Tabitha, Get Up

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 10, 2015

Acts 9:40

Tabitha, Get Up

In the name of the Father and of † the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. (Acts 9:40)

I.

We're not told if Tabitha was a mother, but she was clearly like a mother and sister to many people. And she was busy! She went to church and received the preaching of Christ. She went to Communion and received the very body of Christ. She was busy doing good for herself by joyfully receiving the gifts of God every Sunday.

She also joyfully made clothes for the Body of Christ, which is another name for the Church. She made robes and other clothes for those who needed clothes. So when she died, it came as a great calamity for those who loved her and depended on her.

But then what happens next is strange. If you don't slow down and think about, you won't notice it.

About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 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!" (Acts 9:37-38)

Peter ended up at Tabitha's death bed because two men were sent to get Peter. But why? Why did they send two men to Peter? What were they expecting to happen? Were they expecting a resurrection or were they simply expecting Peter to preach for her funeral? Were they expecting Tabitha to rise from the dead on that day or the last day, when all the dead will rise?

II.

Of the resurrections in the Bible, the getting up of the little 12-year old girl by Jesus' reminds me most of Him using Peter to get Tabitha up.

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. . . . some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Mark 5:21-24a, 35b-43)

Some deaths make the news: Ebola deaths in Africa, the deadly Nepalese earthquake, a family suddenly attacked in Wisconsin, or even overnight the police officers killed in Mississippi.

However, most deaths don't make the news. But they are still nothing less than personal catastrophes. For Jarius and the friends of Tabitha, these deaths were calamities. Their world was now very different.

You might be able to relate. When someone we love dies, the taste of death is sharp and bitter. For some of you who have lost loved ones in recent years, the bitterness may still be sharp. For others who may have loved ones visibly close to death, the waiting is difficult.

Whether the death in your life is newsworthy or not, let's be honest, as only Christians can be. Death is senseless and cruel. Trying to find meaning for death is a hopeless task, because death is unnatural. Death is not a natural part of life. Death wasn't how God made us. Our sin brings death to us, and since we live in a world filled with fellow sinners, death is all around us. The little 12-year old girl died, Tabitha died, and so will we.

III.

And that's why Jesus died. So that He could save us from our death.

The most striking words ever spoken to Tabitha and the little girl were "Get up!" In the original language, the words used by Jesus and Peter were different: Jesus was literally telling the little girl to wake up from sleep; Peter was telling Tabitha to stand up from death. And in Christ waking up from sleep and rising from death are possible and actually happen.

What does this mean for your mothers? For your little daughters? For all of us?

Let me explain it this way. Most of the time Jesus makes wine the slow way using sunshine, rain, vintners, fermentation, bottles, and the grocery store. Once He sped things up and made wine from water at the wedding of Cana. He did it to make sure the wedding guests had wine to drink; He also sped things up to show His people who He is.

At the end of time Jesus will awaken and get up sleeping dead bodies, speaking His Word to bring life back into dust. Let's call this the slow way. But once in a while, He sped things up. Jesus got up from the dead first and most importantly. The getting up of the little girl and Tabitha follow. And at the end, if we do die, we will be gotten up. Paul wrote:

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a Man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

For mothers and those are who are like mothers to us, for daughters and those daughters that were never born, we will be patient in Christ, the Great Getter-Upper.

What were Tabitha's friends expecting when they went to get Peter? Nothing less than the promise of Christ to Tabitha and all of us: that when Death brings us down, He will get us up.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. Alleluia! Amen!