“Mathetria” was preached on May 12, 2019
at First Presbyterian Church of Sterling, CO. Inspirations for this sermon
included Scripture, commentaries, female disciples, death & resurrection,
and the life and ministry of Rachel Held Evans. You can listen to an audio clip
of this sermon here.
--------------------------
Acts
9:36-43
36
Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is
Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37 At that time she
became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room
upstairs. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter
was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without
delay.” 39 So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took
him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing
tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40
Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to
the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter,
she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints
and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42 This became known throughout Joppa,
and many believed in the Lord. 43 Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time
with a certain Simon, a tanner.
--------------------------
Friends,
we do not know much about the character of Tabitha.
Here
is what we do know:
Tabitha
also goes by her Greek name, Dorcas, which means we can assume Tabitha
straddles the cultural divide between Judaism and the wider Greco-Roman world.
This is important because Tabitha is comfortable in both communities;
therefore, a bridge between the two communities. How many of us knew that when
we heard both of her names in the passage this morning? Don’t worry; I also had
to look up the significance.
We
also know that Tabitha is in Joppa, which is right next to Lydda, which is
convenient because that is where the apostle Peter has performed the miracle of
telling a paralyzed man to walk in the verses immediately prior to our passage.
This is important because the women will soon call on Peter for a visit.
Next,
we know that Tabitha is “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” The author
took the time to write this about Tabitha, a woman. In the Gospel of Luke and
in the Book of Acts, both attributed to the same author, people with qualities
such as being devoted to good works and acts of charity, are said to be “filled
with the Spirit.” Well, that is, if you were a man. If you were a man devoted
to good works and acts of charity, you were filled with the Spirit. But Tabitha
is not a man, so this is the closest thing the author writes about a woman
being filled with the Spirit. And also, we know from Scripture that the only
reason any of us are able to do good works is because of the Spirit that lives
in, through, and around us; therefore, we can assume that Tabitha too is filled
with the Spirit.
We
know that Tabitha’s craft, work, and ministry was to make clothes, probably for
those who needed them. This means Tabitha was a woman of great creativity and
deep faith… and that she was willing to spend her own funds to give to those
around her in need.
And
we know that Tabitha is loved and valued by her community, as in her death, the
women around her clung to the clothes that Tabitha had made as they wept
together. She was important to these people. Tabitha loved them and they loved
her. They did not want to lose her.
Which
brings us to the final two things we know about the character of Tabitha, and
possibly, the most important:
We
know that Tabitha died. She fell ill and she died. It’s important that we note
this because it’s the reason Tabitha’s story is introduced to us. We don’t know
this character while she is doing her good works; we only just meet her once
she has died.
And
the final thing we know about Tabitha that as she died, she was specifically
and explicitly named the first and only mathetria
in Scripture—the first and only named female disciple. And while I and other
pastors and theologians would argue Scripture is full of many female disciples,
Tabitha bears the privilege and burden of being the one person in which the
Greek word mathetria, which means
female disciple, is used to identify her role. By being the first and only
named mathetria, Tabitha bears the
responsibility of being the role model to other female disciples; the
responsibility to use ministry in positive, transformative ways to open the
doors for others along the way. But as the first and only named female
disciple, it really is devastating when Tabitha dies because she has not yet
passed on her legacy.
But
we know that by the grace of God, Peter is in the nearby city of Lydda. When
Tabitha dies, he is called to come the body of Tabitha and the grieving women
that surround her. I question their intent of why they called upon Peter. Did
they want Peter, one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus, to know about
Tabitha and her extraordinary faith? Did they wish for her memory to live on
through the building of the foundation of the early Church? Did they hope for a
miracle to happen? A miracle beyond miracles, a reprieve from death, the
resurrection of her body… because that is what they received. After a moment of
prayer, Peter tells the dead body of Tabitha to “get up!” And Tabitha does and
she is alive once more. This was shared throughout Joppa and many came to
believe in the Lord because of this.
This
is a powerful story. The first named female disciple dies but is resurrected by
the Lord through the prayers of Peter and the faith of her community, and once
again, especially during this Easter season, we are reminded that death is not
a barrier between us and the healing, miraculous, loving powers of God. The
first named female disciple is brought back from death into life so that she
can go forth and continue her good works in the name of Christ. Perhaps from
her now resurrected life, more mathetrias
– more female disciples – will be formed and transformed to continue the
ministry of Christ.
But
what this story doesn’t tell us is a difficult question for each of us to
wrestle with, to even antagonize over. What this story doesn’t tell us is why
do we not today experience the same resurrection of loved ones that was given
to Tabitha and the early Christian community?
On
May 4th of this year, another mathetria
died. This female disciple – Rachel Held Evans – died at the age of 37
following complications of an infection. Rachel Held Evans was a Christian
activist, an New York Times best-selling author of four books, and a wife to
her husband and a mother to two young children. Held Evans rose in public ministry
when in 2014, she left the evangelical church to help create a more inclusive
space for people on the margins on society. That is when her writings began to
shape many communities of faith and ministry leaders, including myself. Perhaps
you have read one of her books or a shorter piece of her writings. Perhaps you
have been unknowingly influenced by her life and good works. If you have never
heard of it, that’s okay too. Sometimes even the deaths of strangers can impact
us in the most holy of ways. But just so you have an idea, I want to introduce
to the type of ministry and sacred space that Rachel created. Hear this quote
from her blog when she left the evangelical church in 2014:
"Rather than
wearing out my voice in calling for an end to evangelicalism’s culture wars, I
think it’s time to focus on finding and creating church among its many refugees
— women called to ministry, our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, science-lovers,
doubters, dreamers, misfits, abuse survivors, those who refuse to choose between
their intellectual integrity and their faith or their compassion and their
religion, those who have, for whatever reason, been 'farewelled,'
Instead of
fighting for a seat at the evangelical table, I want to prepare tables in the
wilderness, where everyone is welcome and where we can go on discussing (and
debating!) the Bible, science, sexuality, gender, racial reconciliation,
justice, church, and faith, but without labels, without wars.”
When
I think of a modern day mathetria, I
think of Rachel Held Evans, a female disciple devoted to good works and to acts
of charity; a person who followed Christ by creating a more open, more
faithful, more inclusive, more loving place at the Table of our Lord. But being
full of good works doesn’t stop any of us from falling ill and acts of charity
are not protection against death that may stalk us or surprise us. We all know
this fact too well—the human experience of death.
And
on days like today, like Mother’s Day, we sometimes know death too well. On a
day that was created to celebrate women and bring joy from the mothers and
grandmothers and sisters and daughters and women mentors and female disciples
in our lives, we might also feel the heartache of no longer having these women
in our mortal lives.
And
although that feeling of heartache causes some of us to stumble on days such as
these, it’s important to note that that feeling is here. It’s why I think even
in the season of Easter—a time in the church in which we celebrate life and new
life, joy and resurrection—that we let this heartache speak to us. Because it
is in this heartache that the witness to the promise and the power of the
resurrection enters into the real places of our daily lives, to address even
those darkest times of human grief and loss.
You
see, because everyone in this room has lost a woman that has meant something to
us: our mothers or grandmothers, our sisters or friends, our daughters or
granddaughters—disciples of Christ, some who lived long beautiful lives and
some who didn’t get to live long enough. And although we don’t experience the
same resurrection power that raised Tabitha back into life, we do experience
the resurrection of the Lord in many other ways in their lives and therefore
our lives.
Because
like many of you, I refuse to let human experience of death be the end of
someone’s story. We refuse to let good and just works come to an end when a
life comes to an end. We refuse to let death have the final word because God
has refused to give death the final word.
Instead,
we believe this: that the good works of those who have died will continue
through us, that their lives are now with the Christ who raised them to be with
him, and that God’s defeat over death in the crucifixion and the resurrection
is a sign of healing and hope that we still cling to today.
I am
a better minister because of the writings of Rachel Held Evans; I am a better
disciple because of the mathetrias
I’ve served alongside with; I am a better person because of the many women in
my life, infants to seniors, those who are still living and those who are now
with God. Who are the women that shaped your life? Take a moment; think of
them.
Friends,
the Spirit of the risen Lord enters our world to bring life, healing, and hope.
The Spirit of the Lord brings the good news of the resurrection. That Spirit of
the Lord lives through the Tabithas of the world, the disciples of every age,
gender, ability, class, and race; living or dead. And because that Spirit lives
on, I see that the hope for good works and love will take on an immortality
among the living. And when that hope lives on from generation to generation,
then we can continue good works in the name of Christ and in thanksgiving for
those who have transformed our lives. This is the resurrection power that still
reigns today. Thanks be to God. Amen.
--------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment