The Acts of the Apostles 41

Subtitle: Peter Continues to Minister

Acts 9:32-43.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 21, 2023.

We are picking back up where left off several months ago.  At this point in the book of Acts, Luke has detailed the beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem and its spread.  He has also introduced Saul, his persecution of the followers of Jesus, and his conversion to faith in Jesus as Messiah.  After an attempt on his life, Saul left the area and went back to Tarsus, his hometown.

Luke's narrative now turns back to the Apostle Peter.  Today, we will look at two miracles of healing that were done through Peter.  All of this is leading up to an important event in Acts 10.  It will be the first time that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes upon Gentiles who believe in Jesus.

Let's look at our passage.

The healing of Aeneas (v. 32-35)

Here is a link to a map of the area in our story today.

In Acts 8:40, we are told that Philip, a deacon of Jerusalem, had preached in all of the cities from Azotus to Caesarea.  God worked through Philip to do miracles, healings, and exorcisms.  Lydda and Joppa would fall within this area.  Thus, Philip would have seen healings and salvations in Lydda, and there had been ministry in the name of Jesus already.

Verse 32 tells us that Peter was going throughout all of the area and visiting believers.  He is being faithful to the Lord's command to him, "Feed my sheep."  Just as Peter and John followed up on Philip's ministry in Samaria, so Peter is now coming into these areas after Philip.  It could be as much as a year or two since Philip has ministered here.  Some of these saints in Lydda may also have fled to there from the earlier persecution in Jerusalem under Saul of Tarsus.  Regardless, Jesus intended his disciples, apostles, to be a gift to the early Church, helping it to be established firmly upon His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 33 tells us that Peter "found" a certain man named Aeneas.  He had been bed-ridden from a paralysis for eight years.  We know very little about this man.  It doesn't say that he was a believer like it will mention with Tabitha in the next event that Luke relates.

It also begs the question.  Where was Aeneas when Philip ministered in the area earlier?  Why wasn't he healed and saved then?  However, we could ask the same question about people who were healed by the apostles.  Jesus had ministered throughout Israel for three and a half years, healing people and casting out demons.

There seems to be a certain accident of timing in many things in life.  The timing can be affected by the person.  Were they gone when it happened, or unreceptive at that time?  It can be affected by circumstances outside of the person's control.  Why are some reached quickly and others take a great length of time?  On this side of eternity, our lives are filled with questions that will most likely remain unanswered.  Our walk and experience with the Lord is not dependent upon having all of the answers.  What matters is that a person comes to faith in the work of Jesus as their Anointed Savior, and submit to him as their Lord.

You may notice that your conversations with some who are not Christians can devolve into one question about detail in the Bible after another.  However, at some point, you have to move a way from questions that are the theological equivalent of "Did Adam have a belly button?" and  press the issue.  Can you now put your trust in Jesus as God's answer for your sin and the sin of the world? 

We are never going to have all of the answers.  Even if we did, you may think about whether or not it would actually help us.  Peter's power came from a trusting relationship with the Lord and not from having all of the answers.

I love how Peter says to Aeneas, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you."  Peter wants to make it abundantly clear just how this healing is happening.  We shouldn't turn this into a kind of mantra that always works to perform healings, and yet, we shouldn't rush past it.  God does use people in different ways, and we should recognize that.  However, we can never see that person as our source.  God is our source.  He is the giver of ever good and perfect gift.

Peter then tells Aeneas to arise and make his bed.  It was most likely a bed roll so making it is most likely rolling it up.  Yet, we are told that he arose immediately.  The cynic may cry foul, and call it a long con, but that just doesn't make sense.  He is not going to convincingly pretend to be paralyzed for 8 years in order to make the disciples of Jesus look good after Jesus himself was crucified.  However, Aeneas was initially paralyzed, God touched the underlying issue and he was healed in an instant!

The spread of this story among the people of Lydda and the area around it called the Sharon led to an influx of believers into the faith.  Just like this paralytic not being healed, we see that there were still people who needed to be saved.  They had resisted, or missed out, earlier, but now they have finally believed.  Oh, the grace of God to not give up on us!

The phrase "turned to the Lord" reminds us that salvation is not just a matter of intellectually faith in Jesus and a change of life-style.  It is also a relationship with the Lord Jesus who is the master.  They have changed their mind and become his students.  They have believed on Jesus and have been born again by the Spirit of God into His family as a child of God.  They have said "Yes" to Jesus and have taken their place among the bride of Christ.  God is always working to bring us into proper relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

They had been resisting, but now they believed.  What if God was as easily miffed as we are?  God's grace kept sending people their way.  Yes, for all people, there is a last time that the gospel is brought to our minds and hearts, but even then God loves us to the very end.

The raising of Tabitha (v. 36-43)

At this point, our story segues to the nearby coastal city of Joppa, modern-day Tel Abib-Yafo.  The news of the healing of Aeneas spreads so that the believers in Joppa hear that Peter is nearby.  While this good thing is happening in Lydda, there is trouble in Joppa among the believers.

A woman named Tabitha becomes sick and dies.  Luke notes for his Greek readers that her Aramaic name of Tabitha is equivalent to the Greek name Dorcas.  Both of the names mean "gazelle" in their respective languages, and she was a graceful woman.  She was a very industrious doer of charitable works among the people of Joppa.  Verse 39 gives us an idea of at least one thing that she did.  It speaks of the widows weeping and showing the tunics and garments that Tabitha had made for them while she was alive.  Apparently, Tabitha was able to afford making and giving away these garments to the less fortunate in town.

We could contrast this with a man like Peter.  We should not put down very natural gifts of helps like Tabitha displayed in relation to the supernatural gifts that were displayed through Peter.  We can be guilty of diminishing the importance of simply using the natural gifts of God in our life to bless others.  It reminds me of Moses when God sends him to go to Egypt and deliver the Israelites.  Moses is very intimidated by the task.  However, God asks him, "What is that in your hand?"  It was a simply staff, but it was all Moses needed as long as the Spirit of God was with Him.  The Spirit of God used Tabitha to bless people, but not through healings and raising people from the dead.  It is not that Peter had no natural abilities either, and Tabitha no spiritual ones.  Both of them upon their deaths would find people weeping over their passing.

So, Tabitha became sick and died during the time that Peter was at Lydda.  Tabitha is the kind of person that we can struggle with their deaths.  She is not dying of old age.  Why would God allow her to die?  We need more people like her.  Why don't you take a bad person?  Many are the questions that people have of God. 

Clearly, not all believers are healed from disease, and even less are raised back to life from death.  There are only a few stories from the Old Testament.  Jesus himself raised three people back to life: the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus.  There are only two stories of someone raised back to life in the New Testament.  Peter raising Tabitha here, and Paul raising Eutychus, a young man who fell out of a window and died- probably breaking his neck, or blunt force trauma.

In all of these cases, it is probably best not to use the term resurrection.  They are brought back to life, but into mortal bodies.  This is different from the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of resurrection to believers (1 Corinthians 15).  At the resurrection, believers receive a glorified, immortal body.  The story here is more on the level of an impossible "healing." 

Lazarus was raised from the dead after being in the grave for four days.  Yet, he went on to grow old and die.  When he died, Jesus did not come down out of the heavens and raise him back to life, or send an apostle, nor should we see his later death as some kind of failure with the spiritual power of the Church.  Lazarus would die a second time and, though it too would be sad, it would be the grace of God.  He can let go of this mortal body knowing that he shall have a glorified one in the resurrection.  This is not to discount this mortal life.  It is in this mortal life that God teaches us about Himself, and we can do exploits for His glory.   It is where we learn to trust Him!

Some think that God should have made us powerful like the angels.  They seem to see our weakness as an argument against the goodness of God.  But, it seems that a perfect world is one in which we face the exact kind of difficulties that will enable us to become like God enough to understand His heart.  I'm reminded of the classic problem of a man who creates a business from scratch from hard work and over the top of great adversity.  No matter how good of a man he is, his kids, and then grandkids, will not have as much adversity as he did.  They will only know a life of being born with a silver spoon in their mouth.  This doesn't guarantee that a kid will be spoiled and not like their grandfather, but it tends towards that.  It appears that a world in which nothing can ever go wrong would more likely ensure that none of us truly understood God and became like Him.  We would never truly be able to have a deep relationship with Him.

Christians have a greater hope than having someone pray for us and being healed, or raised from the dead.  The God that can heal mortal bodies and raise them back to mortal life, can do even greater things than that!  He is able to do far above what we often are wanting from Him at the time.  Let us learn to trust the Lord.

Back to our story, we are told that the disciples send for Peter and urge him to come without delay.  This seems to imply that she wasn't dead yet when they sent for him.  I say this because they would have no expectation that Peter would raise her from the dead.  None of the apostles had done such a thing.  Yet, she passes before Peter comes.

Verse 39 describes the scene as Peter shows up in Joppa.  They brought him to the room where Tabitha's body has been prepared for burial.  There are women weeping, mourning her death, and explaining what a special woman she was.

However, at verse 40, something changes.  Peter has all of the weeping women and others leave the room.  We then see a scene similar to the time that Jesus healed the daughter of Jairus in Mark 5.  Peter was there and saw all that Jesus did.  Surely, this is not he first person in the Church around Peter to die.  What gives rise to this coming raising of Tabitha from the dead?

This is conjecture at this point, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit put it in Peter's mind and heart.  Something about this scene gave Peter the faith, or belief, that God may want to raise this woman back to life.  First of all, we are told in Mark 5:41 that when Jesus healed the girl he said, "Talitha, cumi."  Talitha is an Aramaic word that simply means "little girl," and cumi means "rise."  Talitha sounds the same as Tabitha, but is different by one letter.  I think that, upon hearing that her name was Tabitha, Peter remembered Jesus saying "Talitha, cumi."  This may have put the question in his mind.  Does the Lord want to raise her?

Thus, Peter does the same thing as Jesus did by putting the people out of the room.  In Mark 5, Jesus was clearly bolder than Peter.  He told the people the girl was merely sleeping and that he would wake her.  They began to ridicule her.  Thus, for Jesus, it appears that he is removing the doubters, not just so that he could perform the miracle, but also because this was a holy thing and they were not worthy to witness it. 

We can become stuck in a group that is not speaking and walking in faith in Jesus.  Even if it is not spoken, people can be cynical and doubtful.  God's people will not thrive in an environment of doubt.

Peter does something that Jesus didn't.  Peter gets on his knees and begins to pray.  Jesus prayed all the time, but he didn't need to pray on the scene to do a miracle.  Jesus was already prayed up, and knew the will of the Father.  But, this is just Peter.  I think Peter is praying for understanding from the Lord.  Lord, are you really wanting to heal this woman?  Do you want me to command this dead body to rise? It doesn't say how long he prayed, but at some point, Peter says to the body, "Tabitha, rise."  Luke doesn't say what language Peter used, as Mark does with Jesus.  However, I tend to think that Peter said, "Tabitha, cumi."  It is not the language and the words that brought Tabitha back to life, it was faith in Jesus and trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit that healed her that opened the door for the Lord to heal her.

We want to avoid two extremes that exist today.  Some point to a passage like this and attempt to make it normative for every Christian at all times.  To them, the Church should be raising people back to life all over the place, and when you really have Jesus, you will do this too.  This is in the face that the whole New Testament only lists twice that this happened in around 30 years of ministry.  It was a rare thing.

On the other hand, some go to the other extreme and say that God doesn't heal or raise people from the dead anymore.  It is one thing to say that raising from the dead is rare, but quite another to say that God doesn't do this any more, to say that God doesn't heal anyone any more.  What does the Word of God say?  It tells us that, when someone is sick, we should call the elders together, anoint the person with oil, and pray for them.  Whether God grants a miracle or not is up to Him.  My part is to be a person on his knees seeking God for what His will and purpose is, and then do it.

Just as God used Tabitha to dress some widows in Joppa, so He can use a doctor to help you, i.e., through natural means.  However, God is able to use anything.  He still has the creative power to turn dirt into a body, and a broken body into a healed body.  We will never be able to put God's power into a Petri dish.  God is not jumping through our hoops to satisfy our fleshly mind, or curiosity.  But, He does care about your soul, and He does want a relationship of trust and faith with you.-o

When you think about it, Tabitha's raising back to life is a mercy to the people of Joppa rather than to her.  She was in the presence of the Lord.  There can be a level of selfishness in our mourning and crying out to God about His purpose in taking someone "too soon."  If they knew Jesus, then they are in a better place.  However, the answer is not to "de-supernaturalize" our faith and walk with God.  Rather, He is the one that we always need, and it is to Him that we should always look.  Lord, what do you want me to do in this moment?  Help me to honor you.

In these stories, the tragedies are reversed by God, or at least, they are ameliorated, improved by His grace.  However, let us know that, even if these people had not been healed or raised from the dead, God still would love the people of Lydda and Joppa.  He would still love Aeneas, and Tabitha.

Luke does not describe the shock and joy when the people see Tabitha alive.  She responds immediately to Peter's command to rise.  She sits up and he helps her out of bed, presenting her to the people.

News spread about this amazing miracle, leading many to believe on Jesus.  Luke ends this story with the note that Peter stayed at Joppa for many days at the house of Simon the Tanner.  The influx of people who heard about the miracle provides a great springboard to sharing the Gospel of Jesus.

God gives miracles from time to time, but they are not the emphasis.  The emphasis is people turning to the Lord Jesus because they see that he is truly the one who can forgive sins, and make us right with God.  May God help us to be a people of faith! 

Let us not make anything become an ultimatum to the Lord because we don't understand.  Instead, let us trust Him because He has proven trustworthy.  If you challenge God to heal someone, or do a certain thing, as a condition of faith, He may simply not do it.  He loves you too much to jump through your hoops on demand.  His purpose is bigger than this mortal life, even eternal in scope.  Trust God because He loves you and is fitting you even now for an eternal relationship with Him.

This generation needs people who are trusting in God.  Even those who ridicule you for your faith do not understand just how much they need you to stand firm.  They will never see it, or admit it, until the day that they come to faith in Jesus.  May we be God's blessing to the people in our life in the ways that He determines.

Peter ministers audio