This new year let’s focus on the Lord, and keep our hope in God. Today by looking at 2 people who were healed by our Lord Jesus, let’s look at the blessings of living by the life given by our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. Jesus Christ heals you. (vs. 32-35)
Peter reappears here. In Acts 8:25 after he left Samaria he has not appeared. Saul who had persecuted the church on his way to Damascus is converted. In Acts it seems like Peter passes the baton to Saul. However, Luke in the last part of chapter 9 and chapter 10 again tells us about Peter. This is probably because before telling us about Paul’s evangelism to the Gentiles, he wanted to tell us the role that Peter played. After leaving Samaria, Peter followed his calling, and traveled about the country with the Gospel and encouraged, guided, and taught the saints wherever he went. Lydda, Sharon, and Joppa are all cities North West of Jerusalem and finally Peter continued in that direction until he reached the Mediterranean Sea’s Northern port town, Caesarea.
In the middle of his evangelistic travels, he met a man in Lydda. He had been paralyzed for 8 years and was bedridden. His name was Aeneas. He said to him,”Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” (34) And “Immediately Aeneas got up.” (34)
Compared with the greatness of the event, it is written very simply. However this does not mean that this event is to be taken lightly, or that it was a very easy event. Actually it is in this type of simplistic writing, that the thing that must be clear can be fully said. That is that “Jesus Christ heals you”. (34) In other words, the central cause of the healing is Jesus Christ. When Peter said, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” (34) He is saying that Jesus has touched you.
1st Peter calls “Aeneas” by name. This is like when Jesus called Zaccheaus in Luke 19:5. Zaccheaus was so thrilled. When a person is called by his name, he feels like he is loved, and accepted. Therefore, when Aeneas was called by his name, he must have felt the love of Jesus Christ.
2nd Next Peter says, “Jesus Christ heals you.” Jesus who was put one the cross, died, rose, and is now in heaven is now touching Aeneas. It is Jesus Christ who is healing Aeneas. This shows the faith of Peter that Jesus heals and that He has the power to heal.
3rd Then Peter says, “Get up and take care of your mat.” These are the same words that Jesus spoke when the 4 men lowered the paralyzed man down through the roof of the place where Jesus was speaking. (Mark 2:11) Probably Peter remembered this event. Not only that but he wanted the man to be healed. Any one who has been paralyzed for 8 years has begun to think that this is the way it is and has lost all ability to even ask to be healed. For such a person it is necessary that they believe that Jesus can heal them, and get up out of their bed. If that person has that type of desire then it doesn’t matter whether they are healed or not. The problem is that by the body becoming sick the heart becomes sick. It looses the desire to become well. In order for that to not happen, we need to believe that Jesus has the power to heal, and stand up.
When Peter said this to Aeneas, “immediately Aeneas got up.” (34) What a wonderful work of the Lord! The work of Christ by the Holy Spirit, through the church is going on today too. Jesus has the power to do so.
II. Tabitha, get up. (vs. 36-39)
In Joppa Peter meets another person, Tabitha, a female disciple. She is introduced as having the name Dorcas which was the Greek name for the Aramaic name Tabitha. Dorcas means gazelle. In the Old Testament, a gazelle was a sign of beauty and kindness. Dorcas was full of love and beauty. We can see this in the words, “always doing good and helping” (37)
Dorcas “became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room.” (37) Usually when a Jew died the person was buried that day. They thought to leave the body sitting was disrespectable to the person who died. Man was made from the dust of the earth so to return the person to the earth was the proper thing to do and showed respect to the person. Since the person’s spirit had already returned to God, to leave his body lying around was disrespectable to the person who died and shameful to the family. However when Dorcas died they didn’t immediately bury her. This is because they heard that Peter was in Lydda. “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!” (38)
“Peter went with them.” (39) When he got there she was laying in the upstairs room. Since she had already died we wonder why the disciples sent two men to bring Peter to Joppa. Perhaps they thought that to have Peter give the message at her funeral would be the best thing they could do for Dorcas who had done so much for them. Probably more than that they had heard about Aeneas being healed in Lydda and they anticipated that Peter would perform some miracle. Whether they looked forward to the Word of God or whether they looked forward to a miracle, the important thing is that they put their hope and expectations in God. This year like the people of Joppa, let’s look to God and put our hopes and expectations in Him.
When Peter got to Joppa they took him to the room upstairs. “All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made.” (39) In her life she had made a great impact on others. She is as Hebrews 11:4 says “And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.” Church history is full of such people. They followed the Lord faithfully; they shared the Lord’s love. In verse 41 after she rose, family members are not mentioned. Perhaps she never married or perhaps she was a widow. Even so she served Christ and the church helping the poor widows, those who were suffering, and doing many great works. The fact that many people were crying shows how much she had given during her life.
However, Jesus Christ who stood Aeneas up didn’t just pass by Dorcas either.
Verses 40 & 41
Peter did exactly what Jesus did when he raised the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. (Luke 8:41-56) When Jesus entered the house, Jesus allowed only Peter and John and James and the child’s mother and father to go in the house with him. He had everyone else go outside. Peter also sent everyone outside. Then what Jesus said, “My child, get up!” (Luke 8:54) is exactly the same. Also Jesus took her by the hand and she stood up. Peter did the same.
There is only one thing that is different. However this one difference is a big difference at the root of the miracle. Jesus resurrected the daughter by his own strength. However Peter “got down on his knees and prayer.” (40) He prayed before he said, “Tabitha, get up.” (40) In other words, Jesus meant, “I will make you stand up so my child, get up!” Peter means, “Jesus will make you stand up so Tabitha, get up.” Therefore, the meaning is the same as when Peter said to Aeneas, “Jesus Christ heals you.” (34) This miracle has the same contents as the earlier one. In other words, Jesus performed the miracle, not Peter. Jesus has the power to stand people up and raise people from the dead.
III. Living in the life of Christ. (vs. 42)
In verse 42 the purpose of Peter raising Dorcas is written. The miracle “became known all over Joppa and many people believed in the Lord.” (42) For Dorcas death is a blessing. Then why did she need to be resurrected? That was because there were many people weeping for her. When she was resurrected, Peter showed her to all those people. (41) Dorcas wasn’t just someone who followed the Lord and then as a result of illness her life was over and was living only in their memories, but because Christ raised her up again, she was a witness to Jesus Christ’s life and the grace and strength that it provides. The people were able to be raised out of the despair of death.
The same is true of Aeneas’ miracle too. According to verse 35, “All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” By Aeneas standing up many people were given hope. They were given the hope that Jesus Christ has the power to heal.
However, this was not for Aeneas and Dorcas only. Jesus Christ who made them stand, and raised them up does the same today through the Holy Spirit. Through those resurrected witnesses He gives life to those around the witnesses. The Bible continues to speak the Good news, the Gospel message. That message is that by believing in Christ, that person will be able to live in and have real life. We whose hearts are dieing in sin can once again become clean and living. Our hearts which are suffering from sickness, problems, and hurts can once again be set free. Like Aeneas, we can stand again. Even if we are lying on the floor of the despair of death, if we believe in Christ, we can by his life be lifted up from the floor of despair. We can get up from the floor of death. Those who see that and hear that, many people will return to Christ and believe in him. This morning let’s receive this life. Then let’s begin and live this new year by this life.