Reflections on "time Out for Healing Acts 32-43; Luke 7: 18-2

The sermon went well.  As sometimes happens, the last point (Move 3) which came very late in the game could actually have been the focal point of the whole sermon.  I initially (as indicated by the sermon title) had been chasing the idea that the way Luke interrupts the Saul/Paul story-line to tell the Peter story set a  pattern for interruptions, which was going to lead to the idea that God interrupts our lives with healing or other acts that give us new life.  But that did not hold up as I prepared the sermon.

I have found the two books mentioned (one by Willimon and the other by Etherington) to be really helpful books for my study of Acts.

"Time Out for Healing” August 3, 2014; FPC, Troy; Significant Moments in Acts; 2014 Acts 9: 32-43

Introduction: We interrupt the Saul/Paul story-line and turn to stories about Peter.

Three things:

Move 1: Proof of God's ongoing presence is lives being restored and new life being given.

a. notice I did not say that the proof of God's presence means that everything is going smoothly.

1. Or that proof of God's presence is that everything is just like we want it.

2. Or that life is like a fairy tale is God is present.

b. No, God's presence is discovered in the midst of life as we know it.

1. In Lydda, where Peter is going “here and there”

2. In Joppa, where there is some good ministry going on among the widows.

3. and grieving in this particular moment because Tabitha has died.

c. In the normal routines of life – the good and the bad; the trivial and the exciting – new lives are being restored and new life given.

1. Aeneas is healed.

2. Tabitha is brought back to life.

3. Peter shows that he is like Jesus, who was like Elisha, who was like Elijah, who are all showing forth the presence of God by bringing the dead back to life ("First Thoughts on Year C First Reading Acts Passages from the Lectionary,"Easter 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CActsEaster4.htm)

c. these healing stories take us back to that moment in the Gospel of Luke when John the Baptist wants to know if Jesus is the real thing.

1. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come?"

2. A simple “yes” or “No” question.

3. But Jesus responds – "Look around -- healing is taking place." New life is being given to people. Hope replaces despair.

3. We learn that the proof of who Jesus is, the proof of God's ongoing presence in our midst, is found when we look around – when life-saving, life-giving things are happening, God is in our midst.

Move 2: God's presence knows no bounds.

a. From a literary standpoint, the stories of Aeneas and Tabitha are viewed as an intentional pair.

1. There are parallels in the two stories -- Peter saying "get up;"

2. both persons are named (rather rare for healing stories);

3. and the Christians in both stories are called "saints," which is rarely done in Acts (The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Ben Witherington, III, 1998, Eerdman Publishing, 3227-328)

b. This is a pattern that is found in the Gospel of Luke and Acts, both of which were written by the same author.

1. Pattern Luke uses which seems to suggest that he is making the subtle point that God's presence and God's work can be found among men and women.

2. an inclusive concept for that time given that is was a male-dominated world.

3. In fact, Luke seems to go out of his way in this pairing to give more details to the Tabitha part of the tandem.

4. In fact, the description of Tabitha is the only place in the NT where the feminine form of the word disciples is used (Interpretation:Acts, William Willimon, 84)

c. I do not point this out to make Luke out to be a feminist.

1. I do not think that was Luke's intent.

2. but, Luke is clearly making the point that all people are called to be part of God's work in the world.

Move 3: Final thought – notice that the people expect Peter to do something.

a. IN the midst of their grief in Joppa, they send for Peter, one of the followers of Christ.

1. We do not know what they might have been expecting.

2. maybe just a word of hope;

3. maybe they were, in fact, looking for Peter to bring Tabitha back to life.

4. But we do know that in the midst of their grief, as they struggle with what is happening in their lives, they turn to God through one of Christ's disciples.

b. speak to us in two ways.

1. reminds us where we can turn in our times of need.

2. Reminds us that in our world we have people who are facing struggles, dealing with the challenges, facing the death of loved ones, and they need somewhere to turn for hope and to find new life.

3. This is the place; we are the people that God has sent into the world.

4. I shared a couple of weeks ago in the elink about my experience in FL for my uncle's memorial service. The Presbyterian Church that hosted the service was not the church he, or anyone in the family, attended. But they graciously provided wonderful support for the family. Why? Because they believe that when people face the death of loved ones they need a place to help them in their grief and give them hope. So they are that place.

Conclusion: In Lydda, in Joppa, in Tipp City, in W. Milton, in Troy, people need to discover that life-giving, life-changing hope that God has for them.

Go and share it with them.