Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.
There was a disciple.
Whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.
She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.
If you’re of a certain age wand remember the TV series Bewitched, you might remember Tabitha as a girl’s name. But the reading literally uses the female pronoun for Tabitha.
In the early church, before Peter is told to reach out to gentiles, in the same chapter as when Saul, later called Paul, experiences his conversion, we have a story about a woman who is a disciple.
And she has been doing good works and acts of charity.
There are not a lot of women mentioned in the Bible. Many, like the woman accused of adultery, or the woman at the well, or the woman with the issue of blood, or the Syrophoenician woman, are not named.
But Tabitha merits having her name recorded in both Aramaic and Greek. The name means “gazelle” or “gracious,” by the way.
Men had nearly all of the power in first century Palestine. They still have a lot of power in the world. And most – if not all – of the Bible was written by men. (There’s some thought that Hebrews may have been written by Priscilla.) And even so, there are stories of women who shine through, women who were important in the early church.
There as a committee to establish a Mother’s Friendship Day to reunite families after the civil war. It was organized in 1868 by a mother named Ann Jarvis.
Her daughter, Anna Jarvis, pushed forward a day to honor mothers. That’s the day we celebrate today.
We recognize that this can be a complicated day for many:
For those who wished to be mothers, but were unable,
For those who have been mothers, but whose children passed before they did,
For those mothers whose children are estranged, and those people who are estranged from their mothers.
Today we honor all who have ever had a mothering aspect to their lives, or even felt a call to motherhood.
May your names be remembered.
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, to help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus is asked
“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
– John 10:24, NRSVue
Part of Jesus’ reply is
“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”
– John 10:27, NRSVue
Do Christians hear the voice of Jesus?
In August 2023, in an NPR interview, Russell Moore – formerly a leader in one of the USA’s largest denominations – had this to say about the state of Christian faith in American Churches:
Well, it was the result of having multiple pastors tell me essentially the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount parenthetically in their preaching – turn the other cheek – to have someone come up after and to say, where did you get those liberal talking points?
And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ, the response would not be, I apologize. The response would be, yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.
And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we’re in a crisis.
– https://www.npr.org/2023/08/05/1192374014/russell-moore-on-altar-call-for-evangelical-america
Do the sheep know the shepherd anymore?
I grew up in an Evangelical Free church.
In youth group we earned rewards for memorizing Bible verses – with citations. It wasn’t entire stories. It was individual verses, devoid of context.
Then there were things called “sword fights.” Based on verses in Hebrews and Ephesians, the Bible was called a sword, and we would be given a book, chapter, and verse, and the first to find it in our Bibles and read the verse got a point.
If the Bible is a sword, using a single verse against someone is a Biblical jab.
And yet, the verses were focused on were mostly the Epistles – the letters in the new testament, the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Hebrew scripture also called the Torah, and some verses from the Prophets, particularly those that some Christians claim to point to Jesus.
Do the sheep know the shepherd anymore?
I’m not saying the rest of the Bible is without value. Indeed, there is much to learn. But if we can’t remember the life and teachings of Jesus, how can we be following him?
If, when we hear the teachings of Jesus, we say “that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.” are we not intentionally following a different path than the one Jesus walked?
And if we are to look beyond the teachings of Jesus, can we at least look at the stories of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles, maybe even a story about an early disciple who “was devoted to good works and acts of charity.”
Maybe someone like Tabitha, also known as Dorcas.
So my challenge to all of us this week is to be aware of the choices we make. Are they consistent with the life and teachings of Jesus, or do they follow another line of thought?
Make a decision to follow Jesus.
Amen.
Let’s sing CH 344 I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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