FOURTH
SUNDAY OF EASTER Year C May 8, 2022
Last week we reflected on the encounter of Jesus with Saint
Paul on the road to Damascus, and the encounter of Jesus with Saint Peter,
being asked three times if he loved him.
Throughout the readings it seemed there was a question; What would we do
if we were face to face with God? Or
what would our reaction be to an encounter with Jesus? Certainly, an encounter begs some kind of response
and some kind of change. In fact, with
Saint Paul and Saint Peter, life would never be the same again. The encounter with Jesus set their life on a
trajectory that transformed, not only themselves, but the entire world.
In today’s readings I am reminded of a David Meece song. The words from the chorus are these; “You can
heal the sick, you can raise the dead.
Turn the sea from a blue to a red.
It don’t matter what they hear or what they see, some people they never
believe.”
I wonder what your thoughts were as we read about the lady in
Joppa who died. Tabitha was a good
Christian lady and she had been dead long enough for the body to be washed. In the Jewish tradition, Tabitha being
female, means that the women would have washed her with myrrh and spices ready
for burial, and dressed her in a simple white garment. There was a time of
viewing and wailing that followed this.
In this time, knowing that Peter was near they call for him. We read that they show Peter the clothes that
she made for the poor and talked to him about her many good works.
Peter puts them all out of the room, kneels and prays. Then Peter talks to the body and tells
Tabitha to get up…. What’s more…. She
does. So… was she really dead?
Jesus rose the dead on more than one occasion. Jesus told his followers, these things and
greater you will do. Here we see Peter
raise Tabitha back to life and we quite naturally ponder if she was really
dead. Why? Because it isn’t a normal thing for someone
to come back from the dead. The fact
that the writer of Acts tells us that Peter spoke to the body, indicates that
even Peter knew that Tabitha was truly dead.
Also remember that the writer of the book of Acts was Luke…. A
physician, who would have been more qualified than most to make these assessments.
We don’t know how old Tabitha was. Certainly, that Peter helped her up might
indicate that she wasn’t too young, but we actually have no clues as to her
age. We do know that she was actively
engaged in life and giving - therefore
she was a well off lady who used her privileged life to assist those less
privileged. She died before her
time. God agreed and Peter’s prayers for
her were answered.
In this modern age of Euthanasia, there is always a question about
the value of life. In the scriptures we
are told in Psalm 116:14 “Grievous in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
faithful ones.” We are also told in 1
Corinthians 3:16, 17 “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s
Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys
God’s temple, God will destroy that person.
For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple”. The line between mercy, what is natural, and destruction
is a fine one that we won’t be debating today, except to note these things
about how God sees us as precious, and this life we have, is a gift he gives to
each of us. I need to emphasis that the
scripture is harsh about the consequences of destroying one’s life, but it is
so, for the purpose of emphasising that we and our lives are precious to
God. Many would emphasize that eternal
life is what counts the most, and they are correct, but our physical life is also
a gift from God and therefore worthy of our care.
In the light of this, we have the story of Tabitha…. Who died
of natural causes, and her life was precious to God. Peter prayed and she rose to life. All our lives are precious to God, but our
experiences of death and what seems to be unanswered prayers cause many
questions.
My late husband, Joe, died from cancer. Many were praying for him, yet he died. Let me tell you a little about the
journey; First there were the numerous
people who wanted to sell us the latest herbal tablets sure to cure him. Other people believed that juicing was the
answer. I looked up the internet for any
clues and found that you could make a tea from paw-paw leaves – It was apparently
quite revolting… but we tried. We, of
course, also prayed, and listened to doctors and he had Chemotherapy and
radiation. We were very much in denial
and striving to continue as much of normal life as possible. We planned for the future and thought there
would be a whole lot more of it. There
is this whole attitude of, “We’ll fight this thing.” But as you know, for us, it was to no avail.
My experience is not everyone’s experience. Even though Joe died, I still believe in
miracles and that God can and does heal.
I don’t understand why some are taken, and I don’t know why some prayers
seem to be unanswered or answered in the negative. I do know that those closest need our prayers
because sometimes it is too big a burden to carry when you are close.
The friends of Tabitha were in mourning, but they called for
Peter. I don’t know if they expected
this miracle or just for him to pay his respects. One thing is for certain, mourning should be
shared…. Needs to be shared.
Sadly, our modern church culture is not good at supporting
mourning. We are good for caring, up
until the funeral, but then we expect people to get back into normal life. We expect that as Christians we won’t mourn
like others because we have hope in eternal life. It is true we do have this hope, but mourning
is not conditional on our belief. The
friends of Tabitha knew about eternal life, but they still were in deep
mourning.
Our Psalm reading today is 23; The Lord is my shepherd. Just as the Shepherd cares for, and keeps
safe the sheep, our Lord and God cares for us and keeps us safe even into eternal
life. Though we walk through the valley
of death…. Under that dark cloud that seems to hang heavy when we are in
mourning, we are comforted by God’s provision.
God never asks the mourner to get over it and get on with life… but he
restores our soul… The Psalm tells of the things that God does for us…
not the things we do for ourselves. We
don’t have the power, but only God does. The sheep can’t save themselves… the
shepherd saves them.
Peter prays to God and Tabitha is raised to life. It is a miracle. This is yet another miracle that gives
credibility to the ministry of Peter and the message that he proclaims about
Jesus Christ and eternal life. I imagine
that the early Christians must have felt incredibly encouraged by these
miracles as they confirmed their new belief, which was being put under pressure
constantly by persecutions, other beliefs and heresies.
The early Christians were believers, with complete and active
faith in God, but there were many in Jesus time, who witnessed the miracles of
Jesus and they didn’t believe. Among
those who didn’t believe were people who professed to be worshipers of God, the
Pharisees, Sadducees and the traditional Jewish priests and temple members.
I have heard modern theologians who
try to explain away the miracles of Jesus as if they are something
natural. Yet even the non-Christian
historian, Josephus notes Jesus’ reputation for performing miracles. I’d like to quote to you about this from an
article: “Near
the end of the first century, Josephus, a Jewish historian, described Jesus as
“a worker of amazing deeds” (Antiquities
of the Jews 18.3.3 §63). Most historians think that later
Christian scribes added or rewrote portions of this passage in Josephus, but
that he did write at least substantial elements of the passage, including this
statement.1 Josephus’s
description of Jesus as having performed “amazing deeds” (paradoxōn ergon) does
not use any of the stock Christian terms for miracles (mighty works, signs,
wonders), as one would expect if a Christian had added or created this
statement.” (retrieve on 1/05/22 from:
https://bib.irr.org/did-jesus-perform-miracles)
My point in all this is that, if we do not believe in the miracles
of Jesus, we will find ourselves whitling away at our faith until there is
nothing left. In fact, our faith will
die and be in need of a miraculous resurrection.
At the time of our Gospel story, it was winter. It was also the time of the festival of
dedication of the temple. This is
actually the festival of Hannukah.
Hannukah is held each year on the 25th day of Kislev – a month in the
Hebrew Calendar that falls somewhere between our November or December and it
lasts for 8 days. This Year Hannukah
will fall on the 18th of December and finish on the 26th
of December. It is the story of the
rededication of the temple after the temple had been desecrated. The Maccabees
were a priestly family of Jews who organized a successful rebellion against the
ruler Antiochus IV who tore down the sacred altar and built one in the temple
to Zeus and sacrificed pigs on the altar.
At the time of the rededication the priests looked for oil to light the
menorah (the sacred candles) and could only find a small amount to last for one
day – but a miracle happened, and for eight whole days the menorah remained
lit.
Miracles happen. We
can rationalize and hypothesize but if God is God, then miracles happen. End of story!
I want to add most emphatically that our effort to believe does not
create a miracle. It is not about the
power of the mind creating a reality.
These miracles surprised people.
They mostly didn’t expect them – but they hoped and they knew that God
could. God is still in control and his
will rules – but miracles happen.
We can choose to whittle away at our faith with intellectual
musings explaining away a miracle until it is nothing, but we then become the
Pharisees, having all the proof and choosing to not to see and never being
sure. God is God! Jesus was raised from the dead. He is living still. He still performs miracles.
In this life there are trials and there are more to come. Revelations tells us about those who’ve come through the great tribulation. This is us. Revelations says that those who’ve come through the time of trial are those whose robes have been washed clean by the blood of the lamb. Our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life – we belong to God. When Jesus walked the earth and wanted to prove that sins could be forgiven, he said to the lame man, get up and walk – and he did. The miracle proved that Jesus had authority to forgive sin. Believe that God is God, that miracles happen. Keep praying for miracles. Hard times are ahead and we need to be a people of faith who know beyond a shadow of doubt, the great power and authority of God.
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