{"id":40656,"date":"2013-06-02T12:38:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T17:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=40656"},"modified":"2013-05-29T20:41:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T01:41:40","slug":"tabitha-do-you-know-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here is Luke\u2019s text in Acts 9:36-42:<\/p>\n

Acts 9:36<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37<\/strong> About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38<\/strong> Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, \u201cPlease come at once!\u201d<\/p>\n

Acts 9:39<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Acts 9:40<\/strong> \u00a0\u00a0 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, \u201cTabitha, get up.\u201d She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41<\/strong> 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. 42<\/strong> This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here is a clip from Robin Gallaher Branch at Biblical Archaeology<\/strong><\/a>, where I hope you take the time to read the whole article, but here\u2019s our question:<\/p>\n

What do you observe about Tabitha in this text in Luke?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luke, the writer of Luke-Acts, tells the story of Tabitha, a disciple brought back to life after prayer from the apostle Peter. After she is washed and laid out in an upper room, Peter takes her hand and commands her to get up (Acts 9:36-42).<\/p>\n

In seven verses, Luke presents Tabitha as much loved, and the miracle of her return to life leads many to believe (v. 42). Luke\u2019s terse account contains praise, humor, honor, sadness, joy and insights on the faith of the early church. Tabitha is so beloved and so essential to the life of her believing community in Joppa, a port city near the heart of modern Tel Aviv, that others cannot imagine life without her. Tabitha simply cannot stay dead. Her faithful community will not permit it!<\/p>\n

Throughout Luke\u2019s story, Tabitha remains silent. Luke speaks for her. In what could be considered a humorous touch, her only living actions are opening her eyes, seeing Peter, sitting up, being helped up by him, and being presented alive to the believers and widows (vv. 40-41).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is Luke\u2019s text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1750],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women-and-ministry"],"yoast_head":"\nTabitha, Do You Know Her?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here is Luke's text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is Luke's text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-02T17:38:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-30T01:41:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/\",\"name\":\"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-02T17:38:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-30T01:41:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Here is Luke's text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?","description":"Here is Luke's text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?","og_description":"Here is Luke's text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2013-06-02T17:38:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-30T01:41:40+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/","name":"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-02T17:38:40+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-30T01:41:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Here is Luke's text in Acts 9:36-42: Acts 9:36 \u00a0\u00a0 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/06\/02\/tabitha-do-you-know-her\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tabitha, Do You Know Her?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}