Peter Travels to Lydda and Joppa, Witnessing, Healing, Restoring Life

“Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.  There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years who was paralyzed.  And Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.’ And immediately he rose.  And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.  Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.  She was full of good works and acts of charity.  In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, ‘Please come to us without delay’  So Peter rose, and went with them…But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body he said, ‘Tabitha, arise.’  And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up…Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.  And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.” –Acts 9:32-39a, 40, 42 (ESV.  Read Acts 9:32-43).

At this point in Dr. Luke’s account of the early church, we see a definite outreach to areas beyond Jerusalem.  The Great Commission of Acts 1:8 is occurring, and in an exciting and Holy Spirit led expansion, even into the Gentile world.  Peter is at the forefront of this bold mission, fulfilling Jesus’s prediction that the apostles would have ‘the keys of the Kingdom.’  Through the power invested in Peter by the Lord Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, Peter was able to heal Aeneas and raise Tabitha (whom we know better by her Greek name Dorcas) from the dead.  And because of hearing about these miracles, many came to know the Lord, receiving salvation for themselves.  Lydda is northwestward from Jerusalem on the main caravan road.  Scholars believe that the preaching of Deacon Philip had already resulted in a Christian church there.  When Peter arrived there he saw Aeneas who had been sick and bedfast for eight years with paralysis.  “Jesus Christ heals you, Aeneas,”  Peter said.  An immediately those ailing joints and limbs of Aeneas began to feel vital life and he got up from his bed which Peter commanded him to make.  The bed was probably the common sleeping mat which could be folded and taken wherever the infirm lay, to beg or be in a public place.  The result of Aeneas’ healing was a general turning to the Lord; the people were seeing a walking miracle and they wanted to encounter the miracle-working Lord for themselves.

While Peter was still at Lydda, two men came to tell him that Dorcas had died in Joppa, a port town westward on the Mediterranean Sea.  The ministering women had already prepared Dorcas’s body for burial, so she had been dead for several hours when Peter arrived.  He asked the “saints and widows” to leave the upper room where Dorcas lay in state awaiting burial.  It was there the women had recounted the good deeds of Dorcas the seamstress, showed garments she had made (probably the ones they wore, and more still in Dorcas’s house).

Peter asked them all to leave the upper room.  Then he knelt down and prayed.  After prayer, Peter said, “Tabitha, arise!”  And immediately she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.  He then took her hand and she got up, alive, well,  and ready to resume her good works in the Lord’s name.  Many have noted that Peter did not touch her until life had coursed through her dead body.  Maybe this was because of the Jewish taboo of not touching the dead.  Or more specifically, it could have meant that Peter wanted people to note that he had no power in his own touch that would restore life.  Tabitha’s resurrection came from Jesus, the Life-Giver.

These two miracles had great impact on the spread of the gospel, with Peter as the instrument through whom the Lord worked.  Healing and restoration of life had come to persons in Lydda and Joppa.  And following, “many believed in the Lord.”  The Way was spreading in Gentile territory!  Jesus was being made known to those outside the usual Jewish race.  They embraced the good news and believed.  And Peter remained there, lodging in the house of Simon, the tanner.   Peter was ridding himself of layers of Jewish restrictions.  A tanner would have, by profession, been “unclean” in the eyes of a pious Jew because his occupation necessitated his handling dead animals.  But with the new-found dimension of faith, these ancient taboos were falling aside and everyone Peter met was important to the Lord.  God help us to learn this lesson!