March 26, 2025
#266 - Acts 9.32-43 - Peter, Aeneas, and Tabitha: Power, Presence, and Preparation
In this powerful episode of the AL Pastor Podcast, Pastor Brian walks us through Acts 9:32–43, a pivotal moment in the early church where Peter performs two significant miracles: healing Aeneas, a paralyzed man, and raising Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead. These miracles are not only demonstrations of Jesus’ power working through His servants, but also signs that the gospel is moving beyond Jerusalem—preparing the way for the Gentile mission in Acts 10. Brian unpacks the cultural, theological, and literary significance of each scene, drawing connections to the ministries of Jesus, Elijah, and Elisha. The episode challenges listeners to recognize that the power of Christ is still active today, often moving through ordinary obedience and simple presence.
📚 In-Depth Show Notes
🔹 Context & Importance
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Acts 9 marks a monumental transition in the early church’s history.
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The passage sets up themes that echo throughout Galatians, Romans, and the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.
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Peter and Paul become central figures; this episode focuses on Peter’s journey beyond Jerusalem.
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These miracles are not just supernatural events; they are missional signs pointing to a gospel that is geographically and ethnically expanding.
🧍♂️ Peter Heals Aeneas (Acts 9:32–35)
Setting:
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Peter is ministering along the Judean coast, traveling through “all parts of the country”, symbolizing the mobile nature of the gospel.
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He arrives in Lydda, a strategic Jewish town and cultural crossroads, about 25 miles from Jerusalem.
Key Character:
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Aeneas: A man bedridden for eight years, paralyzed, likely overlooked and forgotten by society.
Miracle:
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Peter finds Aeneas—not a coincidence but a Spirit-led encounter.
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Declaration: “Jesus the Christ heals you.” Not Peter’s power, but Jesus’s resurrected authority working through His servant.
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Immediate result: Aeneas rises and makes his bed—a cultural sign of proof that healing was complete and real.
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Application: Jesus finds those stuck in emotional, spiritual, or physical paralysis and speaks healing and wholeness.
Result:
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All in Lydda and Sharon (a large coastal plain) see and turn to the Lord.
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The miracle leads to genuine repentance, not just awe or emotionalism.
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Missional takeaway: one healing leads to a regional revival.
🧵 Peter Raises Tabitha (Dorcas) from the Dead (Acts 9:36–42)
Setting:
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Takes place in Joppa, a boundary city between the Jewish and Gentile worlds—a gateway to what’s coming in Acts 10.
Key Character:
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Tabitha/Dorcas: The only time in the NT someone is specifically called a female disciple (feminine form of “mathetria”).
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Known for her good works and charitable deeds, especially among widows.
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She represents ordinary faithfulness with extraordinary impact—"her love was sewn into every stitch."
Community’s Response:
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After her death, she’s placed in an upper room, a repeated biblical symbol of sacred space and miracles.
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The widows grieve, showing tangible evidence of her love—garments she had made for them.
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Hope is still alive: they send urgently for Peter rather than immediately burying her.
The Miracle:
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Peter puts everyone out, kneels, and prays, emphasizing humility and dependence on Jesus.
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His words echo Jesus’ own resurrection miracles: “Tabitha, arise.”
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She opens her eyes, sits up, and Peter presents her alive to the community.
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First resurrection by an apostle in the book of Acts.
Result:
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Her return leads to many in Joppa believing in the Lord.
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The miracle affirms not only God’s power but Tabitha’s impact and the gospel's advance.
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The story mirrors the gospel: death → grief → divine intervention → resurrection → proclamation → belief.
🏠 Peter Stays with Simon the Tanner (Acts 9:43)
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Seems minor, but theologically massive.
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Tanners worked with dead animals—ceremonially unclean.
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This detail sets up Acts 10 (Peter’s vision and Cornelius's conversion).
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Peter is being prepared for what’s next—not by vision yet, but by obediently staying in an unlikely place.
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The gospel breaks boundaries—and Peter’s posture of humility and presence is the proof.
🧠 Key Themes & Takeaways
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Jesus is still working through His people by the Holy Spirit.
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The gospel is not limited by geography, race, class, or tradition.
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Miracles aren’t ends in themselves—they are signs pointing to the gospel.
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Faithfulness in small, unseen acts—like Tabitha's sewing—matters deeply to God.
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Discipleship often happens after the miracle—Peter stays to teach and build.
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God prepares us for what’s next in unexpected places and people.
🧰 Suggested Application for Listeners
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Are there areas in your life where you’ve felt paralyzed or stuck?
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What’s your version of “Tabitha’s garments”? How are you living out your faith in ways that serve others?
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Who is the “Simon the Tanner” in your life—a person or place you’ve avoided, but where God might be at work?
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Ask: Are you willing to slow down like Peter did, to show up where God leads you, even if it’s outside your comfort zone?
🎧 Where to Listen
Available on:
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Spotify (Anchor)
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Apple Podcasts
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Google Podcasts
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Amazon Music
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iHeartRadio
📌 Disclaimers
This podcast includes content developed with the assistance of ChatGPT and is intended for spiritual edification. It is not a substitute for local church discipleship or pastoral counsel. Always study the Scriptures and discuss with trusted leaders in your community.
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You're listening to Al Pastor, the show that helps you love God, love your neighbor, and eat more
tacos.
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I'm your host, Pastor Brian.
Welcome to the show.
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Hey friends, I want to welcome you to another episode of the Al Pastor Podcast.
Today we're going to be walking through Acts Chapter 9.
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We're going to finish out this chapter.
Again, I want to say thank you for being patient with me.
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And I want to elaborate a little bit of what I was saying on the previous episode.
There are points in the Bible that you don't have to go this slow, as slow as I'm going, but this is
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such a monumental transition in the life of the early church that it deserves our full attention and
the full exposition of the text.
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In fact, the entirety of the New Testament is built off of these events.
The Apostle Paul and Peter, the two dominant figures all throughout, and some of the issues that are
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raised are going to continue throughout our study in the New Testament.
Let me give you a couple of examples.
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The entirety of the book of Galatians is written about this conflict.
What does it mean to be part of the people of God is do you have to get circumcised?
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Do you have to eat kosher?
Do you have to observe festivals?
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Well, for us as Christians today, we most evangelicals, I, I don't even like using that term, to be
honest with you.
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We believe that we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, that it has nothing to do with, you
know, external activities.
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Obviously, we are saved for good works, we obey God, we become disciples.
But the gift of salvation is freely given by grace through faith, not of works as Ephesians 28 and
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9.
And so the book of Galatians was written as a direct result of this conflict that we're going to be
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reading about with Peter and Cornelius in the setup of what we call the Jerusalem Council in Acts
chapter 15.
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And then the book of Romans is an expanded versions version of this argument that's found in the
book of Galatians.
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And so I want to make sure that we have a fundamental understanding of the severity of the conflict.
So that is just my little spiel as to why this is taking so long and why I'm so behind.
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I believe me, I'm tempted.
I could just rush right through this, but I don't want to do that.
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And so we have finished with the apostle Paul, and now we're moving into a new chapter in the book
of Acts, not because we're starting a new chapter, as in like chapter 10, we're still in Chapter 9,
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but because the focus is shifting.
And so as we've been walking with Saul, we looked at the radical transformation.
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And this is a man who once haunted down the church, and now he's preaching Jesus boldly.
But now Luke turns our attention back to someone that is very familiar to us.
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It's Peter.
And he moves beyond Jerusalem, ministering along the Judean coast.
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Now, Luke is going to highlight at the end of this chapter, Chapter 9, two miracles.
These are powerful.
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These are intentional, and they are vitally important.
Now, these are not just stories of healing.
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Now, please don't misunderstand me.
The healings are great.
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They're incredible, but there is so much more, and I want you to be able to catch this.
There are signs that the gospel is no longer tied to a geographic location, not even restricted to
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Jerusalem alone.
The Holy Spirit is moving outward through the apostles to show this demonstrates to us that the
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gospel belongs to every place and to every people for all time.
I love that now Luke as a careful storyteller, he alternates between Peter and between Saul, almost
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kind of like passing a baton back and forth.
And what he's doing is he's preparing us.
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Saul is going to take the the center stage again in Acts 13.
But before he does, there are some things that we need to know and understand.
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Now.
Peter is the apostle to the Jews, and he himself is being stretched and molded.
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He's expanding his vision.
We could say he's being prepared for what's next.
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And this is the inclusion of the Gentiles.
This is a big deal.
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A big moment is coming up in chapter 10.
But first, God is reminding us who He is through this pair of miracles at the end of Acts Chapter 9.
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And so as we walk through this, here's some things that I want you to remember.
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This isn't just about healing a man or raising a woman from the dead.
Those those things are great and powerful.
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But this is about the power of Jesus at work through his servants.
And so this is also about the continuity with the ministry of Jesus Christ himself.
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Although this is known as Acts of the Apostles, this is in reality the, the Acts of, of Jesus's
ministry via the Holy Spirit.
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So I hope you can grab your Bible.
I hope you can settle in.
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And if you're listening to this on the go or on the run, that's fine too.
But you know, I'm, I'm really going to kind of dial in.
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This isn't going to be a short episode.
I've got to got to warn you on that as well.
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But we're going to begin in Acts 932.
Let's read it.
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The Bible says now it came to pass as Peter went through all parts of the country that he also came
down to the Saints who dwelt in Lyda.
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Now I'm going to say Lyda could be Lyda.
It just depends.
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I think, you know, as we listen to the chapter via the the public reading of Scripture, I think that
the gentleman, he says Lyda, I, I, I like Lyda.
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It's kind of like potato or potato.
And so let's let's dive right into it as we open up this section of Scripture.
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What we're seeing here is, is from a literary standpoint, a deliberate shift.
The gospel has already shaken Jerusalem.
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They they've turned that place upside down.
It has spread through Samaria and it has begun to burn brightly even in Damascus and beyond within
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the the Jewish communities.
And now Peter still very much the leader of the apostles.
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He's moving and the Bible says, I want you to notice this, that he travels through all parts of the
country.
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In other words, the word of God is not staying still.
The message of the gospel is mobile, and the mission is expanding.
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And Peter isn't returning to a pulpit in Jerusalem.
He's walking the dusty roads of Judea.
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And it's here that he arrives in a place called Lyda.
And this is a significant Jewish town northwest of Jerusalem.
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Now, Lyda was a cultural crossroads.
It's about 25 miles from the capital, so it connected Jerusalem to the coast and then on to the
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wider Roman world.
And so I want you to think of this as a as a gateway city.
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It's accessible, it's influential and it is deeply Jewish in its roots.
But it's what stands out here really the most is Luke tells us that Peter came notice to who he came
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to to the Saints who dwelt in light up.
I don't want to rush past this word Saints.
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He's not talking about statues or stained glass icons.
These are ordinary believers, people who have put their trust in Jesus Christ.
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And so Luke uses this term in other places.
And of course, it's to describe Christians, those that are set apart, those that are sanctified,
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those that are holy, not because of their family lineage or their pedigree, but by the grace of
Jesus Christ.
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That's what a St. is, and it's likely that these Saints and Lyda were the fruit of Philip's earlier
ministry.
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This goes back to Acts chapter 8, verse 40.
And so what's Peter doing here?
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Well, essentially he's following up.
He's strengthening the church and he's making himself available for whatever the Spirit wants to do
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next.
He isn't chasing a platform.
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He's not out trying to preach a revival.
He's visiting the Saints and he's walking into towns off the beaten path, places you wouldn't
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normally go.
He's hanging out and sitting with believers and teaching believers and disciple in them and
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encouraging them.
And he is present.
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And this visit to Lida, it's going to set the stage for a powerful healing that draws the entire
region's attention to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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But before that miracle, there's a ministry of showing up.
That's powerful right there.
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Let's read verse 33.
It says there he found a certain man named Aeneas who had been bedridden 8 years and was paralyzed.
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Now as Peter arrives in Lie to, he encounters a man by the name of Aeneas.
And right away Luke gives us 2 details that we shouldn't miss.
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First of all, the man had been bedridden for eight years and he was paralyzed.
And I want to take a moment to kind of sit on this.
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Luke, as he often does, he includes the duration of the man's condition.
Now, this isn't for dramatic effect, but what it does is it really emphasizes the undeniable nature
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of the miracle that's about to happen.
I mean, think about it, Eight years.
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That's not a short illness.
This is almost a decade of of immobility.
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And this is a life that has been affected and restricted and weighed down by discouragement.
Now, we don't know exactly how he had become paralyzed.
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It could have been an accident.
Maybe it could have been a fall.
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It could have been a stroke.
There are some commentators that speculate a spinal injury or even tuberculosis as something that
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affects the spine.
Now, regardless of what the cause was, the point of this is clear.
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He had no medical solution.
There were no surgeries.
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There were no rehab centers, just the the slow, painful passage of time and a body that wouldn't
respond.
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And so here's something worth highlighting because the Bible says Peter finds him.
And this might seem like a throwaway phrase, but it's actually very, very important.
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The the apostle wasn't just preaching from a platform.
He was looking and seeking out people in need.
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And he met this man where he was down.
He was stuck.
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He was overlooked.
And I can't help but wondering, maybe some of you even listening today, how long have you been
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stuck?
You know, sometimes we sit in a spiritual or or emotional paralysis for years thinking that nothing
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is going to change.
Maybe it's a relationship.
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Maybe it's it's something on your job.
Maybe it's a a shame or a weight or a burden that you're carrying.
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Maybe it's even even fear.
But there is hope.
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Jesus still sends people to find the ones who are stuck.
And what he does is he sends those people to bring his word.
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He still speaks healing over the broken bodies and over broken hearts and over dead dreams and and
over failed expectations.
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Peter didn't find Aeneas by accident.
That's the point.
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And if you feel like you have been paralyzed spiritually speaking, I want you to know this.
The Lord knows where to find you to Amen.
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That's a word right there.
Verse 34.
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It says and Peter said to him, Anias, Jesus the Christ heals you arise and make your bed.
Then he arose immediately.
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Now this is one of those verses.
I say this a lot by you if if you follow me, you know, we've got to slow down and we need to really,
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really soak this in.
We need to savor what is happening here.
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First of all, he says, notice the phrase Jesus the Christ heals you.
What a declaration.
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I mean, Peter isn't saying I heal you.
He doesn't even say God heals you.
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He says Jesus the Christ heals you.
That means Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the promised one, Jesus the, the, the, the crucified 1 the risen
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1.
He is the one that is still at work today.
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And I don't want you to miss this because the same Jesus who walked through Galilee healing the sick
is now walking through Judea by the Spirit through the hands of his servants.
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Now the works of the apostles are the works of Jesus.
He is not distant, He's not detached.
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He is still active.
And can I tell you he is still active today.
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Now let's talk about this second part.
He says arise and make your bed.
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Now first, this might seem like a strange instruction.
I mean, like, I mean, he could say a lot of things here, like, hey, man, go celebrate.
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Why not run around, go tell somebody about what God did for you.
But here's the thing, in the ancient world, miracle stories, any kind of an account of a miracle.
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It's not like today where these are like undocumented, unverified.
Now there are certainly a lot of of of miracles that have taken place that have documentations and
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and and physicians have attested to it.
But most of them the so so-called pseudo miracles of today.
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It is hard to find verification.
But in the ancient world, miracles often had to have what we call a, a moment of proof that means
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something to demonstrate that the healing was real and that the healing was complete.
Now, I don't know.
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I mean, this is, this might be hard for some of you to believe did but did you know that there were
a lot of shysters that were out in the 1st century, A lot of people that would go around in fake
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miracles and fake healings and they would go around and do all this secret teaching and stuff.
And why would they do that?
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They would do it to get prestige and fame and money.
They would often charge for their services.
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It sounds a whole lot like what is happening today.
I got to I got to be careful here because I might start preaching.
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But here's the point.
Miracle stories in the 1st century, especially when they happen with God, the real deal, there are
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moments of proof.
We saw this with the man at the at the beautiful gate, right?
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I mean this, this guy didn't just stand, he leapt and he walked and that man, everybody knew who he
was.
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And so here Peter tells a nice, he says, make your bed.
Now in this culture, this could be one of two things.
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It it it means either prepare your bed for sleeping or go ahead and roll it up for the day, or maybe
even prepare for a meal, because oftentimes you would make your bed in the same place that you would
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eat.
And so either way, this is something that only I want you to catch this.
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This is something that only a healthy man could do.
And so Peter's words are a sign of of of wholeness, of healing.
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You're not just healed, you're restored back to what?
The normal rhythms of everyday life.
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Now, let's pause here for a moment.
I want you to imagine Ania's lying there, 8 long, hard years, dependent on other people.
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He is paralyzed and he couldn't work.
He probably couldn't move without help.
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And in a single moment, in a single sentence, his life has been changed.
This is how Jesus work.
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And so this is I, I, I don't want us to miss this word that Luke uses.
It's the word immediately.
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Luke is telling us that this wasn't something in his head, it wasn't psychosomatic, this wasn't a
gradual healing, it wasn't a process of physical therapy over time.
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No, he arose immediately.
And so the healing was real.
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It was complete.
It was undeniable.
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And friends, I've got to tell you that Jesus still heals today.
He doesn't always do it with pizzazz and drama.
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Sometimes, like right here, it's just a a simple command, a direct word.
Arise verse 35, it says.
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So all who dwelt at Lyda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
Now, this is one of those verses that might slip by if you're reading too quickly, but you already
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know we're not going to do that.
We don't want to miss what's happening here.
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Now, Luke tells us that all who dwelt at Lyda and Sharon saw him.
That is, they saw Aeneas.
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They saw a man who had been paralyzed for eight years.
He's now walking around.
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He's making his bed.
He's standing tall.
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And this wasn't just a rumor.
I mean, these folks knew him.
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This was this was someone who they were attached to, who now has a story of visible transformation
that was undeniable.
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And what happened?
It says that as a result, they turned to the Lord.
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Now that word turn in the Bible is loaded with meaning.
It is the language of repentance.
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This is the vocabulary of the prophets.
And when the prophets called Israel back to God, they would say turn to the Lord with all of your
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heart.
And so this is not a superficial emotional response.
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This isn't a bow your head and close your eyes and raise that chubby little hand of yours.
No, this is a genuine return to God in repentance.
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It was as if they were saying, you know what?
We've seen enough.
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Jesus is real, and we're ready to pick up our cross and follow him.
And I want you to notice that Luke includes the town of Sharon now.
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That's the entire coastal plain that stretches up towards Mount Carmel.
I wish I could talk to you a little bit more about that.
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I've got videos where I have driven that coastal plane all the way up into Mount Carmel and down
into what's known as Tel Aviv and Joppa and Caesarea.
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It is a beautiful, beautiful countryside.
And so Lida was right on the edge of that region.
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And So what we're seeing here is a ripple effect, one man's healing.
It becomes the spark for an entire area to begin repenting and believing.
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And so as we kind of turn the page, proverbially speaking, from the healing of it of a neosin, Lida
Luke invites us to kind of shift our focus just a little further up the Judean coastline to the city
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of Joppa.
And it's here that we encounter another miracuable of I said miracuable, remarkable miraculo.
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However you want to say it.
I I don't know.
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I'm laughing at myself here because I'm like, sometimes I get tongue tied.
It's as if my mouth can't keep up with my brain.
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Have you ever had that happen before?
ANYWAYS, we are, we are.
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Or Luke is drawing our attention to another remarkable.
There it is sign, a healing, a wonder.
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And it's not just a healing, but it's a resurrection.
And so Luke is continuing his pattern of showing that the power of Jesus isn't locked up in
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Jerusalem.
It's certainly isn't bound by geography.
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The authority of Jesus Christ is moving and stretching beyond city walls, beyond the temple, and
even, get this, even beyond death itself.
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Now, in fact, this moment in Joppa, it's actually marking more than just a miracle.
It shows how the gospel is advancing, how Peter is now serving among Jewish believers outside of
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Jerusalem, and how the Spirit is drawing attention to the good news.
And again, I've got to repeat myself, not through prestige, not through power, not through personal
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power, preeminence, but it's by compassion.
And it is worth noticing this too, that Luke absolutely loves to pair stories.
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Now back in light of we saw a man named Anias raised from his bed in here, we're going to meet a
woman named Tabitha raised from death.
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And so Luke did this in his gospel too.
He paired a widow's son with Gyrus's daughter.
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And what's the point of this?
You might say?
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Well, besides it looking cool and like, yeah, that's awesome.
Like a rhetorical of device that he's using there, What's the point?
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Why would Luke do this?
Well, he's reminding us that the gospel is not just for one kind of person.
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It's for sons.
It's for daughters.
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It's for the hurting, It's for the hopeful.
It is for the well known and for the quietly faithful, too.
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And so we're also going to see Peter following get this another familiar pattern here, one that that
mirrors the ministry of Jesus and get this even the prophets before him, like Elijah and Elijah.
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There are echoes all throughout this story.
But while the the the pattern might be familiar, what really makes the difference here is the name
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and the authority that is used and that is the name of Jesus Christ.
Let's look in Acts Chapter 9 verse 36 it says at Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha
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which is translated Dorcas.
This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds, which she did.
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Now, right away, Luke is giving us really an incredible introduction to Tabitha.
He doesn't start.
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No, I want you to notice this.
He doesn't start with her death.
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He starts with her life.
And her name is Tabitha.
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That's in Aramaic.
And then it's translated Dorcas in the Greek, both of which coincidentally mean gazelle.
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And while we might not name our daughters Gazelle today, this name in the 1st century is deeply
meaningful.
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In that culture, gazelles symbolized beauty and grace and vitality.
And so this woman isn't just simply beautiful on the outside.
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She was full of good works and of charity.
And so her life left an imprint, an indelible mark on her community, especially among the widows.
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She lived in a city that sat between the Jewish world and the Gentile world.
They're right there in the middle.
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Joppa was a a boundary city.
It was a a gateway.
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And in many ways, Tabitha was a bridge, too.
She's a a living example of Jesus's compassion flowing through his followers.
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And so I want to pause here because this is very, very important.
Luke tells us, I want you to notice this.
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He tells us that she was a disciple.
Now here's where it gets interesting.
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That word is in the feminine form, the only time in the entire New Testament that we see this word
used like this.
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And So what does that mean?
It means that he's not just telling us about her actions.
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He is identifying her by her relationship with Jesus Christ.
Can I tell you that your identity is tied very much in the same way?
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It's not about your title.
It's not about your position.
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It's not about what's in front of your name.
It is that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
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It's not about what you do, it's about who you live for.
And so she wasn't just doing good things.
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This woman was following Jesus.
And that following shaped everything about her life.
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Her good works were because of her faith.
They were her witness.
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And next we're going to see what happens here in the next verse when, when death tries to silence
that witness.
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But you know what?
Jesus has the final word.
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Let's read about it in verse 37.
It says, but it happened in those days that she became sick and died.
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And when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.
Now Tabitha, this woman full of good works, full of, of, of charitable deeds, she gets sick and she
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dies.
And I think that that we need to say this gently, but clearly even the godliest people can suffer
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and die.
And so now the community around her, they do what faithful communities have always done.
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They, they care for the body.
And Luke tells us that they washed her.
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And I know this might sound really, really strange to us, but this was the normal course of action
in the 1st century.
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In fact, this was an act of reverence.
It was an act of of love and honor.
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It was something that both the Greco Roman and the Jewish world practiced.
And so there's something else that's going on here, though, if we if we really kind of take the time
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to see it.
Now, Luke tells us that they laid her.
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I want you to notice the location.
He says they laid her in an upper room.
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Now this details easy to miss, but it matters because in the Bible, upper rooms are often places of
the miraculous.
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They are, we would call them set apart or consecrated spaces where God can do something
extraordinary.
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I want you to think of Elijah and Elijah.
Each one of them raised the dead in an upper room.
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The the Bible says upper chambers.
I want you to think of the upper room where the the disciples had gathered for prayer.
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These aren't just architectural notes or highlights.
These are are what I like to call theological bread crumbs.
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And it tells us something else too.
It tells us that they're not giving up hope.
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I mean, if the goal was burial, she would have already been laid in a tomb.
But instead she is placed in an upper room.
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And soon we're going to see possibly they might just be preparing for a miracle.
And, you know, we, we live in a world that we just kind of rush on through grief.
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But these disciples, they knew how to stop.
They knew how to grieve, they know how to how to wash and and wait and pray.
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And they didn't know exactly what God was going to do, but they certainly knew who God was.
And so while the the body of Tabitha's lying lifeless faith is still active in this community.
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Let's keep going.
Verse 38 it says.
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And since Lida was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to
him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.
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Now this verse really kind of captures in time a moment.
It's like a portrait, something that's so tender, so powerful.
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And, and Lida where Peter had just hailed Aeneas.
It's about 11:50 miles from Joppa.
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That's a that's a pretty good walk.
It's a few hours, but in a culture where burial was expected to happen not long after you died, I
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mean, it was like if someone passed away, it was, boom, you were buried.
And in a culture like this, every moment counted.
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And so this detail that Luke gives us about the distance, again, it's not just about geography.
It's about urgency.
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And so they knew that if they wanted Peter to come, they're going to have to move fast.
And so they send two men.
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Now this was common in Jewish custom. 2 witnesses, 2 messengers.
It, it, it, it gives weight and, and reliability to the message.
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And so what's the message?
Well, they urge Peter, they implored him, they're pleading with him.
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They say, hey, don't delay, please come quickly.
Now, the, the word that is used here is the the same word that's used elsewhere when somebody begs
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Jesus to come and heal.
In other words, the point of this is it's not a casual request.
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This is an urgent heartfelt.
It is a desperate plea.
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And so this is where it gets really, really interesting.
We've got to ask the question, why are they calling for Peter?
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I mean, let's think about it.
Tabitha's already dead.
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I mean, are they hoping that maybe he could come and comfort them?
Maybe they want him to come lead a prayer, or maybe they just want to have him offer some final
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words and, and, and, and honor the memory of this woman?
Or are they daring to believe that maybe, just just maybe, something more could happen?
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Now, I can't give you a definitive answer.
We don't know exactly what their expectation was, the Bible doesn't tell us.
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But what we do know is this.
They haven't buried her yet.
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And that says something in a culture where same day burial was the standard.
The fact that they delayed the burial and called for Peter instead, I have to tell you that this
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tells us that hope is still alive in this community.
Maybe it's just a little flicker.
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Maybe it's just like a, well, you know, what if?
But they know, they've heard about what happened in Lida.
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They know that Peter is walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And so they send for him just in case.
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And so Peter moved by the Spirit and the request, of course he, he comes.
And so let's keep going.
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In verse 39 it says then Peter arose and went with them.
And when he had come, they brought him to the upper room and all the widows stood by him weeping,
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showing the tunics in the garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.
Now there's something really, really moving here.
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And I, I think Luke is trying to invite us into the weight, into the, the gravity, the severity of
this moment, because this scene is, is full of grief and honor and hope.
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And Peter arrives and they take him straight to the upper room.
And that's, that's where the body is.
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But I want you to notice this because Luke doesn't immediately shine a spotlight on the corpse.
Instead, he focuses on the people standing by.
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And who are those people?
Well, the Bible says it's the widows.
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And what is it that they're doing?
They are weeping and they are showing him the garments that she made.
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And this is the kind of scene that that should grab your heart, grab your attention.
Again, Luke really wants us to feel the weight of this.
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It's very possible that the garments that they're wearing, the tunics, the coats, she made them for
them.
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And so these are not just clothes.
These are testimonies.
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I mean, every stitch had been sewn with love, every fold carrying the the the memory of a woman who
lived not for herself, but for other people.
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And so Tabitha, Dorcas and Greek is a helper, get this, of widows.
Now here's what's interesting to me, because in the 1st century world, widows were often voiceless.
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They were.
They were marginalized, they were dependent.
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And there's even an indication from the text that Dorcas was their advocate.
She was their voice.
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She was their helper.
She was their friend.
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She had no obligation, but she demonstrates compassion by what she does.
And so now these widows are standing there and what are they doing?
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They're telling her story, not with words, but with fabric, with a visible, tangible evidence of her
love.
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And so you can feel the, the, the pressure in this room.
I mean, these women, these widows are not just mourning.
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They are pleading.
They say, look, Peter, can you see what she did?
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Do you see what she meant to us, see how much we need her?
And I think that the message is clear.
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I mean, this woman wasn't great because of her status or because of her wealth.
She was great because of her service and her compassion.
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Now this is more than the loss of just just a person.
This is a loss of the heart of a community.
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But yet as we see God is not done.
Let's keep going to verse 40.
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The Bible says.
But Peter put them all out and knelt down and prayed and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha
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arise.
And she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
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Wow.
This is the climax of the entire story.
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It is so saturated with biblical echoes and motifs of of Spirit powered purposes that we cannot just
go past this.
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Peter is doing what he's doing what his master had done before him.
I want you to notice that he first puts them all out just like Jesus did with Gyruss's household.
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You can go read about this in Luke chapter 8 verse 50.
Now why does Peter do this?
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Maybe he wants to silence the noise.
Maybe he wants to to to shut the door to any doubt.
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Maybe it's to guard the the place that God is about to move.
Or maybe it's just that that resurrection power is not a spectacle for the curious, but it is.
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It is a a revelation to those who believe.
And so I find this interesting that Peter kneels.
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He's not relying on his own strength, but the Bible says that he kneels and he prays.
He is seeking the power from Jesus Christ, not of himself, but from the risen. 1 And the difference,
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if you were to compare the two stories, the difference between Jesus and Peter is clear.
I mean, let's face it, Jesus just speaks and the dead are raised.
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But Peter, he's got to pray first because Peter, even though he's full of the Holy Spirit, even
though he's mighty in power and works, he is still a man.
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And then we see the words he says Tabitha arise.
Now, this is the same phrase that's used by Jesus back in back in Luke, Talitha Kumi talitha rise.
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There's a play in words here.
And the point is, is that this is not a magic trick.
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This is not some kind of of, of incantation.
This isn't a superstition.
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This is the resurrection by the power of the risen Christ.
And it echoes the miracles of Elijah and Elijah in Jesus himself.
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And I don't want us to forget this.
I, I think you should know this.
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This is the first resurrection through an apostle in the book of Acts.
Now, what's the point of that?
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Well, it is going to validate Peter's authority, and you might think, well, why does he need to have
his authority validated?
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Well, buckle up, buttercup, because when we come to the Gentiles, there's going to be some tension,
there's going to be some questioning.
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And so this is confirming God's work, His power, his nearness, and it's going to set this stage for
something even greater, the inclusion of the Gentiles.
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We'll get to that.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.
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But before all that unfolds, God raises Tabitha to remind the church that he still sees, He still
acts, and he still cares.
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And when the church bends down and kneels in prayer and listens for his voice, even the dead can be
raised.
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I want to look at the final and beautiful conclusion to this story as we kind of close out Acts 941
through 42.
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It says then he gave her his hand and he and lifted her up.
And when he had called the Saints and widows, he presented her alive.
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And it became known all throughout Joppa, and many believed on the Lord.
And so Peter reaches out, He takes her hand and in fact, he's actually following in the footsteps of
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Jesus.
This is mentioned in Luke 854.
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He did the Jesus did the same thing to Gyruss's daughter.
And so the miracle has happened.
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But the, the, the act of helping her up, of, of guiding her to her feet, it is part of the
completeness of this resurrection miracle.
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It is a a restoration with dignity.
And so then Peter calls for the Saints and he calls for the widows.
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Why these two groups?
Well, both were witnesses to the grief and now they're witnesses to the glory of God.
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Now the widows, especially these these women are more than just background characters.
They were the ones who were weeping and the ones who were holding those garments that she had made.
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These are the ones who who this loss was, was felt the deepest and now their joy is the fullest.
And so Peter presents her alive to them.
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And so this language, what's happening here, it is echoing again.
I am not trying to be repetitive.
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Elijah and Elijah, if you take notes or if you want to write this down, it's found in first Kings
chapter 17 and then in second Kings chapter 4.
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And then of course, the gospel that we've talked about in Luke Chapter 7.
This is more than just a healing it's a return.
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A loved one is given back to the people who needed her the most.
And then what happens?
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Well, of course, the story of this spreads, but let's be real, how could it not?
I mean, a woman that was beloved by everybody known in the city for her generosity and kindness.
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I mean, she was dead and now she's alive.
And, and it says that many believed on the Lord.
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And so this, this is not just a miracle to make you be astonished and marvel.
It is a sign to help us and point us to trust in the Lord Jesus.
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And so we are meant to see something more here, her return.
It's not just about her or even about the widows that she served.
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It is about the Lord that she served.
And so this miracle draws hearts towards the risen Christ.
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I mean, he's the one who gives life where there was death, hope where there's despair, restoration
where there's ruin.
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And so this miracle actually mirrors the gospel pattern.
I want you to think about this in the gospel.
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It's about death and sorrow, a divine intervention, resurrection, proclamation and belief.
It is a picture of what God does in every heart that turns to him.
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And so this story, it ends with joy and with with community and with faith and within a city that is
really stirred to life.
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Now let's go on to the last verse of this chapter, verse 43.
It says so.
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Peter remained in Joppa for many days, staying in the home of Simon, a Tanner.
Now first glance, this might seem like it's just a just a travel detail footnote in the unfolding
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story, but Luke is actually including it with a purpose.
Peter had just raised Tabitha from the dead, and news of that had spread and swept all throughout
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the city.
And the the widows who had once wept are now rejoicing.
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And faith was stirred, and hearts awaken, And instead of moving on quickly, Peter stays.
And he doesn't rush to the next town and he doesn't chase the next crowd.
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He stays.
Why is that?
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Because miracles.
They can open doors.
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But it is discipleship that builds the house.
And Peter remains where the Spirit had moved.
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Now, the text doesn't give us the full indication of this, but what is going on is Peter is staying.
And throughout all of the other patterns in Scripture, it is implied that he is there teaching and
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preaching and training.
It's discipleship.
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And so he is tending to what God had just birthed.
And here's where it gets really interesting.
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I want you to notice where he stays and with whom because this matters deeply.
He stays with Simon, a Tanner.
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This is a man who worked daily with dead animals, scraping hides and curing leather, and his
profession was considered unclean by many, especially by the religious elite.
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Now the, the odor, the smell that would be attached to these tanner's home, it would be atrocious.
In fact, it was so bad that it was required.
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We, we, we know this from, from many commentators that Tanners had to live on the outskirts of town
near water sources that could wash away the waste and not be a nuisance to neighbors.
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And so they were needed, but they were looked down upon.
And this is interesting to me because this is where Peter chooses to stay, or perhaps where the
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Spirit chooses to place him.
We don't know what caused him to go there.
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If this was the only available place, we don't know.
But this is not random.
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It is the hinge to the story.
Peter is about to be invited into the home of a Gentile.
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And this is a, a, a bold barrier breaking move that will stretch every fiber of his Jewish
upbringing.
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But before that, God places him in a house already kind of pushing the boundaries of, of purity and
perceived respectability.
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And so Simon's home with, with its smells and its social stigma, it actually becomes holy ground.
It becomes, it becomes a place of, of preparation.
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Peter is being ready, not with a vision yet, not with the sermon, but with this stay, a stay in a
house that doesn't meet the standards of ritual cleanness, a stay with a a man whose profession
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would have made him really kind of suspect in many people's eyes.
But you know what, God, he isn't bound by these these type of boundaries.
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And Peter once again finds himself in the company of some people that are very, very unlikely.
And it's it's here that I find the irony in this place of odor, in this place of humility, that the
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next chapter of the church's story is about to burst forth.
It's the inclusion of the Gentiles, the the global expansion of the gospel.
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And it starts with a man willing to say yes to a home that, quite frankly, other folks might avoid.
Luke doesn't despise the trades.
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He doesn't skip over the gritty details.
He shows us that the Kingdom of God spreads not just through signs and wonders, but through the
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small, seemingly insignificant choices of obedience.
And Peter stays, and everything begins to shift.
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And so as we kind of come to the end of this chapter, there are two stories, but it's one thread in
light.
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A man paralyzed for eight years.
He he rises at the name of Jesus.
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And in Joppa, a woman deeply loved by the by the widows is brought back to life. 2 miracles.
But one purpose to magnify the name of Jesus, to bear witness to his ongoing working power, and to
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show that the gospel is not just some some relic of the past.
It is living and active and moving even today.
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And what we see in Peter is not just an Apostolic power.
We see a posture.
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He goes to towns that you wouldn't ordinarily go to.
He responds to the cries of widows.
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He stays in homes that other people might shun.
And in doing so, he's mirroring his master.
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I mean, think about it.
Jesus had touched lepers.
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He had raised sons for grieving mothers, and he walked among the poor and the unclean.
And now Peter is walking that very same path.
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And so this isn't just the story of miracles.
It's a, it is a story of the gospel in action.
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It is the gospel reaching further beyond Jerusalem into the coastlands, into the homes and, and, and
and into ordinary life.
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And all of it prepares us for what is coming next because Peter isn't done moving and the Spirit is
not done expanding.
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And so for the next episode, we're going to see just how far the grace of God is willing to go.
I want to thank you so much for joining me today.
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I know this has been a long episode and it doesn't feel like we went through a whole lot of text,
but you could you do me a favor, if you've made it all the way to the end, can you somehow let me
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know?
Like, hey, I made it.
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I made it to the end and I'm ready and to go to the next chapter.
I know, I know, but just let me know.
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I pray that you're doing well.
I'm excited for Bible study.
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Recording this on a Wednesday.
So we're going to go in and study Chapter 11.
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I got to get my brain on correctly.
So again, thank you so much for tuning in.
51:24
Thank you for listening to ALPAStor with Brian Overturf.
If you found value in this, please subscribe and get updates.
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Until then, we'll see you later.