Tuesday - Pentecost 15
Readings
Job 6:1-21
Acts 9:32-43
John 6:60-71
Meditation
We had a small break in the Acts story. Luke (the writer of acts) tells us about the Samarian mission and Philip. He also gives us the start of Paul - the Damascus road experience. With today’s text we are back on the main early thread. This is a Parson Brown conjecture from trying to piece together the NT accounts and the early church history, but Peter is the solidifier of early church missions. First we had Philip in Samaria, and now Peter travels to Lydda and Joppa which are both on the way to Samaria. Paul is sent out from the Antiochan church and then Peter shows up causing the confrontation Paul records in Gal 2:11. It continues through chruch history with Peter moving to Corinth for a time and eventually on to Rome, both following Paul Peter solidifies, rock that he is, what others have planted. Hence the Pope not only claims the see of Peter, but actually the see of Peter and Paul. (He always gets to one up everyone.)
Speaking of back on the main thread, Peter travels around visiting the saints, and heals Aeneas and even brings Tabitha (or Dorcas in greek) back to life. The miracles that Jesus did are now found in the Apostles. Which in our modern time is always a hard story to read. Where are our amazing miracles? They do happen sometimes. We all know of isolated cases of healing or the miracles the Roman church confirms to ‘make a saint’. It seems capricious. But what is the fundamental point of miracles? They are signs and wonders. They point to the underlying truth of the claims made by those doing the miracles. Jesus said, “If you don’t believe me at least believe the miracles.” Ultimately miracle belief is not enough, but miracles are like apologetics. You can’t argue someone into belief, but you can give reasons for why belief is reasonable. When was the last time you knew of someone restored to this life from the dead? Joppa saw it and “many people believed in the Lord.” The miracles support the message. They are not the end in themselves.
May you see the truth of the the Lord Jesus even if you don’t see a miracle.
PS. I knew a woman in elementary school by the name Dorcas (which means the same thing as Tabitha, gazelle). Poor woman, times changed on her. As late as 1938 it was the 638th most popular girls’ name - ranking above Isabella, Angelina, Hallie, Sydney, and Lisa along with many others. The culture, especially with girl’s names, went away from Biblical names (even obscure ones like Dorcas) toward the more idiosyncratic. Names tell a lot about a time period.
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