sharing the things that she had made for them. How many times we've done the same thing when a loved one has died! We show things they've made or given to us, things that link us together.
The image that came to my mind was one of community. (then I jump over to Revelation and find another community--very diverse and exciting).
I intend to preach about the community of faith, both in Acts and in Revelation. Then come back to Tabitha--the disciple. The challenge for us in the church today is to continue to build community together. At least that is part of the challenge of my local church. We have new faces from new places. We don't know one another well yet. Our challenge is to build our community in such a way that if one disciple dies, we would indeed gather round her, mourning her loss. And even more importantly that we might be the community in Revelation.
Fraid this might make little sense as presented here. Still pondering on a Friday. Now I'll read what y'all have written.
Pam in San Bernardino
Now I've read your postings--Good stuff!
P.K. Mc in Canada: What a great idea for your sermon. I can imagine the warm response it would receive in my congregation. I just might try that route next time. Thank you.
Pam in San Bernardino
It's a late push, but a push none the less. Not a focus on healing but a focus on moving from death to life. Where in your life has the power of God moved you from "death" to life? What about in the life of your congregation? There lies the hope many need to hear.
Karen in MO
I've already written my sermon. I've taken a look at the early Christian community, noting how it embodies Jesus' presence in the world.
But, I did come across some information that might help fill out the ideas presented by Eric in KS. According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary, a dorcas is a breed of gazelle that exists in an area that includes Palestine. Dorcases are a primary source of meat for hunters. According to the article, the ancient people tried to domesticate them, but couldn't, partly because dorcases have no sense of hierarchy. They're not like dogs, which can be domesticated by showing them "who's boss". Dorcases have no dominance in the herd, but have a lateral social structure.
Can we live as people who refuse to be domesticated by the surrounding culture? Perhaps that's part of our call to embody Jesus' presence. MTSOfan
MTSOfan helpfully added, "a dorcas is a breed of gazelle that exists in an area that includes Palestine."
And gazelles are a kind of wild goat ... and the sermon I've written is found at
http://www.stfrancis-ks.org/subpages/csermons/easter-4c-y2k+1.htm
Blessings, Eric in KS