Child: Get Up

"He turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up...."

 - Acts 9

Why did Jesus raise Lazarus, and the child of the Centurion, up from the dead?

Why did people jump out of their graves when Jesus died on the Cross?

Why did Jesus Himself come back to life?

Why did Peter raise up the woman, Dorcas, also called "Tabitha" which means, "Child"?

And having raised them up, why did they all (except Jesus) have to die again?

And why hasn't He continued to raise people from the dead? What makes earlier generations better than ours?

Doesn't it all seem a little cruel? This is what we all long for: to live again, or to live forever.

How could God just give us the greatest gift, and then snatch it away?

Well, maybe there's a little pop psychology going on here. If you take it away, they'll want it even more. 

But I think that in the end, in every case, it's because we have hard hearts. And even though we crave a sign of God's power, when He finally gives us one, we still doubt. We say "Oh the person wasn't really dead - they faked it." We say "There must be a rational, scientific explanation for it" (there probably is; what difference does that make?)

The early Church needed such a sign of God's power. Even an Apostle, a human, full of faith, can raise the dead. God's plan basically needs an occasional demonstration, that He is God, and that He is in charge.

It's easy to see why, ever since the Nicene Council and all of the cynical evil that followed it, in the name of Jesus, there simply is not enough faith on earth to merit something as earth-shattering as a resurrection. All it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed. But we don't even have that. Our minds are warped by generations of science, schooling, philosophy, stoics, mammon, greed, materialism, sensuality, and self-love. 

But God predicted that. There won't be much faith left by the time Christ returns. We can't even tilt the scales of public debates, on morality, a few critical percentage points. What makes us think we can manage even the simplest card trick in the name of Christ?

Peter's faith was pure and strong, and the time was right. Tabitha got up.

The Son of God

"He is the Son of God."

 - Acts 9

Finally, about a third of the way through the Acts of the Apostles, Saul the Persecutor is transformed. He takes on his gentile name, "Paul," and begins to minister and evangelize.

Why didn't God just let the Holy Spirit continue to spread the Gospel? Why was Paul needed? 

And why haven't others, since Paul, been similarly touched by a miracle, likewise to build the Kingdom?

Occasionally in God's time, it is required for Him to step in and guide events more directly. Sometimes He has to nudge things a long. Is it because He has planned it so? Or does He respond to human events as needed? Would the Church have died out without Paul? Would it have sustained too many roots in the Hebrew traditions?

We'll find out some day. For now we just accept that God knew what He was doing, and that He did what had to be done. Saul was chosen. Chosen.

And when the time came to begin preaching, Paul focused on this, and this alone: "He is the Son of God."

When we are at a loss for words in our witnessing, or even in our preaching, do what Paul would do. Just open with these words:

"Jesus is the Son of God."

And go from there . . . 

Hope for the Entire Year

"Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."

 - Isaiah 7

If we took the Christmas story accurately, we would read about the conception of Christ, about now. And indeed, in the liturgical calendar, we do!

Just as Easter concludes, comes the Anunciation of Mary, when the Angel appears and tells her she is to give birth to the Son of God. Yes, about nine months prior to Christmas.

Whether Christ'a actual birth took place in December, or more likely in the summer; and whether or not we should actually celebrate it as a special day; still it is good to keep in mind that the openings chapters of the New Testament did not all occur in a compact four weeks called "Advent." Rather, they take up at last a nine month period. That's three quarters of the year.

This leaves a quarter of the year to contemplate the final months, and then week, of the Life of Christ, that time when He began to look, with resolve, to the Cross, and make His progress towards it.

We can spend an entire year on three topics: the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Christ, and be doing our Christian walk a good service.

Today we recognize the announcement to Mary . . . and then the waiting really begins.

Uneducated

When the rulers and elders and scribes saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men . . . 

 - Acts 4

Of all the harm that social media has done to society, none are much greater than the assertion that a person without a college education doesn't measure up. "Study shows Fox News Viewers are Less Educated than MSNBC Viewers." Such is rubbish, offensive, and possibly dangerous to society.

The Believer should not be at all persuaded by someone with an education, just because of the education. As a young adult I learned to shudder in theological discussions, when it was expected that you back off from disagreements with pastors and other ministers, since they had "studied the Greek," etc. 

Why even have a Reformation? Why not just keep it all in Latin?

If it is learned that someone does not have a college degree, our response should be: "Good - what can we learn from this person?"

I went to college to get some professional credentials. I did not go so that I would be smarter than others.