Easter 4, 2025
Acts 9:36-43
Revelation 7:9-17
John 10:22-30
Psalm 23
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
So, today is what we call “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday. But it’s been six years since I preached on that first reading, from the book of Acts. And we only get to hear that story once every three years. So I think it’s time to talk about Dorcas again. That’s kind of an unfortunate name—to our American ears, at least. In Aramaic, her name is Tabitha, which means gazelle, which is lovely. But, when it gets translated into Greek, she becomes Dorcas. And there’s no need for that, so I’m going to go with Tabitha today..
If you look over to your left, you’ll see our lovely window, depicting Tabitha and the widows. It’s unclear at first glance whether this is after she was raised back to life, or if is is Tabitha distributing clothing to the needy before she fell ill and died. However, as with all good art, further study provides additional clues. The woman on the right is carrying a basket of what I am convinced are pomegranates. (Opinions on this vary in my household.) But in Greek mythology, the pomegranate is tied to the myth of Persephone and the arrival of spring, which is the rebirth of the earth each year.
For Christians, the pomegranate is a symbol of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life. If you look around the room, you will see lots of pomegranates and lilies in our stained glass windows. These are symbols of resurrection to new life, which is why we decorate the Altar with lilies at Easter. And although the overwhelming pollen can be rough, something would be lost if we put bowls of pomegranates on the Altars at Easter.
Back to Tabitha. So, given that the woman with the pomegranates is holding the hand of the woman in blue, it seems this is after Tabitha has been raised from the dead. And the woman in front of Tabitha is showing the widows and orphans the tunics and other clothing that Tabitha had made, as a reminder of why she was so beloved in the community. There is one man depicted in the window, on the left side, holding a shepherd’s crook. I got nothing on this guy.
So this window is dated 1905 in memory of Emma Dielhenn who died that January. My German instincts tell me to pronounce that name as Deel-hen. But this being Ohio, I'm told the name is pronounced Dillon, at least here in Massy-on. And, just a few blocks from here, you can find Dielhenn Avenue, which is named for the Dielhenn Petticoat Co., which employed many city residents. In 1908 the “Dry Goods Reporter” declared that Dielhenn Petticoat was America’s leading petticoat specialist.
So, knowing all of that, look again at the window. See the angel up top holding the cloth? And all the fabric in this scene? You can see why our Tabitha window—featuring a woman who was known for making robes and clothing—is dedicated in memory of Emma Dielhenn, whose family dealt in fabrics, right? Here endeth the history lesson.
Now back to the text. Tabitha was known for her acts of charity, and is one of the first female disciples mentioned by name, after the resurrection. She fell ill and died. Her friends gathered together to prepare her for burial, and they call a prominent pastor, Peter. He comes right away when he receives word. And then, those who gathered and are in mourning tell stories and share mementoes of Tabitha’s time among them. It sounds very much like what we do today when someone dies, doesn’t it? Gather together, share stories, call the pastor?
Then Peter sends them all outside, and he kneels down and prays. We don’t know the content of his prayers, or what he was asking. But eventually, he turns to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up.” And, as we heard, she opens her eyes, sees it is Peter, and he helps her up, “calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.”
SO many interesting things about that little section! First, we specifically heard, “he turned to the body and said . . .” Luke, the writer of Acts, makes it clear that she is not in this body. It is just a body. This is not Tabitha. This is a body. And then, he calls her by name, and she rises from the dead. Now I won’t stand here and tell you that I understand all this, where she went when she wasn’t in the body, or how calling her by name brings her back to life. But I will say that this sounds a lot like what will happen to each one of us when the new heaven and new earth are proclaimed. Jesus will call each of us by name, and we will rise with all the others to a new life.
And then there’s that phrase, “calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.” What saints?!? We had heard mention of widows earlier in the story. But to what saints was Peter showing her? It suggests that it’s not just the people in the room, doesn’t it? Like maybe he’s showing Tabitha to the saints who have gone before? Or showing her to the saints who will come after? To me and you? Again, I have no answers here, but Luke was careful with language—unlike Mark—so using the word “saints” certainly means more than showing her to the people in the room.
Six years ago, I didn’t know anything about Emma Dielhenn. Yesterday, I went and visited her grave in Massillon Cemetery, and found that she died at the age of 45. And I drove up Dielhenn Ave. on my way back to church for good measure. Then I looked through the Vestry Minutes from 1905 to get more clues, And after all that, I still don’t really know much. But I know that someone dedicated this window to her memory. And because of that, I learned that the Dielhenns made one of the best petticoats in the country. But the only reason I know any of that is because of this window. So the phrase, “In memorium” at the bottom is most appropriate, right? By memorializing this window depicting Tabitha, future generations are remembering and talking about Emma Dielhenn on this fourth Sunday of Easter, 120 years after her death.
And this window also honors someone named Tabitha, (or Dorcas, in Greek). There are fifteen sentences about her in the book of Acts. Out of 31,102 verses in the Bible, she got 8. Ask most Christians to identify Tabitha or Dorcas in the Bible, and not many could do it. Before I started as your rector, I could not have told you off the top of my head who she was without looking it up. It’s kind of an obscure story, within the context of the whole of our scriptures.
Our beautiful window here focuses our attention on her good works and acts of charity. The main focus of this window is showing the “tunics and other clothing that Tabitha had made while she was with them.” And that seems right, because we honor her for what she did before her death. She wasn’t just some random person raised from the dead by Peter. She was a disciple of Jesus, who used her wealth and privilege to help the people around her who needed help. And we are reminded of those good deeds when we look at this window.
But that’s not why we know Tabitha’s name. We only know her name because she was raised from the dead. She did laudable deeds, but we only know about those deeds because of God’s deed of raising her from the dead. We honor her in the window for what she did before her death. But we only even know about her because she was raised from the dead..
The point is not what she did with her life. The point is that she was raised back to life. Which is just like you and me. Some people do great things with their lives. Get streets named after them, or windows dedicated in their memory. But lots of us struggle through difficult lives, just trying to keep breathing, to keep living, to rely on the kindness of strangers. And in God’s eyes, not one of us is any less important than anyone else. Each person created in the image of God. And as we heard in today’s gospel reading, not one will be snatched out of the hand of Jesus.
And at some point, like Tabitha, every single one of us will be just a body. With people gathered to share stories about us while they wait for the pastor to show up. And at some point, on some unknown day, the Good Shepherd will call each of us by name, and say to our mortal bodies, “get up.” And then Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will call all the saints to show them that we too are alive. That like Tabitha, we too will rise to new life because of Jesus. And all the saints will rejoice.
Amen.
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