5/8/22 "The Trajectory of Resurrection" by Nancy E. Petty

Acts 9:36-43

Sermon by Nancy E. Petty

Easter’s resurrection theme just won’t die. It seems that maybe resurrection really isn’t a one-time event, confined to Easter morning. Truth be told, resurrection, as a part of our faith narrative, was a “thing” long before the Jesus-raised-from-the-dead-event. Remember the story about when the prophet Elijah had been staying at the house of a widow in Zarephath and her son got sick and stopped breathing? Remember how Elijah carried the boy to the upper room where he was staying and laid the boy on the bed and stretched himself out on the body three times. And then how Elijah cried out to God and the child’s life came back.

Or remember the time that Elisha brought the Shunemmite boy back to life. How he, like Elijah, laid himself on the dead body and the boy’s body grew warm, he then sneezed seven times, and opened his eyes. If you don’t remember those, maybe you will remember the more familiar story of Jesus resurrecting Jairus’ 12 year-old daughter who had died. How when Jesus approached her he said, “My child, get up” and the story is told that “her spirit returned and she raised up to life again.” And just to prove that she was alive, Jesus ordered her parents to give her something to eat. Remember that one? 

And then there is the very familiar resurrection story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In that story, the writer tells us, “Lazarus had been dead many days.” Jesus comes and calls for Lazarus to come out of the tomb, and Lazarus walked out wrapped in burial cloths.

And now, in this linage of resurrection stories, we read the story of Peter raising Tabitha (or Dorcas if you prefer) from the dead. Given that very few women are actually named in the Bible, it is worthy on this Mother’s Day to take a few minutes to lift up this woman’s story.

Tabitha (Dorcas in the Greek) was a devoted follower of Jesus. She’s the only woman in the New Testament who is explicitly called a disciple. The same Greek word used to name the twelve men Jesus called as his disciples, is used for Tabitha in the feminine form. (A little Greek lesson there.) Tabitha also holds the distinction as being the only person Peter raised from the dead.

What we know of Tabitha is that she was a beloved member of her community. The writer of Acts sums up her life by saying she was “devoted to good works and acts of mercy.” She was known for her beautiful fabrics and the tunics she sowed for members of her community. When she died, her community was deeply grieved. Knowing that Peter was nearby in Lydda, they sent word for him to come to Joppa. It is unclear whether Tabitha was herself poor or a widow. Acts describes her as beloved in the specifically Christian community at Joppa, and by implication prominent in it. This might also be indicated by the fact that Peter took the trouble to come to her when requested by the community members.

Although widowhood has been associated with poverty and dependence in the early modern Western mind, that was not necessarily the case for Tabitha. The bible describes a variety of widows, both poor and rich, powerful and dependent. Under Roman law in this era, when a woman’s father died, she would become legally independent and would conventionally inherit an equal share of his property along with her siblings. She controlled this property herself even if married. If her husband died, she would also recover her dowry, which would have been controlled by her husband during their marriage. Thus a woman could actually become more wealthy when her husband died. Poor or not, it is clear that she was beloved in her community and was devoted to acts of extreme kindness and care for members of her community. And out of their love for her, they called for Peter to come when she died.

There is nothing in the story that indicates that Tabitha’s friends had any expectation that Peter or anyone could resurrect their friend. It is more likely that Peter was summoned to conduct her funeral. And so I am and we are left to think about what kind of person she must have been if it is her good works, not her spectacular resurrection, not her elevated title of “disciple” but rather her benevolence—her acts of kindness and mercy—that preserved her story.

What if, my friends, that is the trajectory of resurrection? Not the resurrection itself, but the stories that are held and preserved throughout history of what resurrected people do and what they represent. What if the trajectory of resurrection is that recognition energy and those recognition events that I spoke of last week? What if resurrection is about how resurrected people keep hope, love, kindness, mercy alive in the world, even long after they are gone from us? Hear me: the trajectory of resurrection lives on in the world long after the resurrected person is gone. Resurrection travels forward, moving from person to person and people to people. Consider this: Resurrection begins before the death.

Let me illustrate. Think of our founder John T. Pullen. The story goes that John Pullen was known for his benevolence to the poor and the widows of Raleigh. It was his way to go to the places where the poor and the outcast resided. His home church, First Baptist Church, felt that the places he frequented were not places where a reputable Christian man should be hanging out—especially the bars and pool halls of Raleigh. They called him in and told him that he would need to forgo those places if he wanted to remain in “good standing” within their Christian community. As the story goes, this didn’t sit well with Mr. Pullen and he was ready to abandon the church. But as he heard his mother praying for him as the church bells tolled, he went to the church and agreed to their demands with one caveat. That caveat being that he would start a mission church that ministered to the poor and the outcast. The leaders agreed and thus the Fayetteville Baptist Church was formed. Today that church is known as the Pullen Memorial Baptist Church named after its founder—this church known for its devotion and commitment to the poor and marginalized and oppressed.

John T. Pullen was not resurrected from the dead, literally. And yet, he was resurrected from a dead institution the day he stood before those church leaders and asked to start a church in this community that would “do good works and perform acts of mercy” to those in need. His is a resurrection story that lives on today in us. And oh, how the dead institution we call the church needs some resurrected people.

There are resurrection stories all throughout our history as a church. Geraldine Cate, Pullen’s former Minister of Music who served this church for 40 years, is a resurrection story as she was the first person to engage our church in prison ministry. Mary Ruth Crook, devoted Pullen member, is a resurrection story who brought us into fellowship with other people of faith in Cuba and The Republic of Georgia and in other parts of the world.

John T. Pullen, Geraldine Cate, Mary Ruth Crook are no longer with us in bodily form but they were resurrected people long before their deaths, and they are resurrected people whose stories and lives live on in us and through us. The trajectory of resurrection is whenever we allow our impossible dreams and hopes to be resurrected, here and now, in acts of mercy and good works for the common good.

Now let me shift here for a moment but stay with me. Everything is connected. If you are like me, you came here this morning carrying a heavy concern for the future of women’s rights around reproductive rights. The leaked Supreme Court draft opinion seemingly supporting overturning Roe v. Wade is deeply troubling (and that is an understatement) for women and for our democracy. For anyone to dictate and control a woman’s decision about her own body and health is an assault on individual freedom and specifically a woman’s right to make decisions for her life. And yet, we are faced with the reality that soon women may not have federal protection when it comes to making their own choices about their own bodies.

If you will, for just a moment, allow me to apply the trajectory of resurrection to this moment in time in our nation. Gerri Santoro died trying to terminate an unwanted and dangerous pregnancy, in the dark days before Roe v. Wade. Like so many women of her time, Gerri was rendered virtually faceless, voiceless, and choiceless by the violence and indifference of misogynists. Her story represents an unknown number of women before Roe v. Wade, and even some after. Then, then came women like Margaret Sanger and Stella Browne, resurrected woman who saw these women and became their faces, their voices, and advocated for their choice. And the trajectory of their own resurrections saved the lives of many women who came after them. Their resurrections became salvation for many women. That is the trajectory of resurrection.

And now, it is our time, in this moment of darkness, to become the trajectory of resurrection and continue their story. It is our time in the linage of our faith to step into the trajectory of resurrection and become resurrected people like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and Peter, Tabitha and John T. Pullen, Geraldine Cate and Mary Ruth Crook. We have a spiritual and moral responsibility to engage in acts of mercy for the poor, the marginalized, the outcasts, and the rights of women to make a choice for their lives and their health.

We must not give into despair in these moments. Rather we must stand firm and be resurrected people. Let us not lag in zeal in doing so!