Easter Living - Fourth Sunday of Easter
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
May 11, 2025
During the Easter
season, our Sunday lessons treat us to a variety of stories about how Jesus’s
followers reacted to his resurrection and how they managed, or in many cases
mismanaged, the Church once Jesus entrusted its leadership to them. I love this season for two reasons. First, it’s so applicable for us. We are the successors to the Apostles
and people of the early Church and have now been entrusted with Christ’s Church,
just as they were. And as the present
stewards of Christ’s Church, we face many of the same questions the first
generations of Christians faced. One of
the most fundamental is this: in light of Christ’s resurrection victory, how
are we supposed to live? That
question becomes complicated because of the second reason I love the
Easter readings so much: they portray the early Church and its people with all
their warts, flaws, and mistakes. They
are so real, so human, so relatable, and so much like us.
Today we’ll explore
this question of how we live as Easter people through Peter and Tabitha, whose
stories intersect in today’s first lesson from Acts. Too often we view people like them as so unattainably
pious and saintly that their accomplishments are impossibly beyond us. Indeed, Paul and Tabitha were fine Christians,
but they weren’t any more perfect than us and they didn’t have any special
powers that Jesus hasn’t likewise bestowed upon us. Everything good they did was due to Jesus,
not to their piety or perfection. Likewise, Jesus can and does work through us.
Let me back this
assertion up with two verses from John’s Gospel. The first was in today’s Gospel. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” In our day, Jesus’s voice is spoken through
means other than his mouth, like holy scripture. But Jesus’s authoritative, miracle working
voice also comes through his servants and followers. Believe it or not, Jesus is capable of
speaking through you with the same grace and power that he did through
the first Christians.
The other verse I want
to highlight is John 14:12. At the Last
Supper, Jesus was explaining why he had to go away. Quite understandably, the disciples feared having
to persevere in his absence. But listen
to the promise Jesus game them: “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes
in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than
these, because I am going to the Father.” Isn’t that amazing? Believe it or
not, Jesus is saying that he is capable of working miracles through you that are just as astonishing as he did through the first Christians.
So now let’s explore
what Peter and Tabitha teach us about living and thriving as Easter
people. We’ll begin with Tabitha. She was remarkable, the only woman called a
disciple in the New Testament. The way they
grieved her death spoke volumes about how beloved she was. Tabitha demonstrates for us, so simply and
beautifully, that Jesus intends for Christians to spend their lives generously
and selflessly serving others.
There’s a subtle detail
in this story though that makes Tabitha’s kindness even more noteworthy. Luke, the author of Acts, draws a curious
distinction in this lesson between “saints” and “widows.” The “saints” are the Christians. But he lists the widows separately, implying
that they were non-believers. Notice
which group was the beneficiary of Tabitha’s merciful works: the widows, the non-Christians. Tabitha is more than an example of doing good
works; she reminds us that Jesus calls us, his Easter people, to lovingly serve everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, without exception. That’s what she did before her death and I’m
sure what she did after her resurrection. Tabitha exemplifies the gracious, generous life Christ calls us to live,
and by Christ’s grace we can do just that.
Let’s move on to
Peter. We know a lot more about him than
we do about Tabitha. Peter was a
fisherman, one of Jesus’s closest friends, and the leader of the Apostles. But what makes him so interesting to me is
how imperfect he was. At times he was a
hot head who spoke more with his heart than his head, and often that got him in
trouble. He could be impetuous. Strong willed. You may recall that he even tried to lecture
Jesus a time or two about how a Messiah is supposed to act.
And when Jesus was in
his hour of deepest need, what did tough-talking Peter do? He abandoned his Master. He even pretended he didn’t know him. Peter ran in shame. The resurrected Jesus mercifully forgave him
and restored him to his position, but even after all that Peter continued to
make mistakes. Most notably, he clashed
multiple times with the Apostle Paul. You see, Paul interpreted Jesus’s teachings to mean that all people, Jews and non-Jews (Gentiles) were welcome into Christ’s Kingdom of
grace and mercy. Peter wasn’t so sure
about the Gentiles. He had a hard time
opening the Church’s doors to them and he struggled to set aside some of the
Jewish customs and religious laws that Jesus said no longer applied. The Church discerned that Peter was flat out
wrong about all that.
And yet despite all these
flaws and mistakes, look what Peter did in today’s lesson. He raised Tabitha from the dead, something
only Jesus had done. Was this possible
because Peter was especially holy and perfect? We know that’s not the case. Was Peter
perhaps divine, just like Jesus, and worthy in his own right to be
worshipped? Of course not. The miracle was worked through Peter,
but it was Jesus’s power and authority that raised Tabitha from the
dead, and that was clear to everyone. We
know that was the case because as news of the miracle spread, those who heard
it quite rightly became believers in Jesus, not Peter.
If Jesus could work
through Peter, with all his imperfections, don’t you think Jesus can work
through us despite our mistakes, our flaws, and our rough edges? I’m not sure any of us will ever raise the
dead, but Jesus does work miracles of grace and mercy through us. It's not because of our righteousness, which
is mighty thin. But with Christ’s righteousness, anything is possible for Easter people who want to humbly
serve the Lord.
One last observation
about Peter in this lesson: Peter admirably demonstrates the capacity to learn,
grow, and change his mind. Another
subtle detail at the end of the lesson tells us that Peter lodged with Simon
the Tanner. A tanner worked with animal
carcasses, which rendered him ceremonially unclean under the Jewish law. The fact that Peter stayed with the tanner
spoke volumes concerning how Peter was letting go of his old ways and embracing
Jesus’s Way in fullness. Peter would
take another huge step in that direction in the tenth chapter of Acts.
Similarly, how is Jesus
challenging us to see his Kingdom as bigger and more inclusive than we
once thought? This isn’t about
re-writing God’s law just to please our own whims or to curry favor with
others. Sometimes, like Peter, we get
stuck in traditional human ways of seeing the world and Jesus challenges us to
see things anew, through his eyes, which are always more graceful and
expansive. Peter bravely set aside all
he thought he knew, and relied wholly on Christ, even when it made him
nervous, and even when it required him to very publicly change his mind.
So friends, if you
wonder what comes next now that Lent has passed and Christ has risen, I hope
I’ve given you some answers. We are
Easter people! By God’s grace, serve
like Tabitha. And like Peter, realize
that despite your limitations, Jesus can and does work miracles through
you. Don’t be afraid to change your
mind, if it means adopting the perspective of Jesus. And finally, in all things, give Jesus Christ all the glory. Amen.
© 2025 Rev. Scott E. Schul, all rights reserved
Sermon Text: Acts 9:36-43
Gospel Text: John 10:22-30
The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the Tenth Chapter:
22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the
portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26 but
you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give
them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 What my Father has given me is greater than all
else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30 The Father and I are one.”
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