Loving & Serving Those Who Grieve: A Sermon for 4 Easter

For those of you who have been around here a while, you’ll know that I am always encouraging us to recognize the liturgical season that we are in, and to, from there, try to draw a connection between the collect of the day, scripture lessons, hymns, and sermon. How are they all connected? Is there a thread that runs through them all? In other words, what we are doing here this morning isn’t just a random selection of texts or themes. So, when I approach our scripture lessons today in preparation for my sermon, the first question I ask is, “How is this an Easter text?” or “What does this text have to do with the Easter themes of resurrection from the dead, or new life, or new beginnings?”

When put through that filter, the text that jumped out at me today was our reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It’s not that difficult to discern why the story of Peter bringing Dorcas back to life is given to us during the season of Easter. Dorcas was dead; and then she was alive.

But we must be careful not to say that Dorcas was resurrected from the dead in the same manner that Jesus was. Peter’s raising Dorcas from the dead was the same sort of miracle that Jesus performed when he raised Lazarus from the dead, as well as the synagogue leader’s daughter, Talitha. When they were raised, they had their same bodies as before. They were not in their resurrection bodies. And Dorcas, Lazarus, and Talitha all died again.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, he was in his fully transformed, resurrection body. He could appear and disappear. He could walk through walls and doors. And he did not die again. And such will be the case for us on the day of the resurrection of the dead. We will all be raised in fully transformed, resurrection bodies. And death will have no more dominion over us.

So, with all of that being said, what are we to make of Peter’s raising Dorcas from the dead? If she was not resurrected, how and why is this an Easter text?

In the Acts of the Apostles, this story comes immediately after the story of the conversion of Saul. When put back-to-back, the stories both show how, through the power of God, dead people can be made alive again. In Saul’s case, he was spiritually dead, as he was doing all he could do to stop the spread of this new movement within Judaism known as “The Way.” He persecuted Jesus by persecuting his followers. But while he was on the road to Damascus, on the way to persecute more Christians, Jesus appeared to him. And that was what led Saul to be completely transformed, so much so that he received an entirely new name. Saul was dead, and Paul was alive. This is an Easter story indeed.

And the story we have today, which comes immediately after Paul’s remarkable conversion story, is also an Easter story. But the new life that we hear about in this story actually happens before Peter raises Dorcas from the dead. The text says that “Dorcas was devoted to good works and acts of charity,” and when Peter arrived on the scene, “All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.”

Whether or not Dorcas herself was a widow remains unknown, but Christian tradition holds that she was. Basil of Caesarea refers to Dorcas as an example in his Morals (rule 74): "That a widow who enjoys sufficiently robust health should spend her life in works of zeal and solicitude, keeping in mind the words of the Apostle and the example of Dorcas."

So, what this means is that Dorcas, after she became a widow, devoted her life to acts of charity, in this case, sewing clothing for the needy. And she apparently had developed such a good reputation that when she died, two men were sent to the nearby town of Lydda to find Peter and ask for his pastoral presence.

Of course, the penultimate Easter moment in this story is when Peter raises Dorcas from the dead. But new life had already sprung in Dorcas. She apparently came out of the other side of her grief from the death of her husband and found solace in her relationship with the other widows of their Christian community. And together, those widows found new life in their friendship with one another, and they found new life in their acts of charity for their community. Their grief had been sanctified and transformed into new a life through a new vocation.

When Peter raised Dorcas from the dead, I think that he was, among many things, honoring her vocation, as well as the vocation of the community of widows there in Joppa. They themselves had come through the other side of grief and hopelessness. And they were now helping others do the same. And that was and is holy work indeed. It is Easter work.

I saw this very same sort of work happening here at Christ the King this week and we prepared for Tim Harbeson’s funeral yesterday. All day Friday and Saturday, the church, kitchen, and parish hall were abuzz with people – mostly women – working to make the funeral and reception a holy and glorious feast for Buffy, Lark, their family, and our community. It wasn’t lost on me that some of the women who were working so hard are widows themselves. They know first-hand how difficult it is to be going through what Buffy is going through right now. And they showed up to help us all work through our grief. These women at Christ the King are following in the footsteps of Dorcas and her companions. They are continuing the ancient Christian tradition of caring for those in need. And I couldn’t be more proud to be the priest at a parish that takes seriously the love and care for those who are grieving.

So yesterday was an Easter moment indeed. And today is too. All around us, we are seeing life and love emerge out of death. We are seeing and experiencing new beginnings, new vocations, and new life. May we continue to follow the example of Dorcas and her companions, faithfully, selflessly, and courageously loving and serving our sisters and brothers in Christ.