Acts 9:32-43 As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once! ”Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.
In the above passage, Peter is on a mission to spread the Good News in Israel. He is following Jesus' words, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20) The disciples are in the midst of laying the foundation of the Good News everywhere they go. Their ministry is accompanied by miracles and wonders. We see in Jerusalem that even Peter’s shadow healed many. People brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. (Acts 5:15-16) Where wonders and miracles occurred, crowds came to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Jesus had told his disciple to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit infilled them. After they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, the believers moved with the power of the Holy Spirit within them everywhere they went. The Spirit of God was no longer just in the holy temple in Jerusalem. Ananias and Sapphira discover too late that the Spirit of God was always present with believers. In attempting to deceive the church about giving all the money they received to the church from a sale of their land, they got caught lying to God. They had not given all the money from the sale to the church. They held back some for themselves. Peter told them, you have lied to the Holy Spirit; both of them died immediately. This incident brought fear upon the church because now the believers knew that nothing they thought or did was outside of the Holy Spirit’s knowledge and control. In the above passage we see Peter going to Lydda, a community 25 miles away from the holy city of Jerusalem. Peter is spreading the Good News of Jesus being alive and that salvation has come through him to the children of Israel. In Lydda he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. With the fulness of the power of God in him, Peter goes to this paralyzed man. “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. How wonderful! Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, tells Aeneas to get up. He does not say God has healed you; he says God is healing you NOW. The Spirit of God was in that room. Peter’s very presence brought healing to people through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told the disciples that they would do greater works than what they had seen him do. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-14) In Paul’s ministry as he was laying the foundation of the New Covenant in other lands, many miracles accompanied him. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. (Acts 19:11-12) As with Peter’s ministry, Paul’s work in foreign territories also came with miraculous events. God’s incursion into the lands of unbelief came with the mighty power of the Holy Spirit within his apostles. Definitely, it was important for the followers of Jesus to remain in Jerusalem until they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
In Lydda we saw Peter’s very presence bring healing to Aeneas. Now in the next city, Joppa, we see something different. Peter, whose very presence, his shadow, brought healing and deliverance to people, is now kneeling at Dorcas’ bed. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Dorcas was a good woman who loved people, especially the poor. She was always doing good and helping the poor. As with the centurion, Cornelius, giving to the poor was central in her life. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. (Acts 10:2) God honors people who look out for the poor. Jesus told the religious young man who obeyed all of the commandments that he was to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor and then follow him. God honors the lives of people who look after the poor. But of course selling all his possessions and giving the money to the poor was unthinkable to him; he loved his possessions more than God. Complete servitude to God is a difficult task for men and women. It is like a camel going through the eye of a needle: an impossibility. Jesus had said, call no man good. The disciples understood the impossibility of a camel passing through the eye of a needle, exclaiming, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus says, yes, that is an impossibility for men and women, but for God, all things are possible. With this statement, Jesus is saying that man’s efforts will never bring salvation to him; God’s works alone through Jesus Christ on the cross will deliver men and women out of slavery to Satan. Escape from Egypt comes only through the blood of the Lamb. As we see Peter on his knees praying, he intercedes on her behalf. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. This command of get up is what Peter heard when delivered from prison by an angel. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. (Acts 12:7) Peter was delivered from certain death the next morning. Now we see Dorcas being delivered from death; the chains of death fell off of her body and she gets up. The command to get up is often stated in the New Testament. Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. (John 5:8-9) We see Peter immediately helping the crippled man by the Temple to get up. Then Peter took the man’s right hand and lifted him up. Immediately the man’s feet and ankles became strong. (Acts 3:7) After Jesus prays for Peter's sick mother-in-law, she gets up and fixes a meal for them. Getting up is an act of faith, testifying by actions that Jesus has healed them. We must not assume anything, but sometimes getting up is a necessary act in our healing. However, in all things let God be God, his will be done.
Peter’s missionary journey throughout Israel brought many people to the Lord. As he went from one community to the next, miracles and wonders were manifested in their towns. New converts were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The fulfillment of the promise God gave their father Abraham had come to them in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus would bless all nations, but first He would bless the children of Israel that carried the promise to Abraham to fruition in the person of Jesus Christ, the Mediator between man and God. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:10-12) The ministry of Peter to the Israelites was one of salvation: Jesus had come to them to deliver them from the hands of Satan, to bring eternal life to them. Peter's ministry was powerful and because of miracles and wonders, the people came to know Jesus Christ as the redeeming Messiah. The people in Lydda were impacted by Aeneas’ healing, All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. In Joppa, Dorcas’ rising out of death brought many to the Lord, many people believed in the Lord. Through miracles and wonders, God established the New Covenant. He was breaking open the hardness of people’s hearts through wondrous deeds that had no rational explanation for what was happening in their communities. God powerfully extended his hand on the land of the Jews. People were seeing things and experiencing phenomenon that went beyond explanation. God no longer dwelt far away, but He was immanently involved in their existence. Today God is still involved in people’s lives. He is still always present with believers, and believers are still powerful in their communities. As believers we should understand that God is not far removed from us, but is even at our lips: our statements of faith. We should still tell people to “Get up” and live lives for God. Let us not forget who we are; we carry the dynamo of God in our lives, the Holy Spirit. He has come to restore men and women to God. Through us, let them know what God’s existence in a person’s life looks like. Let them see even in our struggles the face of God in us. Let the world know that Jesus is alive, and He lives in every believer!
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