Wonders can be done with a bit of technological knowledge, skill and equipment. My brothers are experts in that department. They have taken very old and worn photos gathered from family members who used many different types of cameras, copied them onto DVDs, and made the family history available to the three generations living today. Some of those old photos are discolored by improper storage, others because the once hi tech “new wave” of instant development proved imperfect and has been replaced by other novelties leaving photos of faded to poor quality. But there is someone or something in the photo that cannot be discarded. The now digitized family album is no longer a dusty book or a spool of brittle film requiring a temperamental projector and clumsy screen, but a simple disk that can be viewed on a personal computer or TV screen. Still the images mesmerize the viewers, whether one member or a family reunion, and can transport them to another place and time. Just don’t expect LIFE Magazine to pick up the publishing rights.
Most of us have endured a travelogue or two. A travelogue is just a family album assembled to impress one’s friends with your trip. The subjects vary. You might be in hopes of seeing a modern version of the Grand Tour, or some of the most amazing scenery in the world from the African savannah or of the Hawaiian Islands. Instead you could get endless video footage of the children playing in the hotel pool, or close-ups of blossoms of every size, shape and color, and Arizona Highways is not your thing.
Then there is the travelogue where you are introduced to the tour guide(s) and the bus companions with all their most human characteristics. You’re shown the sights and sounds, and you might even catch the scent of food cooking while viewing the living conditions of the local residents. This kind of travelogue draws you into the mystique of a way of life different from your own. This is the kind of picturesque story Luke provides his readers in the saga we call the Acts of the Apostles.
Over the last two Sundays we have met the tour guides of Luke’s travelogue; first Peter, discovering him to be a strong witness to Jesus who rose from the dead with power to bring Israel to repentance and to forgive sins; and Paul, an early persecutor of the followers of Jesus, whose life was transformed so that he became the foremost witness to Jesus among Jews and non-Jews alike. The rest of Acts follows the spiritual journey of these two men and those who came to believe because of their testimony. In coming weeks we’ll first learn important moments in Peter’s story and then in Paul’s story.
Peter is has the spotlight in today’s reading. The apostle was obedient to Jesus command to his followers to be his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Peter has made his way to the seacoast of Palestine and has developed quite a reputation as a healer. He was summoned to a neighboring town because of the death of a woman whose singular gifts and talents blessed the poor.
The account given of this woman, one who was devoted to good works and acts of charity (9:37), reads like a cross between an obituary and a miracle story. We’re given her name in Aramaic (Tabitha) and Greek (Dorcas), which means in each language gazelle referring to the graceful antelope of Africa and Asia. When Peter arrived he was taken to the room where Dorcas was laid out in preparation for her burial. The widows in mourning stood about him displaying the functional clothing Dorcas made, the trademark of her dedication to serve the community. By her generous spirit she made sure these poor widows would not be in rags. Now they were bereft of her love and charity.
Why did Peter feel the urge of the Holy Spirit to pray for Dorcas to be restored to life? Was it to show that the disciples of Jesus have been given the same powers as their Lord? Was it because her special gifts were needed in this community? But what about countless other saints who have died leaving their people bereft? Should God restore all the righteous dead to their former lives? What are we to make of all these questions?
No answer to our myriad questions is offered leaving us with a simple miracle story that demonstrates the power of God over death. Yet it is that simple truth that caused many to believe in Jesus Christ risen from the dead. Nothing more is said of Dorcas. We don’t know if she returned to her sewing and works of mercy to die a natural death at another time. What was obvious to the people of Joppa and its environs was that something new was happening among them. A newness that changed their lives immeasurably.
It’s interesting, this and other stories may have made Peter a celebrity but that didn’t upgrade him to the President’s Suite at the Bellagio. Peter found his lodging with Simon, the tanner, an occupation most communities wanted downwind from the town because of the noxious smells it emitted.
In today’s gospel reading the Jerusalem authorities encounter Jesus in the temple and ask, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly (Jn 10:24). Jesus does not answer yes, for though that might seem definitive it would still be vague on account of the various Jewish expectations at the time. So Jesus points to the works that I do in my Father’s name (10:25). Even that bears some interpretation and as Jesus said can only be known by his followers. They know life has its challenges, even defeats. Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher, described life as “nasty, brutish, and short”; certainly in the way the powerful treat the powerless. Still Jesus’ followers felt secure in the promise of eternal life with the Christ, and the inner peace and security that enable one to live today. They are his sheep and no one will snatch them out of [his] hand (10:28).
The passage from Revelation echoes this theme. This great vision provides encouragement to the followers of Jesus who were being persecuted for their faith. The tortures of their oppressors may cause death in this world, but the faithful will be victorious. They know their shepherd who rescues them and removes the tears of mourning for all they have lost--family and household, business, their very lives, with the comfort of God’s presence.
What do we make of all this? Is the story of the raising of Dorcas a miracle story to enhance the position of Peter in the minds of the faithful? Does it advocate for the primacy of Peter as chief among the apostles as is Matthew’s (16:18-19) point when Jesus grants him the keys to the kingdom with the power to forgive or retain sins? Or why was such a story retained in the tradition? Was it to highlight the ministry of healing in the church? Was it to remind the fellowship of Christians, which was already slipping back into its ancient patriarchal roots, that Jesus held women to be of equal importance with men as witnesses to the gospel, as doers of good works, as essential ministers for a complete expression of Christian living? Don’t discount any of these.
Then consider that context is everything. Luke’s context in the writing of the Book of Acts is one thing, as is John in writing the gospel and Revelation. There is another context as well and that is our own—the purpose behind the Lectionary joining these passages on this day. Taken together under the general heading of Jesus the Good Shepherd of God’s flock, all three passages speak strongly of God’s abiding care for his people. As Paul said in Romans, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:38-39). Yes, this is a story about Dorcas and Peter, about people in need of ministration, of thousands of believers who have suffered persecution. But first and foremost it is the story of Jesus, our Savior, God come in the flesh, to serve us who experience life through our physical bodies. We experience hurt and suffering, sorrow and grief, joy and exaltation in small and large measure. We know the value of loyalty and the crushing defeat of broken promises, trust and betrayal, sin and forgiveness. We need to count on a God worthy of the name--a God who will hold on to us and not let go when in our weakness we fail.
Today’s lessons speak clearly to the point that God is here for us. The mystery of the raising of Dorcas is God’s love for his people. The vision of the redeemed in heaven is a guarantee that our trust in God is not in vain. God in the flesh, our Good Shepherd, is with us through good and bad times to bring us to glory. You can count on that!
