05-08-2022 An Epitaph of Excellence

Thomas J Parlette
“An Epitaph of Excellence”
Acts 9: 36-43
5/8/22

            Good morning, and happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers, grandmothers and mother-figures out there this morning. Parents, both mom and dads, have the hardest and most important job in the world. Shaping the next generation takes a lot of love, sacrifice and perseverance. It’s not easy, and it’s often thankless.
            In a TikTok video, a woman named Nicole DeRoy explains one of the challenges of motherhood. She says, “My kids wanted to know what it was like being a mom, so I woke them up at 2:00 a.m. to let them know my sock came off.”
            Another woman on Twitter wrote, “Parenting is 70% me yelling, 20% asking the kids why they’re yelling, and 10% trying to find where I left my coffee.(1)
            Speaking of misplacing coffee, here’s one mom’s “Recipe for iced coffee.” She writes, “Have kids… Make coffee… Forget you made coffee…… Put it in the microwave… Forget you put it in the microwave… And finally.. Drink it cold.”(2)
            Yes, there a lot of sacrifices that come with being a parent and especially a mom. So it’s good to take a day to appreciate what all the mother-figures do in our lives.
            I don’t think you can overestimate the influence of a parent on a child’s sense of compassion – and compassion is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Compassion is concern for the suffering of others. It’s an active response to another person’s pain. Compassion is at the heart of scripture passage for today.
            Elton Trueblood, former chaplain at Harvard and Stanford Universities, once shared a letter from a young woman he knew. She wrote, “I’ve often realized that it takes courage to care and be compassionate. Caring is dangerous. It leaves you open to hurt and to looking like a fool… I have found many places in my life where I keep a secret store of indifference as a sort of self-protection.”(3) A secret store of indifference – interesting. I wonder, how many of us have a store like that.
            Maybe that’s why the world seems less compassionate, less caring these days. Perhaps we have lost the courage to care. Maybe it’s true that we all have a secret store of indifference as a protection mechanism.
            These are some of the questions that flow from our passage for today. Today we meet a remarkable disciple of Jesus named Tabitha. “In Joppa there was disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.”
            Someone once wrote that a truly great life can be summed up in just a few words, an epitaph of excellence. That was true in Tabitha’s case – as the scripture says “she was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” A wonderful epitaph indeed.
            Sadly, however, Tabitha died, evidently before her time. The other disciples in Joppa were so upset that they sent for Peter to come to them from a nearby town. As you no doubt recall, after Jesus’ death, Peter became a key leader among the 12 apostles.
            When Peter got to Tabitha’s house, he was taken upstairs to the room where they had laid her body. Among the mourners in that upper room was a group of widows. Widows and orphans were the neediest members of society in Jesus’ day. They were completely dependent on the help and compassion of others. Without help, many of the widows would have to turn to begging in order to survive.
            All the widows stood around Peter weeping and showing him all the things that Tabitha had made for them, no doubt telling him stories about her kindness and compassion. It was obvious that Tabitha had cared deeply for the widow’s needs. And she showed her compassion by making them clothing. She saw a practical need and she filled it.
            So, having listened to the women sharing about the kind of person Tabitha was, Peter sent them all out of the room, and he prayed for Tabitha. And then he said simply, “Tabitha, get up.” And Tabitha, whose body had already been washed and prepared for burial, opened her eyes and sat up! I can see why Peter cleared the room first – that would have been overwhelming to see. And of course, everyone was amazed, and soon word spread around the whole town of Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
            Quite a story about Peter and Tabitha. Living like Tabitha lived – living with love and compassion for others, just like Christ lived, is the best way to live as a disciple of Jesus. A life of compassion is the key to living a fulfilling, faithful life.
            Notice that Tabitha lived with a sense of purpose. A sad thing is that so many people live with no real purpose at all for their lives.
            Charles Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, had a healthy perspective on living a life of purpose. He was once a powerful attorney and political adviser to President Nixon. He was also involved in the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon’s impeachment and eventual resignation. Colson spent seven months in prison for his role in Watergate. He suffered a loss of power, prestige and wealth. But, as a result, he became a Christian while he was in prison, and this gave him a new purpose in life. Subsequently, he founded an international prison ministry and wrote more than 30 books. He also became a popular speaker. He donated the proceeds from his book sales and speaking engagements to his ministry, Prison Fellowship. Charles Colson discovered what it meant to give up a life of power for a life of purpose.
            Colson once noted that his hometown of Naples, Florida, is one of the best spots in the country for golf. He would see all these wealthy CEO’s retire from their big corporations and move to Naples so they could spend all their time golfing.
            But a strange thing would happen in their retirement. These CEO’s would begin measuring their days by how many rounds of golf they could play. Colson asked some of these CEO’s, “Do you really want to live your life counting up the number of times you chase that little white ball around the green?”
            And he said that these guys would laugh nervously at the question. But after a few months of golfing, he could see in their eyes that they were becoming bored. Purposeless. They had discovered that there is no real joy in just playing golf every day. What looked like freedom and pleasure to them had become meaningless.
            Colson writes, “The object of life is not what we think it is, which is to achieve money, power and pleasure… The object of life is the maturing of the soul, and you reflect that maturing of the soul when you care more for other people that yourself.”(4)
            Tabitha, a disciple of Jesus, cared for others. She understood that God had given her particular skills and resources she could use for good works. She had the skill of sewing that she could use to provide for the poor and for the widows. A good example for us all – an epitaph of excellence.
            The best way to find a fulfilling life is to translate compassion into action. Jesus’ ministry didn’t consist of simply telling hurting people, “I’ll pray for you.” Now there is nothing wrong with telling people you will pray for them. That can be very helpful… if you really mean it… and if you follow through with it. But there some people who tell others that they will pray for them who simply use that as a substitute for doing anything else to help the person who is in need.
            That was not Jesus’ way. Jesus never even told anyone to go to church to find the answers for their needs. Instead, he went to them. He went to the marketplaces and into people’s homes. He preached to crowds in the countryside. He went where the needs were, and he took action to heal the hurts right in front of him.
            I’m sure we’ve all seen the stories of how domestic violence rose through the total lockdown phase of the pandemic. Most of us feel great sympathy for victims of domestic violence, but few of us take direct action to improve the situation. However, there was a Polish high school student named Krystyna who used her skills and resources to get help for people in dangerous home situations.
            She set up a fake online cosmetics store. You might wonder – how does that help anyone? Well here’s how it works. A woman shopping on this site could place an order that was actually a request for help without alerting her partner to her actions. If a woman placed her order and typed in an address, that is a sign she needs a visit from the local authorities. Since the websites launch, this creative site has helped over 350 women and girls get the help they need.(5)
            That’s a wonderfully simple, and creative and compassionate response to an aching need. Jesus would be pleased.
            Tabitha, this caring and compassionate disciple of Jesus, lived a fulfilling life. She had a sense of purpose. She translated her compassion into action. And because of the kind of life she lived, she will continue to live forever in our scripture.
            What a legacy Tabitha left us. As long as the Gospel story is told, Tabitha will be remembered. – “She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” That truly is an epitaph of excellence.
            May God be praised. Amen.

1.      Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, p8.
2.      Ibid… p8.
3.      Ibid… p8.
4.      Ibid… p9-10.
5.      Ibid… p10.