In a recent presentation, I showed a painting of the Biblical character Dorcas also known as Tabitha. Her story is found in Acts 9 in the New Testament.
We are told she was a compassionate person, always doing kind things for other people and they loved her for it. She gets sick and dies and when Peter, a church leader arrives at her home it is filled with the many women she helped. They are weeping and show Peter the clothing Dorcas has sewn for them.
In this 1855 painting by William Charles Thomas Dobson called The Almsdeeds of Dorcas we see Dorcas helping the vulnerable around her.
Look at the small hungry children in the forefront eating from a basket of bread that Dorcas has brought with her. Some more of the loaves she has baked are lying on the ground.
Dorcas has her arm around one waif who is holding a piece of bread in his hand and looking right at us stirring our hearts with compassion.
Look at the elderly ailing man in the shelter who is being fed soup provided by Dorcas probably from the kind of teapot-looking urn sitting in front of her basket.
In the painting we see Dorcas handing a dress to a woman, and little children happily trying on coats and sashes Dorcas has made. Dorcas the epitome of kindness and compassion is pictured in the very heart of the painting.
George MacDonald the famous Scottish author and a mentor of Lewis Carroll wrote a poem about Dorcas in which she goes to listen to Jesus speak but is too shy and overwhelmed to approach him although she does look carefully at the robe he is wearing and wonders who made it for him.
She hears people ask Jesus "When did we see you naked Lord and clothed you" and he answers that if they did it for the 'least of these' they did it for him.
In McDonald's poem, this inspires Dorcas to hurry home to her loom and create clothing for the poor which they in turn show to Peter after Dorcas dies.
Meeting of a Dorcas Society in the 6th Century- by Edwin Long- 1873
You may have heard of Dorcas societies groups of women often affiliated with a church who help the needy.
A group called Dorcas In Need which is based in The Netherlands operates in 14 countries today fighting poverty and exclusion and defending people's human rights. They say they are following the example of the Biblical Dorcas.
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