In Jesus Holy Name August 7, 2022
Text: Acts 9:32-43 Redeemer Lutheran
“Never the Same Again -Part II ”
When visiting the Hawaiian Island many tourists will visit the island of Molokai. It has quiet charm, gentle breezes and a soft surf. Father Damien came to the island for a different reason. He came to help people die. He came there because leprosy came there first. No one knows how leprosy came to Hawaii but the first case recorded was about 1840.
While no one can trace the source of the disease the results are well known; disfigurement, pain, decay and panic. The government responded by depositing those with leprosy to a small part of the island surrounded on three sides by water and a tall mountain on the 4th. Colleen and I had the opportunity years ago to hike down the mountain to village.
The lepers lived there in shanties with limited food. Ships would drop off crates of food and hoped the sea would float the supplies to the land. The message was clear. You are not valuable anymore. But for Father Damian the message was different.
He wrote: “I want to sacrifice myself for the poor lepers.” He immersed himself in their world, hugging them, dressing their sores, burying their dead. His choir sang in rags and received communion with stumped hands. Because they mattered to God they mattered to him.
Somewhere along the way, through a touch of kindness or sharing of communion, the disease passed from member to Father Damian. He became a leper and on April 15, 1889 he died of the disease. Scientists now know the disease as “Hansen’s Disease” and have learned how to treat it. We no longer quarantine lepers to islands like Molokai.
Their lives were never the same once they contracted leprosy. When Father Damien brought the love and good news of Jesus, they were never the same again. They knew they had the gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
In our sermon series through the book of Acts the scene in Acts chapter 9 now shifts from the conversion of Paul….to Peter, who was visiting the churches along the coast. While Luke was telling us about Saul, Peter was visiting the cities where Christians may have fled from Jerusalem after the death of Stephen. Peter came to the saints who lived in Lydda. It was a predominately Gentile city about 35 miles from Jerusalem with a Jewish community. (v. 32).
Lydda had a large market and was noted for the raising of cattle. Textile, dyeing, and pottery industries flourished there. This, then, was the kind of bustling, flourishing community that existed when Peter visited the city and ministered to the Christians living there.(Acts 9:32–35).
Upon his arrival, he met Aeneas, who had been bedfast for eight years with a disease that had paralyzed him (v. 33). For the 2nd time God used Peter to heal a man who had been paralyzed. Peter said to Aeneas: “Jesus heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” He immediately got up.
Some of us have been saying to our teenagers, ‘Arise and make your beds,’ with no result!”
“The Holy Spirit is the chief actor in the book of Acts. In chapter 1 Acts began with 120 disciples. Jesus had promised them that His Holy Spirit would be given to them and they would have a future ministry of teaching, witnessing and healing. The Pentecost event added 3000 new Christians. The healing of the lame man in Acts 3 added 2000 more. Acts chapter 6 saw the persecution of Stephen and caused many to flee Jerusalem.” (The Contemporary Christian, John Stott, p. 330)
The greatest work of the Holy Spirit is conversion to faith in Jesus. Acts chapter 9 is the story of the Holy Spirit bringing Saul to faith to be one of the great theologians and missionaries of Christianity. In Acts chapter 10 the Holy Spirit will use Peter to share the gospel with the Gentile family and friends of Cornelius. As a result of the healing of Aeneas Luke writes: , “And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.”
Immediately the news flashed up and down the coastal towns Lydda. People came to see what had happened. They had questions and Peter had answers.
This was the Holy Spirit at work giving Peter the gift of healing just as he had months before at the temple. We remember the story. Peter and John were going up to the Temple to pray when a lame man begged for money. Peter reached out his and grabbing his hand. Immediately the man was healed. What happened next? Thousand of people wanted to know what happened. How was the man healed? Peter then told them about the power of the risen Jesus.
The healing of Aeneas gave the same opportunity. He was never the same again. Peter did not heal all the sick people in town, yet this miracle provided the opening to tell the story of Jesus, the gospel of forgiveness and eternal life.
The book of Acts the story of the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit, just as Matthew, Mark Luke and John were about the ministry of Jesus.
The Holy spirit is performing miracles, signs and wonders, through the disciples. Neither Jesus nor Peter used the miracles as fund raisers. The purpose of the miracles were to restore an individual’s health, which has been broken by the Fall of Adam and Eve. Miracles were and are actions of God’s love and create an opportunity to share the story of God’s Messiah, Jesus. People who listened to Peter talk about Jesus, were never the same again. Their lives were changed.
Ten miles northwest of Lydda in the seaport town of Joppa, there was another group of Christians. One of the church’s members was Dorcas, a gracious woman filled with love and compassion for the poor (v.36). She had died and when the Christians heard that Peter was only 10 miles away in Lydda, they sent for him (vv. 37-38). When he arrived, he went to the upper room where Dorcas had been prepared for burial, he found a group of weeping widows (v. 39).
Having prayed, he took Dorcas’ hand and commanded her to come to life. When she saw Peter she sat up, and he presented her alive to the waiting people (vv. 40-41). When Peter healed Aeneas, he did not say, “I heal you”; he said, “Jesus Christ heals you.” Before he spoke to Dorcas, Peter prayed. It was not his own power on which Peter called; it was the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. Why did Luke not record this prayer of Peter?
Because he knew that everyone of us would use it when a loved one dies and expect the same result……we must remember that Dorcas is not with us.
Prayer is the key for any successful ministry. It is essential because it recognizes our dependence upon God. We have people in our congregation who are modern day examples of Dorcas, doing good deeds in abundance, serving others.
Most of us are aware of how God brought Winnie to our congregation. If judged by her income, she would have been considered poor, on the brink of poverty. Through Kristi, a connection was made to convert her sister’s garage into a nice one bedroom apartment. Our member, Linda Platten, could be called our modern day Dorcas. She took her to doctor appointments, shopped, and was the support she needed. For years Winnie had prayed for her family, even though some of her family had abandoned her and left her to fend for herself like the lepers on Molokai.
Just a month ago I visited Winnie in the hospital and met her son. He was there to take her to his home in Oregon. God had answered her prayers after years. She was on cloud 9, thanking God. She will never be the same because Jesus used this congregation to mold her faith and prayer life.
There are other “Dorcas” stories in our church where members are “always doing good, helping the poor, and those who need care.
The miracles of Jesus, the miracles which the Holy Spirit did through Peter, were not meant to solve all the problems of the earth and human disease. Miracles were and are actions of God’s love creating an opportunity to share the story of God’s Messiah, Jesus. Which is what happened in Lydda and Joppa.
As Christians can find all kinds of ways to minister in the name of Jesus. For example, there are 21,800 patients per year who receive chemotherapy treatments in Louisville, Kentucky, and most lose their hair.
When Lynette Le Gette discovered this, it brought her to tears. She also learned that patients complained about being cold during the night and wrapped pajamas or towels around their heads to keep warm. This gave Lynette an idea. She said, "I thought I couldn’t possibly meet that need. It seemed an overwhelming project." But I decided to try.
Lynette’s project was to create turbans for cancer patients who lost their hair. Some of her first creations were sent to a mother in Kansas. Lynette made the woman many caps for both winter and spring. Later, when Lynette met the woman’s 7-year-old daughter, the girl ran up to her, wrapped her arms around her legs, and said, "You made my mom so happy she has a hat to go with every outfit."
Lynette is known as the Hat Lady. From July 2002 to December 2004, Lynette and her now six volunteers made 1,000 turbans providing them at no charge to those in need.
Lynette is a modern day Dorcas. (story from “Faith Life Sermons Michael Tull, Acts 9) The world measures greatness by success; Jesus measures it by service.
Rev. Charles Spurgeon in the late 1800’s said, "We might preach till our tongues rot, till we exhaust our lungs and die, and never a soul will be saved unless there is the power of God moving in.” God was about to transition the church out in the world to places where the gospel had not been heard.
Chapter 9 ends with Peter noting that Simon was a tanner. Tanners were considered to be ceremonially unclean because they were constantly in contact with the skins of dead animals (Lev. 11:40). Strict observers of Pharisaic rules avoided tanners whenever possible. Tanners were ostracized and had to live at the edge of town. If a woman was engaged to a man who became a tanner… she could break the engagement.
The lepers of Hawaii were ostracized, but God sent Father Damian. The tanner Simon was considered unapproachable, but God sent Peter. So why is Peter staying with a Tanner? A surprise if coming Peter’s way. His Jewish world view was about to be turned upside down.
