4 Easter Year C 5/11/2025
Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
One of the things that is great about Eastertide…
These 50 days of celebrating our Lord’s resurrection from the dead…
And reflecting on all that it means…
Is that liturgically, we read some of the great stories of the Book of Acts.
The Book of Acts was written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke.
And in the beginning of Acts, the author, who is most likely Luke the Evangelist, wrote this opening:
In my former book, Theophilus,
(Theophilus was probably a patron who helped fund the research and writing.) He says:
I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.
He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
This is where we get the Biblical record for our season of Easter…
Or as it is known as Eastertide.
40 days from the resurrection to the Ascension.
And then 10 days from the Ascension to the Day of Pentecost.
50 days total.
And this bit including Ascension and Pentecost is found here in the Book of Acts.
A continuation of Luke’s Gospel and the story goes on and on describing the events of the first followers of the resurrected Lord Jesus.
In our reading today, we get a story about the well-known disciple named Peter and a lady named Tabitha.
Now in that day,
Tabitha was a well-known disciple, known for doing good and helping out.
However, she became sick and died.
And her friends prepared her body for burial and put her in a cool room.
Peter was visiting nearby and her friends asked if he would be so kind as to come over.
Peter went with them and 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 and Peter put them all out of the room.
He knelt and prayed.
And then he spoke directly to the body: “Tabitha, get up.”
She opened her eyes.
And when she saw Peter, she sat up.
He took her by the hand and helped her up.
Then he called in the believers and widows,
and presented her to them alive.
The story is quite amazing in itself…
And yet… there are striking similarities in our narrative of the raising to life of Tabitha and the raising to life of the dead daughter of Jairus… way back in the Gospel of Luke 8:40-56.
Scholar and Episcopal Priest, Wesley Hill writes comparing the stories:
Like Jesus, Peter first sends the mourners out of the room where the deceased, Tabitha, lies.
Like Jesus, Peter uses a direct word of command.
Like Jesus, Peter takes Tabitha by the hand.
Like Jesus, he calls together those she had loved before her death and presents her back to them, alive.
Dr. Hill goes on to write:
Acts is about the life and ministry of Jesus continuing after his departure in his followers.[1]
In this way, the followers of Jesus, like Peter, are to carry out the ministry of Jesus…
It is ongoing…
All of us, as followers of Jesus, are to carry out the ministry of Jesus.
The things that Jesus did…
We are to do.
The amazing things and the uncomfortable things…
All the things that Jesus did…
His followers are to imitate.
And this becomes abundantly clear when we consider that the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts have the same author…
Luke is wanting us to think of Peter as imitating Jesus.
And this is what he wants to encourage all the followers of Jesus to do.
Imitate Jesus.
Imitate the Son of God.
Sort of like that bracelet – What Would Jesus Do… WWJD?
So, we should imitate Jesus.
But that’s not all…
We also carry the message of who Jesus was and is and what he did and what that means for people today.
We continue the ministry of Jesus and the message of Jesus.
This is what Peter did after Tabitha was raised back to life.
Our scripture reading says:
…many believed in the Lord (and) meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time…
Well, what did he do in Joppa?
Did he just lay low?
Did he just absorb all the good vibes and the popularity of raising Tabitha to life?
Did he retire for awhile and take some time off enjoying the Mediterranean coastal town of Joppa?
I don’t think so.
Chances are Peter continued to proclaim the message of Jesus…
He would have proclaimed the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah.
For that is what he has done throughout the book of Acts.
He continued the proclamation of the gospel.
The message of faith, grace, and love in the cross of Jesus.
The message of hope and victory in the resurrection of Jesus.
For that is what he did on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 when he spoke up about what Jesus did and who he was, and three thousand people came to faith in Jesus that day.
For that is what he did in front of the Jewish leadership called the Sanhedrin in Acts 3 and 4.
In fact, the Sanhedrin commanded Peter not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter… replied,
“Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him?
You be the judges!
As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
(Acts 4:18-20)
Peter witnessed the truth about Jesus Christ…
He proclaimed the Gospel…
The good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Wesley Hill writes further concerning this, he says:
…in addition to focusing on how the apostles carried on the work of Jesus,
the story of Acts is also about recalling memories of Jesus and continuing to tell his story,
not just as the story of a concluded human life
but a human life that is ongoing and capable of changing current events.[2]
And this is what we are called to as well.
Our call is to live out this resurrection of Jesus.
Living in faith, living our future resurrection in Jesus.
The hope that we have that we will live forever with Jesus after death,
is the truth that we live out in the here and now.
As it says in our Prayer Book:
For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed,
Not ended;
and when our mortal body lies in death,
there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.
(BCP, 382)
We live out the resurrection… imitating Jesus.
We proclaim the message of the resurrection… proclaiming the gospel.
We do it by both word and deed.
By deed through kindness,
through miracles,
through strengthening each other in love,
through resisting sin,
through being courageous with our biblical human sexuality,
through feeding the poor,
through forgiveness,
through standing up for the marginalized,
through love.
By word we proclaim the message of Jesus Christ…
That he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life… (John 14:6)
That Jesus Christ died and rose again…
That Jesus ascended into heaven and he will return to judge the living and the dead…
That the only way to the Father is through His son, Jesus Christ
(John 14:6).
It is the proclamation of the Gospel…
The message of good news.
The disciples did not just go around and do nice things.
In fact, throughout the book of Acts, the Christian leaders were in and out of prison because they declared that Jesus was Lord…
That he had died and rose again…
That he was the true King!
Not Herod, Not Caesar…
But Jesus the forever King.
So as we celebrate and contemplate these 50 days of Eastertide…
Reading through the book of Acts,
Hearing each Sunday the stories and teachings of Jesus…
May we be strengthened in our calling by God’s grace…
To go…
To go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything (Jesus has commanded).
(Matthew 28:19-20)
And because Jesus did in fact, rise to life on that resurrection morning, we can in faith and in hope believe the promise he gave:
…surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
(Matthew 28:20)
Praise be to God for the resurrection!
Praise be to Jesus for our salvation!
Praise to the Holy Spirit who leads us,
guides us,
and transforms us
as we share the good news of Jesus.
Praise be to God!
Amen.
[1] Wesley Hill, Easter (Downers Grove: IVP, 2025), 66-67.
[2] Wesley Hill, Easter (Downers Grove: IVP, 2025), 69.
