Fourth Sunday after Pascha – Sunday of the Paralytic.
The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian; Our Venerable Father Arsenius the Great (408-50)
Acts 9:32-42; 1 John 1:1-7; John 5:1-15; John 19:25-27; 21:24-25
Read Acts 9:32-42
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Poor Peter. The ministry of the gospel takes place in the most human of conditions. Peter is ushered into an upper room where Tabitha’s body lies and he is immediately accosted by wailing women clutching their tunics and robes to show him what Tabitha had made for them. He has to physically clear the room. Even apostles had challenging days at the office.
But that was more than just crowd control. Peter was focusing on the promise of Christ to him that He would “also do the works that I do,” and that, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” As in the gospels, so throughout Acts and beyond, Jesus Christ is the absolute focal point of the work of God in our world. Peter knows that and acts accordingly: he kneels and prays that Tabitha may be raised from the dead and she is.
But why are we given so much detail about Tabitha? One, St. Luke intends us to observe him making her known to various readers. Her Aramaic name, Tabitha, identifies her as a Jewish Christian but, pointing to the increasingly cosmopolitan makeup of the Church, her name in Greek is also given. Two, we are told that Tabitha is “full” of good works and charity just as Stephen was “full” of faith and the Holy Spirit. The blessings of Christ are not sprinkled around like pixie dust. Yes, there will be a general resurrection but until then such merciful acts have revelatory significance. The intersection of her virtuous life and the miracle of resurrection was not lost on the people of her city and many turned to Christ. Like Peter, like Tabitha, like the people of Lydda and Joppa, focus on Christ.