Wednesday, October 25, 2023

It is the 25th of October, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Today, we head to the Middle East, where our prayers are lifted up to all victims. We remember an important town from the distant past. Today it is called “Jaffa” or “Yaffa.”  It is referred to in the past as Joppa and Japha. It is a port town on the banks of the Mediterranean just south of Tel Aviv.

It was once believed that this is where Perseus rescued Andromeda from the dragon. It was likely a Canaanite town taken over by the Egyptians in the 15th century BC. It is where Jonah fled- as a cosmopolitan port city, he could find a ship there going far from home. It was later occupied by David and Solomon and then taken by the Roman general Pompey, taken by Anthony and given to Cleopatra, and then taken by Caesar and added to the territory ruled by Herod. After the death of Jesus, it is believed that the disciple Phillip evangelized the city, and it became known as a center of evangelism and social service for the poor. And it is where we find ourselves in one of the climactic chapters of the book of Acts: Chapter 9. The first miracle comes in the conversion of Saul. We are then taken to Lydda, a city just outside of Joppa, where we read of Peter healing the sick Aeneas. But this is a prologue for a miracle of a greater magnitude.

It was there that Tabitha, the woman who wore her faith and the woman whose generosity clothed the poor, had died. The text gives us a few clues about Tabitha. First, she is also called by her Greek name by Luke: Dorcas. Was she a Jewish Christian or a gentile convert? Her name meant Gazelle- an animal that was famously known as “in between pure and impure.” A Jewish person could eat a gazelle without being purified. It was sometimes used as a metaphor for a gentile convert. A wounded gazelle was used in Greek literature to signify tragedy, something we see in the first part of her story.

We know she was a woman by some means. Either not married or a widow, she had her own household big enough for gathering. She created textiles, perhaps as an occupation that gave her the money to support her household, the poor, and the church. With Tabitha, we find the only use of the feminine form of disciple “Mathetria,” which may connote a role of responsibility in the church. She is sometimes referred to as an early deaconess.

When she dies, mourning disciples are called to Peter in Lydda, who comes, and we read from verse 40:

40 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. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.

The fact that her name is given as both the Aramaic Tabitha and Greek Dorcas is likely meant to draw our attention back to the story in the Gospels in Matthew 9 and Mark 5. It is here that Jesus comes to the home of Jairus, whose daughter had died. Jesus’ words are recorded specifically as “talitha koum” alliteration, certainly not lost on those well-versed in the Gospel stories. Peter and the disciples have, as been told, been given the same life-giving power of Jesus.

Unlike so many people in early prominent Christian stories, we have very little “hagiography”- her clear faith and the power of the Holy Spirit in Peter to resurrect her was enough to make her a saint and give her a day, this day: the 25th of October as a day of remembrance across Christian denominations. She is appropriately remembered as the patron saint of tailors and seamstresses. She is remembered in a curious poem by Robert Herrick in which we hear the dirge of her friends, but not her first resurrection, and by George MacDonald in the resurrection is not mentioned, but instead, her supposedly hearing Jesus and the motivation for her work amongst the poor. Today, we remember St. Tabitha, disciple and object of a  great miracle in Acts 9.

 

The last word for today is from George MacDonald- his poem “Dorcas.”

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 25th of October 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. 

The show is produced by the Perseus to my Andromeda if my personal dragon was bad sound engineering- he is Christopher Gillespie

The show is written and read by a man who really had to keep it together by saying “Dorcas” many times. I’m Dan van Voorhis

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be OK.