June 12, 2006

Acts 9:32-40 (The Message)

Tabitha


32-35 Peter went off on a mission to visit all the churches. In the course of his travels he arrived in Lydda and met with the believers there. He came across a man — his name was Aeneas — who had been in bed eight years paralyzed. Peter said, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!" And he did it—jumped right out of bed. Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him walking around and woke up to the fact that God was alive and active among them.

36-37 Down the road a way in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, "Gazelle" in our language. She was well-known for doing good and helping out. During the time Peter was in the area she became sick and died. Her friends prepared her body for burial and put her in a cool room.

38-40 Some of the disciples had heard that Peter was visiting in nearby Lydda and sent two men to ask if he would be so kind as to come over. Peter got right up and went with them. They took him into the room where Tabitha's body was laid out. Her old friends, most of them widows, were in the room mourning. They showed Peter pieces of clothing the Gazelle had made while she was with them. Peter put the widows all out of the room. He knelt and prayed. Then he spoke directly to the body: "Tabitha, get up."

40-41 She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. He took her hand and helped her up. Then he called in the believers and widows, and presented her to them alive.

1 comment:

Larry Clayton said...

This raising from the dead is certainly a curious matter. Being naturalists as most of us are we can only speculate about how it may have happened:

There's no question Jesus (and through him Peter) had uncanny powers of healing. It makes me aware of just how little we know about nature. It's common to believe that we know about nature, but people have had that attitude since the beginning. We're probably about as superstitious as any of them. What we know is a tiny fraction of what can be known.

I assume that Jesus knew a lot that's still a mystery to us.