“In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha; she was always doing good and helping the poor.” – Acts 9:36
Last week momma wrote to tell me about her day, which included visiting our friend at the retirement home and baking three Italian crème cakes for somebody, I can’t remember who or how many.
Later it was another note that mentioned baking a cake for the Vacation Bible School teachers; my sister was on her way to check on her mother-in-law, whose husband was sick.
And I got in the mail my monthly newsletter from my uncle and aunt, stats and detailed updates about their ministry to the elderly and shut-in.
I don’t know what I was doing while they were up to all that. Cracking jokes and drinking coffee, most likely. Probably not doing anything of eternal value. Nothing like what Tabitha was doing, as recorded in Acts.
Tabitha was bona fide.
Tabitha was a disciple. She did not lead worship, or singing, or teach Bible study or serve on a committee. She might have done those things, but the way the text in Acts is worded, it leads me to believe she was “support personnel,” a behind-the-scenes force, stealthy to the masses, very visible to the wounded.
When she died, “widows stood around crying and showing him (Peter) the robes and other clothing that (Tabitha) had made while she was still with them.” (Acts 9: 39 NIV) Tabitha sowed the good seeds by sewing. By baking. Helping. Sweeping up.
At Peter’s request, God raised this valuable Jesus follower from the dead. “This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.” (Acts 9: 42 NIV)
It all matters. Sort of like baseball. Sort of like all sports. Sort of like living. The smallest things.
A broom. A mop. Needle and thread. A female disciple of 2,000 years ago, a cook and a seamstress, a maid and a patient ear, was no small fry. And neither are you. Your hands are those of Christ’s. Your hands serve his brothers and sisters, his Father’s sons and daughters.
In the kitchen and in the pulpit, in the laundry room or in the choir loft, we are never more like Christ than we when serve.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu