Christian Aid week (& the raising of Dorcas
Acts 9: 36-43
This week I’m sure have seen or heard some of the VE day celebrations, and it can’t have escaped your notice that it was the 80th anniversary of celebrating Victory in Europe.
This year is also Christian Aid’s 80th anniversary. That’s not just a coincidence – Christian Aid was founded when British and Irish churches came together to help refugees following the second world war.
The needs of people in other countries made Christians look at what their response should be: and that has continued now for 80 years.
Today we give thanks for the life and work of those who responded - during and after the war. And we ask what our Christian response should be.
We have heard something of the story of the modern-day of Aurelia from Guatemala. We have also heard the story from the book of Acts of Tabitha (an Aramaic name – meaning ‘gazelle’) who is also called Dorcas – which is simply the Greek word for gazelle.
I’ll use both versions of her name this morning – Tabitha & Dorcas – to explore her story more.
We learn first what a wonderful person she is..
“She was devoted to good works and acts of charity”.
When Peter comes to be with the church in Joppa and see her body, he is shown all the things she has made for other people – especially poor widows.
She would definitely be the type to give to Christian Aid – in fact she would have been the Christian Aid organiser for Joppa, I’m sure.
So famous was she for her good deeds involving clothing that I’m sure many of you remember how for many years we could buy cotton and tins of pins with ‘Dorcas’ on the label.
And it might be tempting, in this Christian Aid week, to conclude that we should just “be more like Dorcas” – and be more involved in helping our neighbour.
That’s not a bad idea - but it would be to miss a lot of the point of this story.
Dorcas – or Tabitha - is described as a disciple. She’s actually the only named woman in the New Testament described using the feminine form of the word disciple.
A disciple is one who is close to Jesus and follows Jesus – and so Dorcas is the example, for all of us, of how we are to treat others if we are true followers of Jesus.
It is not that she is a really kind person and also a disciple of Jesus – she shows us that for those who follow Jesus, loving your neighbour is not an optional extra – it is a vital component of our discipleship. Jesus said “Love God and love your neighbour”, and Dorcas show us what life looks like when we take Jesus seriously.
She is devoted to giving to others, caring for others, thinking of others and spends much of her time making clothes for those who need them.
But even the faithful Dorcas is not spared the pain of life – she falls sick and she dies. Her body is washed and placed in the upper room, ready for burial. Peter is sent for – perhaps to help sustain the community in their grief.
But Peter, too, is a disciple – he follows Christ’s example.
Peter was with Jesus when Jairus came and asked Jesus to come and save his sick daughter.
After being delayed by the healing of the woman with a haemorrhage, the young girl is dead by the time Jesus gets to Jairus’ house. Jesus takes Peter, James & John with him and says to the girl “Little girl, get up”.. it’s Mark’s gospel which records the Aramaic words Jesus uses “Talitha koum”.
Peter must never have forgotten the moment when the girl rose from her death bed & re-joined her family.
And he must never have forgotten the words of Jesus that day “Talitha Koum” – the Aramaic words that mean ‘little girl, get up’.
When Peter enters the upper room and sees the body of Tabitha, as a disciple of Jesus, Peter follows his master’s example and says to her “Tabitha Koum”. And in that moment the power of Jesus acts through Peter to restore life to Tabitha.
In the story of Dorcas we learn that giving to others can involve both a practical giving (in the case of Dorcas – of clothes) and a spiritual giving (in the case of Peter – of Jesus’ healing).
These two cannot be separated – we should give and pray for our neighbours. For surely Jesus shows that it is God’s will that all people should know the blessing of bodies, souls and lives in every way possible – practical and spiritual.
And so our discipleship of Jesus should involve us in practical tasks (today, for example, we can give to Christian Aid) and in spiritual tasks (praying for others and their well-being).
Yet the story of Dorcas has something more, again, to teach us. As she is raised from death, it is not by what Peter does – Peter himself does not have the power to rescue her from death – it is the gift of God in the name of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes, as disciples of Jesus Christ, our task is to offer others the blessing of God in their lives: to be channels of grace.
As we have given thanks for the freedom of Europe, celebrated on VE day we cannot fail to have wondered how we can bring peace to Europe and the wider world today. We need to be channels of grace, people of prayer, determined to honour those who fought for peace and pledging to carry on their work.
And with Christian Aid we need to speak out about climate change, listen to the voices of the poorest people, and give our time, money and prayers.
To the glory of God and in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
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