No Small Parts - Tabitha (Dorcas)
January 10, 2021 Sunday Evening Study

About a week and a half ago I presided over a funeral for a member of the community whom I had never met. He was not a member of our church, but was a godly man, and was much respected within his family - a patriarch. As I do when preparing funerals, I spoke with the members of his family as much as I could so that I could write a message that would be both spiritual and evangelistic, as well as relevant and personal to the life the man led.

I was told of this particular man - I’ll call him Bob -  that he was a worker. He had worked in mining for 40+ years, and worked his family farm for the rest of his life. He was known to literally - as in, this actually happened on more than one occasion - give a person the shirt off of his back. His wife of 73 years - yes, 73 - said that Bob had a list of people around the area that he took food to every week. They would work the farm, take what they needed, and he gave everything else away. She believed that he actually provided for several elderly folks that would not have survived without him.

His daughter told me a story about when she was in high school. Her brother, also a teenager then, had a friend over at the farm, and the friend's car was not handling right when he pulled in. Bob saw him come in, and while the boys were inside, Bob set to work on the car. He replaced some key suspension parts, at his own expense, and would not let the boy pay him back. However, when the boy drove home from there, he was hit head-on by a drunk driver and killed.

Bob was devastated, and he blamed himself for what happened, as unfair as you and I know that to be. He thought that maybe if he hadn’t fixed the car the boy might not have been there at that moment or something to that effect. Yet even though he blamed the boy’s death on his own actions, Bob told his wife that he still had to keep serving anyone who needed serving, so he continued as he always had - giving everything he had to anyone who would take it.

When we think of a life dedicated to service, we think of people like Mother Teresa - the ones that are known for the amazing things they did. We don't read or hear about people like Bob of Macon Missouri who brought vegetables to his former neighbor’s widow or gave his jacket to the man walking down HWY 63 in the rain. Yet if we pay attention - if we recognize it when we see it, we catch a glimpse of what it means to be a servant in the way God has called us.

Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 9. We are going to read the story of a person like this - someone who lived a life devoted to service for people who desperately needed it. This is a woman who is an example of what the church is supposed to be for the poor and for widows. To give a little context, we have just had the scene with Saul in Damascus, and Ananias as we discussed last time. Saul stayed there a little while, and now the narrative shifts over to Peter. Peter is traveling about and comes to a town called Lydda. Peter there heals a paralytic man in Jesus’ name, and people are amazed. Let’s read in Acts 9:36-43.

So Peter is in a place very near to modern-day Tel Aviv when he heals the paralytic man. The port city of Joppa is 28km away from Lydda, and somehow word of Peter’s presence reaches Joppa and their contingent makes it to Lydda before Peter leaves. Being a port town, Joppa was important in palestinian society, and was place that would have feat somewhat like home for Peter as the main industry there was fishing. Joppa, now called Jaffa, was of significant size for the time, and the reputation of the woman Tabitha was such that she was respected and loved by the whole community - a fact communicated effectively to Peter as he agreed to make the journey even though she was already dead.

It bears mentioning the “disciples” from Joppa. These are people who are new members of the Christian church who were converted Jews, who show an immense faith. When Tabitha died, they washed her and placed her in an upper room so as to allow for privacy. However, instead of performing other funeral rites and making burial preparations, they sent for Peter. This indicates that they had enough faith that this woman might be resurrected that they even risked allowing her body to be disgraced by neglect, despite their very evident esteem for her - while they waited for the fulfillment of their hope. 

Tabitha (in Aramaic) or Dorcas (in Greek) - both names actually mean “gazelle.” There is a species of gazelle called the dorcas which is very common today. Both names are mentioned because while the New Testament was originally written in Greek, this town and region would have spoken Aramaic in that time as the common street tongue, so she was likely referred to as Tabitha or Tabita.

Tabitha is described as being occupied with good works and charitable actions; these were highly esteemed Jewish virtues which continued to be practised by Christians. When Peter arrives he finds “all the widows” who are crying and mourning, but also showing the clothes and other good deeds Tabitha had been known for in the community. The Greek construct used in this passage indicates that the widows were the recipients of her charity, but she may also have been a widow herself. It is likely that she was a woman of some means, given her ability to help the poor.

Based on the attitudes and the posture of the people mourning Tabitha, as well as her reputation in Joppa, it is fair to assume that this woman’s life was one of servanthood to others. In fact, religious tradition recognizes this as well as Tabitha is revered in many different religious ideologies. Both the Episcopal and Lutheran churches take the person of Tabitha, and along with Lydia the first convert in Europe (Acts 16) and Phoebe the messenger of the letter to the Romans who is name by Paul as a deacon of the church - these three are celebrated and commemorated through feast on January 27th, while the Catholic church feasts Tabitha alone on October 25th. Also on October 25 the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Saint Tabitha the Widow, raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter.

Perhaps the longest lasting legacy of this small part in the Bible is the creation of Dorcas Societies - a name still in use today all over the world, which are charitable organizations based most often out of specific churches designed to provide clothing for the poor and widowed. These societies exist all over the globe today, though most often championed by the Lutheran church.

Like our friend Bob, Tabitha lived a life devoted to serving others. If you are like me, at least a part of you wants to know that when your time comes, you did some good - made a positive impact on the people you encountered in your life. For many of us, we look at that impact as needing to be something grand and memorable - something that changes the world. We want to be the next great apostle or the next Mother Teresa - even if it is not for pride, just a desire to have that kind of impact for God and for good.

Here is the truth - Tabitha herself did not change the world outside of her community in Joppa. Bob did not change the world outside of Macon. And yet, the ripples of what they did and how they treated people reach further than we can imagine. And it isn’t just because they were wonderful people, which they most certainly were - it is because this is the servant spirit that God created us to possess. These people are prime examples of what it means to put God first by putting others first. This is something that we can all learn from. Let’s pray.