The Story of Dorcas From Acts
Dorcase was a character in the Bible, in the New Testament book of Acts. She was also a cat we owned while I was growing up. Today I shall tell about the Biblical Dorcas. Next time I get a chance to write, I'll tell the story of our cat named Dorcas.Dorcas From The Bible
Dorcas was a disciple of Jesus Christ, who lived in the city of Joppa. Her name was actually Tabitha, but when Luke wrote, he provided Dorcas as the translation of her name.
Dorcas was a wonderful woman who was deeply concerned with those who faced poverty; she was always doing good deeds and helping those who were poor. It was therefore a great tragedy when she became ill and then died, and all the people (not just the people of the church, I'm sure!) were deeply grieved.
But they heard that Peter was in nearby Lydda, so they sent a message to him asking him to come. Perhaps they hoped for consolation - perhaps they hoped for a miracle.
And a miracle is what they got. They led Peter to where the body of the dear woman had been laid, and where the widows of the community were standing around weeping, and showing the clothing that Dorcas had made for them, because they were too poor to get clothes.
Peter sent everyone from the room and got down on his knees to pray. Then he turned to Dorcas and spoke these words: "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and sat up. Peter took her by the hand and helped her up, and then called to all the people who came and saw she was alive. The Bible records that many became believers because of that miracle.
There are a couple things about this story that I find very interesting. One is that in the Gospels Jesus performed a similar miracle in which he raised a young child from the dead. His words to the child were "Little girl, get up." Which is curious, because the word we translate as "little girl" is Talitha. So in one case a miracle was performed accompanied by the words "Talitha, get up", and in the other case, by the words "Tabitha, get up." Any significance to this? Probably not, but I think it's curious!
The other thing is the strong emphasis which was placed on Dorcas' love for and care for the poor and the widows. I don't think it was any accident that such a woman would be the recipient of such a miracle; it is in our care for such that the validity of our faith is tested. The book of James tells us that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Posted On Jul 1, 2005 at 9:18 AM
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