Slices
Prepare
Think of those who have helped you in some way in your Christian life. Let the memory encourage you as you read.
Bible passage
Aeneas and Dorcas
32 As Peter travelled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. 33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralysed and had been bedridden for eight years. 34 ‘Aeneas,’ Peter said to him, ‘Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.’ Immediately Aeneas got up. 35 All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became ill and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, ‘Please come at once!’
39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood round him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning towards the dead woman, he said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
Explore
I am sometimes puzzled when I read these accounts of the early church. Why don’t we see God working like this today? We do see God working; people are healed; they come to faith and they grow in faith. But it all seems rather different from the days of the early church. But even then, not everyone was healed (see, for example, 2 Timothy 4:20). God’s power has not changed, but he chooses when, where and how that power is exercised. We can and should pray confidently and expectantly for God to act but cannot dictate to him. Perhaps there are key times in the history of the church when God acts in special ways. But he is always at work, and we can always trust him – just as Peter does here.
Widows seem to have had a special place in the early church. Being vulnerable they were supported, but they also had a ministry (vs 39,41). Ministry in the early church seems to have involved everyone. Are there some in our churches who are excluded from ministry on the basis of age, gender or ethnicity? God works not just in signs and wonders but in quiet acts of Christian service sometimes done by unlikely people.
Respond
How can we incorporate everyone in the life and mission of our church and ensure that all have a ministry appropriate to their gifts, skills and experience?
Deeper Bible study
Merciful Father, help us to hear these stories as good news for our broken world.
The story returns to the role of Peter and the next three chapters will describe the momentous changes that take place in his ministry as the consequence of his discovery of the universal implications of the resurrection of Jesus. We begin with an itinerary which takes him beyond Jerusalem, to Lydda, Joppa and, eventually, Caesarea. The first of these towns is today the location of modern Israel’s main international airport, which leads us to wonder how this text might relate to our highly scientific and technologically sophisticated world.
The stories of the healing of Aeneas and the raising of the beloved Dorcas both demonstrate how the power of the name of Jesus Christ breaks into a world in which history seemed to be closed and suffering and death were realities which had to be accepted and endured. It is possible to translate the description of Aeneas’ condition as meaning that he had been bedridden since he was eight years old, so that we have two examples of extreme human tragedy, affecting (as Luke so often likes to point out) both men and women!
The healing miracles of Peter challenged the order of the fallen world in which paralytics and poor widows were left without hope; suffering and early death were simply realities to be endured. The name of Jesus released the power of the resurrection into that closed world, opening it up for the blessings of that time and bringing healing and hope to the broken-hearted. Passengers waiting today to board flights from Israel which cross continents in hours will probably be ignorant of the miracles that took place close to where they sit, but in a modern world sceptical about transcendence, the transforming power of the risen Christ is needed more than ever before.
Next time you sit in an airport lounge, remember this text and pray for fellow passengers.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 13–15; Ephesians 2
Pray for Scripture Union
The Rooted Retreat weekend, a holiday for Rooted groups coming from the north west, starts today. Please pray for Lucy Pearson and the team as they lead this holiday, and that everyone will settle in quickly and will get the maximum benefit from this short time away. You can read more about Rooted in this story.
We love your prayers!
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