Early in the sermon preparation, I discovered I had preached this text about five years ago. When I read the sermon, I liked it, so I thought I'd just adjust it a bit (I had some suggestions on improving the sermon from the previous time I preached it) to the context here in Denton, and it would be a week with little sermon preparation. By the end of the week, as I tried to make the adjustments, I ended up with almost a completely new sermon. In fact, I think the sermon became overly complicated because I was trying to fit the new stuff with the old stuff. The sermon probably would have been better if I had not referenced the previous sermon. One of the suggestions from the previous sermon was to focus more on the "look around" aspect of the sermon. I did do that in this sermon, including pulling in the illustration of fundraising for Notre Dame and the burned churches in southern Louisiana, which I think work fairly well.
“Look Around” May 12, 2019; St. Andrew, Denton; Acts 9: 32-43 Richard B. Culp
Now as Peter went here and there among all the believers, he came down also to the saints living in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, for he was paralyzed. 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed!” And immediately he got up. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37 At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40 Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
Introduction: After Easter, after the celebration of the resurrection, we move into a “now what” mode. How do we respond to God’s power to resurrect?
Often we turn to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the stories of those first believers in Jesus Christ, who both proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus Christ and responded to God’s power to resurrect.
This morning, we read a couple of stories from Acts, a couple of stories of how God’s power to resurrect was lived out.
Let’s take a few minutes to notice several things in these stories.
Move 1: First of all, we are reminded that God’s invites all people to participate in God’s power to resurrect.
a. From a literary standpoint, the stories of Aeneas and Tabitha are viewed as an intentional pair (I might add for you biblical studies students that this pattern of pairing stories also is found in the Gospel of Luke, which we know was written by the same author as the Book of Acts)
1. There are parallels in the two stories -- Peter saying "get up;”
2. both persons are named (rather rare for healing stories in the NT).
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)
4. within the parallelism, we notice that in one story a man is healed, in the other a woman.
b. These twin stories make the subtle point that God's presence and God's work can be found among men and women.
2. In fact, Luke seems to go out of his way in this pairing to give more details to the Tabitha part of the tandem, including the description of Tabitha using the feminine form of the word disciples, which i is the only place in the NT where this occurs (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 ministry; and all people can be transformed by the God of resurrection.
Move 2: We also notice that the resurrection is lived out in the midst of our daily living.
a. In Lydda, Peter is going “here and there among all the believers”
1. I love the image of going “here and there” no place particular, just living life as it comes to him.
2. He is not looking for a special spot or special moment, just here and there.
3. Jumping ahead just a bit, be sure and notice that after Peter heals Aeneas, he tells him to make his bed.
4. in other words, God’s power takes place in our daily routines and can send us back to our normal patterns of life.
b. In Joppa, we see a couple of normal routines being lived out.
1. First, there is some ministry going on among the widows.
2. In other words, they are like a a community of faith that is doing its work among the people.
3. secondly, there grieving in this particular moment because Tabitha has died.
4. the situation is a typical one that arrives as people move through the cycle of life and death.
5. Her friends and family had laid her in a room and prepared her body.
6. those who knew Tabitha were standing around grieving.
7. they were wearing clothes Tabitha has made for them, a testimony to kind of person she was and the kinds of things she did.
5. I suspect they were also telling stories.
6. a gathering like ones we have been to on numerous occasions.
c. We might also note that Peter ends up staying in Joppa for awhile working with a tanner.
1. hardly a high profile job for a healer of people.
2. Not as if the healings have elevated his status in the workforce.
3. a reminder that God’s is at work In the normal routines of life – the good and the bad; the trivial and the exciting.
Move 3: The stories also give us a clue as to how we know the resurrected Christ is in our midst.
a. Look around - if lives are being restored, if new life is being given, then you can believe that God’s power to resurrect is at work.
b. We see that in Lydda were Aeneas is healed.
1. Peter explicitly states that Aeneas is healed in the name of Jesus Christ.
2. It is not simply medical healing, but evidence of God’s power to resurrect.
c. In Joppa, Tabitha is brought back to life.
1. How this plays out takes us to Jairus’ house when his daughter is thought to be dead in her room upstairs. In that case, Jesus arrives, goes upstairs, sends out everyone but those with him, Peter is one of those who is allowed to stay with Jesus, and then Jesus heals her.
3. Peter models Jesus’ action - he goes upstairs to a room, sends people out, and then commands Tabitha to be “get up.”
c. These healing stories remind us of the moment in the Gospel of Luke when John the Baptist wants to know if Jesus is the real thing.
1. John sends his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come?"
2. Seemingly, 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.
4. In the early church when people want to prove that Christ is risen, they look around for places where God is giving new life and healing.
d. Look around, where do you see new life in our world?
1. sometimes hard to see when stories of shootings, or political bickering, or the rise of racism take over the headlines.
2. But look around and see examples like the Notre Dame story.
3. At first glance, a mesmerizing story about the burning of a great cathedral in France. With the rapid news of the Internet, people around the world watched as it burned, as people sought to save relics by racing into the cathedral, as firefighters fought the flames to save as much of the cathedral as they could.
4. then, the amazing response of people pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to restore the cathedral.
5. Some might see this response as more about saving an artifact dear to the hearts of France rather than a sign of new life.
6. But, something else happened. As people turned their attention to the burning and restoration of Notre Dame, the burning so three churches in southern Louisiana by a white supremacist came into more focus.
7. There had been an attempt to raise $1.8 million dollars to repair those church, but only 100,000 had been raised.
8. then the fundraising for Notre Dame led to attention to the fundraising for the burn churches in Louisiana.
9. Very quickly $2 million dollars was raised for those churches.
10. “It’s going to help our community,” Rev. Gerald Toussaint, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, told CNN. “What the devil meant for bad, God’s going to turn it into something good.” https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/4/17/18412465/louisiana-black-churches-fire-donations-notre-dame; P.R. Lockhart Updated Apr 19, 2019, Vox
Look around.
Move 3: Final thought – notice that the people expect Peter to do something.
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. 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. Look around - we are the people that God has sent into the world; we are the community of faith called to be the body of Christ.
conclusion: When people look around, they are looking for you and me to show them the Risen Christ.
Go and show them.
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