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Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene |
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Text:
Acts
9:36-43
Powerless. That’s how they must have felt after washing the body of
their deceased friend and provider. You
can hear their questions to one another. “Why
do bad things happen to good people?” “Why did God have to let her die?” Tabitha did so much good for us and the community. “It’s
not fair that God let her die!”
I suspect that the underlying reason
for the fetching of Peter from Lydda was not to raise Tabitha from the dead --
although that would have been wonderful -- but rather to comfort and explain the
questions plaguing their hearts and minds. They wanted answers and they wanted them now!
Perhaps this is their first encounter
with the dead after the resurrection of Jesus.
But, according to those who converted them, everything was supposed to
have changed! Everything was to be
different! In the light of Jesus’
resurrection death was supposed to be conquered and defeated once and for all.
With death defeated there wasn’t suppose to be anymore dying!
“No more dying here,” they were told!
Therefore, the grief, mourning and
confusion expressed that day was genuine -- not manufactured.
These mourners were not the typical hired hands employed for such
occasions. Their grief was real!
When Peter arrived they showed him the
clothing they had received from Tabitha. Clutching
these material gifts, the weeping widows huddled together fearing life without
their Tabitha. When they saw
Tabitha lying dead all their hopes of being sustained in this world evaporated.
Not everyone was kind to the widows.
Not everyone looked out for them and the orphans.
When Tabitha died they might as well
have died as well since no one would make sure the unemployable and powerless
would be cared for. All their hopes
were dashed and their fears revisited. “And
now, what will happen to us?” I
bet they felt like a salesman had pulled the ole’ bait and switch on them.
They were sold the resurrection and now they’re staring death in the
face. Classic bait and switch!,
don’t you think?
Perhaps you’ve asked the same
questions as the weeping widows at various points in your life.
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“I’ll never be able to survive without him or her.”
“Why did God allow this to happen?”
Or perhaps you feel like someone has
pulled the ole’ bait and switch on you.
Whatever the case you signed on with One who was suppose to have defeated
death but nothing seems to have changed. Death still reigns!
I have a sneaking suspicion the
weeping widows wanted some answers to those very questions; those questions many
of us ask when life is out of control; those questions which, at times, defy
answers -- that’s why the called for Peter to come to Joppa!
Instead of answering all the
questions, Peter removes them all from the room in which the corpse lies, kneels
down and prays. He prays!
But what would cause Peter to believe
that this dead woman would rise to new life?
Could it be that cowering Peter actually began to believe that the
seemingly impossible was possible because of Christ’s resurrection? Because
of Jesus' death and resurrection, new life can be found even in the face of our
most desperate fears and tragic circumstances.
When Peter says “Tabitha, get up”
he uses the very same word used in reference to Christ’s resurrection!
It is of enormous significance that Peter uses the identical verb used
elsewhere to refer to Jesus’ resurrection.
In the use of that word Peter believes that the power that raised Christ
from the dead was ready and available to raise Tabitha as well!
The raising of Tabitha stands as a
witness to the power of the resurrection of Christ over all persons -- not in
the sense that our flesh and bones will be reconstituted before the eyes of our
weeping friends, but in the sense that the resurrected Christ possesses the
power to bring new life to all persons, and that that power flows directly out
of the new life God gave to him on the first Easter Day.
Throughout all of history countless
people have stood beside the dark hole that we call a grave and watched the
remains of their loved ones lowered into the earth, and they wondered: “Is
this all there is?” The widows
wondered. You and I wonder.
But because of Easter Peter could
kneel beside a death bed and pray a prayer of great faith and see powerful
results! Because of Easter we can
experience abundant, new life through Jesus the Christ!
The raising of Tabitha from the dead
wasn’t because the church couldn’t get on without her (even though the
widows believed that to be the case). Rather
the healing of Tabitha was a visible display of God’s power that pointed the
widows away from her and toward God Himself.
There the weeping widows stood stunned
beyond their wildest imaginations. As
they stood staring into an uncertain future resurrection power broke in upon
them. Tabitha came out of the house
alive! And, perhaps, they realized
for the first time since their husband’s deaths that Tabitha wasn’t their
lifeline. God was!
Wednesday evening Mae shared that God
is bringing about healing in her body and that the cancer is currently in
remission. This healing of Mae
isn’t because the church won’t be able to get on without her (even though we
might that!). Rather it is a
visible display of God’s power that points us away from her and into the face
of God Himself!
As wonderful as Mae is, as faithful as
Mae is, as holy as Mae is, as loving as Mae is, as giving as Mae is, she
doesn’t do it for all the accolades that might come here way -- for Mae
doesn’t live for herself. Rather,
the life she lives isn’t her own. It
belongs to God for Mae already died a long time ago!
In Christ’s death she died and in His resurrection she has been raised
to new life.
Perhaps you remember the story of
Nicodemus. Jesus tells him that no
one can see the kingdom of God without being born again; being born from above.
Nicodemus doesn’t understand. “How
can anyone be born after having grown old?
Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” he
asks.
Jesus says, “For God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Eternal life -- life that goes on forever and ever; life that never ends;
life that death doesn’t reign over!
The weeping widows substitued Tabitha
as their source of life. When she
died their futures evaporated. Others
substitute cars or boats or houses or people or children or food as one’s
source of life. When the market
drops or the spouse betrays all hopes and dreams are dashed -- for there is no
future when one’s source of “life” is taken away!
Christ’s resurrection offers all
people (including you and me) an alternate way of living!
We die once to ourselves; to our kingdoms and, then, live forever!
Accepting Christ’s gift of new life requires that we accept his death
and resurrection. Not merely
cognitively but also contemplatively. In
that moment of faith, we, like Mae, die in Christ’s death and are raised to
new life through the power of Christ’s resurrection!
Maybe you’re here today as a last
resort hoping against all fears that Someone can change your life.
Maybe you’re here today wondering that if this God is really all
powerful then he can change your situation in life!
If it’s true you might just give him a chance!
Hear the good news: He can and he
will! The power that raised Christ
from the dead is the very same power at work in you. That power cleanses, heals, redeems, restores.
That power forgives, reconciles, transforms.
There’s no bait and switch in the
Gospel of Jesus Christ! Resurrection
power has defeated death! Yet, the
church at Corinth was as confused about the power of Christ’s resurrection as
were the weeping widows (and, perhaps, as much as you are).
Logic, for them, worked this way: “If Christ arose, then, we will live
forever!” A very valid
conclusion!
Paul responds: “If Christ has not
been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have died in Christ have perished.
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most
to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised
from the dead. . .” (I
Corinthians 15:17-20a). “Where, O
death, is your victory? Where, o
death, is your sting?” The sting
of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
Paul concludes this resounding sermon
with this application: “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always
excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor
is not in vain” (I Corinthians
15:55-58).
Tabitha lived out those very words of
Scripture while she lived on this earth.
Her acts of charity pointed others to God. But, eventually, she physically died. And I don’t need to remind you that the same fate is yours!
Just looking outside the windows of this church stands a visible reminder
of this reality: a cemetery.
Jesus says: “I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever
lives and believes in me will never die”
(John 11:25).
The weeping widows believed in Jesus
and received new life!
Here’s the question:
what would cause you trust Jesus at his word?
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21). |
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