In many ways, it feels fitting that we would get these readings this weekend, as we gathered yesterday to remember the life of Carla. As I mentioned yesterday, her family talked about her deep love of her faith and this world, from her knitting to her guardianship roles, she was always caring for her loved ones and her community. We see a reflection of that today with the story of Dorcas, otherwise known as Tabitha. This woman whose faith was so exemplary that the writer Luke goes so far as to call her a disciple (Acts 9: 36). While the story today isn’t just about Dorcas, especially how the Lectionary writers set up the theme for the week, I would be remiss to not mention the life of this disciple and the ways she tended to her community as well.
Tabitha’s death is one that was deeply felt in the community, as they tended to her body and asked for Peter to come be present with them (Acts 9: 38). While we so frequently focus on Peter’s role in this, as we remember the life of Carla this weekend and as we gather on this Mother’s Day, I want us to not forget the people who have tended to and cared for us during our lives too. Her actions were motherly and full of care for the human life that surrounded her, and it’s a beautiful example of this love of Christ. And, I love that we get to hear this piece of her story today because so often we hear or we think of caring for the flock as only being the work of Jesus and Peter.
If you ask me, Dorcas’ work in the community was just as important as Peter’s! She was also tending to the needs of the flock! Her work was so vast that Luke includes both her Aramaic and Greek names in this reading because she was assumed to have ministered to all people in her community, whether they were of Jewish descent or Greek. Even in her time, when the apostles were still arguing about what it meant to be a part of this community that followed Christ, Dorcas just did it. She was really an example of what it means to love your neighbor across these differences that Christ said no longer mattered in the eyes of God.
But I do also want to look at what Peter is doing in this reading today. Because I don’t think this story is just about the raising of Tabitha, but it has so much more impact and depth than that. While it may not seem like it right away when we hear the Scripture readings for this week, our Lectionary writers gave us readings that continue the theme from last week’s Gospel. It’s one of the few times it feels like the Lectionary writers gave us preachers something easier to work with, at least if we just pay attention to what the men are doing, so thanks for following along with Tabitha’s story for a little bit first! If you recall from last week, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, and at Peter’s affirmative response, Jesus gives him commands to “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” and “Feed my sheep” (John 21: 15-18). In case it wasn’t clear what Jesus was sending Peter out to do, our readings this week spend some more time talking about the Lamb of God and giving us imagery about what it means to be a Shepherd in the way that Jesus was the Good Shepherd.
As we know from Psalm 23, the Shepherd provides care, rest, protection, and comfort to the sheep. When we think about what this looks like with actual sheep, the Shepherd looks out for their well-being, keeping the predators away, helping steer them in the direction of food and water that will nourish, directing them back to the path when they stray, and finding places where they can truly rest without being on high alert. It is a sign of trust between the Shepherd and the sheep, as the sheep learn the Shepherd’s voice and the Shepherd learns what each individual sheep needs to best live. This is not all that different from the ways that Jesus tends to and cares for his flock, if we think about it. Even in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the religious leaders “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Jesus looks out for the needs of his people, and in turn they trust him enough to follow him, and in doing so trust that they would indeed be cared for in the ways they need.
Our Gospel reading comes right after the portion of Scripture when Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd. If our readings today spend this much time talking about what it means to be a shepherd, in many ways it does so to help us understand what Peter is being sent to do. So, when he rushes to Dorcas’ bedside, the focus isn’t even just on her being raised from the dead, even though that mirrors the way that Christ healed and raised those who had died (Acts 9:40). While that is the miracle in the story, it is also sandwiched between two important things that Peter is doing in his acts as shepherd to Christ’s sheep. He joins people in their grief, entering into the space to pray and be present. He continues to provide care for those most in need. And, after all of this happens, he doesn’t leave right away, but instead stayed with Simon the Tanner (Acts 9: 43), someone who would have been more on the outskirts of society because of his messy, smelly, unclean profession. When Peter rushes into Joppa, he does so in a way that he walks alongside the people and extends the love of Christ to those he ministers to. He witnesses the ways that Tabitha has cared for her community through her acts of charity and the ways that she quite literally clothed her neighbors, and responds in turn with care of his own. It’s a beautiful sign of the trust between this new Shepherd and the flock of Jesus, especially because they felt that they could call on Peter and he would come. He responds to the needs of the people around him, in the way that Jesus’ example taught him to do.
When we hear these stories coupled with the narratives about what it means to be a Shepherd, we are invited to think about the ways that we are called to tend to and care for others too. This isn’t even necessarily a call to do more, but to help see the care you are already extending in a new light. And, while we do so, it is also important to remember that the Good Shepherd, Christ, is there to care for us too. We are called to also be tended to, as beloveds of God. We are invited into this space where we love and care for one another and receive that in return. This is not a call to never tend to our own needs or ask someone for help. But to be cared for in return is also a sign of trust and love that we are called to embrace.
As I mentioned last week, when Jesus sends Peter out as the Shepherd, to tend and feed the sheep, it is a call that transforms Peter’s life, but also the foundation of the church. We become not just a place to gather and perform our weekly rituals only to leave and not think about it again until the next week. Instead, the church becomes a place where people can bring their tears, fears, pains, and hurts. Where they can be seen and valued as individuals with specific needs and concerns. It becomes a place where people are also able to bring their joy, miracles, hopes, and dreams. It is a place built on trust, in each other and God’s care, since we trust that the Good Shepherd knows us and calls us by name. This care is exemplified in the work of this community and others who care for this world that God so loves, just as Dorcas and Peter give us representations of what it means to really care for God’s flock, and to be ministered to in return. This, dear church, is the call that we get to live into for ourselves; a call of mutual care, for the well-being of the world.
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Sunday May 4th, 2025 Worship