Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will declare all Your marvelous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
Acts 3:1-10
Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. A man lame from birth was being carried, whom people placed daily at the gate of the temple called Beautiful to ask alms from those who entered the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. Peter, gazing at him with John, said, “Look at us.” So he paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
Then Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but I give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and ankles were strengthened. Jumping up, he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God. They knew that it was he who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.
Let’s get ourselves oriented in the post-Easter world of Jesus’ followers. For forty days he was with them, appearing in various places to various people – still teaching them and explaining, as well as they could be hoped to understand it, how their whole world was about to change – within them and all around them.
After those forty days he was taken up into the heavens and was seen no more, but the last thing he said to them was that they were to remain in Jerusalem and wait for what would come. What came was the Holy Spirit, filling them with courage and knowledge and the gift of God’s own power.
In the swirl of wild happenings that began after the Spirit’s arrival, this reading from Acts comes a few days after Pentecost Day itself and just before the reading we heard last week about how the believers gathered together and shared everything in common.
So here we are – Peter and John are on their way to the Temple for the regular nineth hour prayer time. This would be at 3 p.m. by our reckoning. The fact that the two Apostles had a regular prayer time at a public gathering, suggests that things had calmed down significantly in the forty-plus days since Jesus’ crucifixion. Even the events of Pentecost Day hadn’t raised any immediate serious push-back from the authorities. The Temple and the Romans apparently believed that the execution of Jesus had rid them of that problem. They were about to find our differently.
So the two Apostles are on their way to prayer but as they were entering the temple precincts, they were stopped by a lame man begging at the Beautiful Gate, as it was named.. This man was a familiar sight, having been carried to this particular spot at the Temple to beg every day. But today he would be given a gift he most likely never imagined.
Peter stopped and told the man, “look at us.” He then continued, “I have no silver or gold, but I give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Then Peter took his hand and raised him up and they walked into the Temple together.
“Neither silver nor gold...” These words and what comes after them are so familiar, at least to those of us raised in a church setting, or as regular church attendees, that they have lost their deep meaning. As with so many Bible stories, they’ve just become “the story.” We no longer hear hear the actual wonder in what those words are saying.
But the people there that day heard and saw the wonder when the lame man, the beggar they all knew, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God!
How often do we manage to relate a story from the Bible to our own lives? Especially one of the miracle stories? Can we even guess what the lame man felt? He had been helpless – for who knows how long? He’d been carried by others to his spot at the Beautiful Gate day after day, perhaps year after year, to beg -- scripture doesn't give us a timeline. That was all he was good for in the eyes of his world. That would be his whole life.
And suddenly he has been restored, not only to health and freedom to move on his own, but also to his role as a member of society again – a whole person.
Have you ever had an experience such as this? Had a total stranger walk up and hand you the answer to every one of your woes? For free?
And then there’s Peter. What did Peter feel? Peter, who just weeks before had denied even knowing Jesus. He had seen Jesus heal others in his time with him, but did he ever before this moment truly believe that he could do the same? Was there a voice in his head telling him this was all just a fairy tale, or had the Spirit truly eradicated every doubt?
In the book of Acts, Luke (or whoever the writer of Acts may be) has Peter making speeches right and left – long, impassioned speeches. Peter who never spoke in public all that much.
Perhaps the most dramatic healing that occurs in the whole Book of Acts, is the healing of Peter – Peter who loved Jesus and believed in him wholeheartedly, but had so much trouble loving and believing in himself. Peter, who so truly became the leader Jesus named him to be, the Rock on whom the church would in time be built.
There are many kinds of healing.
After those forty days he was taken up into the heavens and was seen no more, but the last thing he said to them was that they were to remain in Jerusalem and wait for what would come. What came was the Holy Spirit, filling them with courage and knowledge and the gift of God’s own power.
In the swirl of wild happenings that began after the Spirit’s arrival, this reading from Acts comes a few days after Pentecost Day itself and just before the reading we heard last week about how the believers gathered together and shared everything in common.
So here we are – Peter and John are on their way to the Temple for the regular nineth hour prayer time. This would be at 3 p.m. by our reckoning. The fact that the two Apostles had a regular prayer time at a public gathering, suggests that things had calmed down significantly in the forty-plus days since Jesus’ crucifixion. Even the events of Pentecost Day hadn’t raised any immediate serious push-back from the authorities. The Temple and the Romans apparently believed that the execution of Jesus had rid them of that problem. They were about to find our differently.
So the two Apostles are on their way to prayer but as they were entering the temple precincts, they were stopped by a lame man begging at the Beautiful Gate, as it was named.. This man was a familiar sight, having been carried to this particular spot at the Temple to beg every day. But today he would be given a gift he most likely never imagined.
Peter stopped and told the man, “look at us.” He then continued, “I have no silver or gold, but I give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” Then Peter took his hand and raised him up and they walked into the Temple together.
“Neither silver nor gold...” These words and what comes after them are so familiar, at least to those of us raised in a church setting, or as regular church attendees, that they have lost their deep meaning. As with so many Bible stories, they’ve just become “the story.” We no longer hear hear the actual wonder in what those words are saying.
But the people there that day heard and saw the wonder when the lame man, the beggar they all knew, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God!
How often do we manage to relate a story from the Bible to our own lives? Especially one of the miracle stories? Can we even guess what the lame man felt? He had been helpless – for who knows how long? He’d been carried by others to his spot at the Beautiful Gate day after day, perhaps year after year, to beg -- scripture doesn't give us a timeline. That was all he was good for in the eyes of his world. That would be his whole life.
And suddenly he has been restored, not only to health and freedom to move on his own, but also to his role as a member of society again – a whole person.
Have you ever had an experience such as this? Had a total stranger walk up and hand you the answer to every one of your woes? For free?
And then there’s Peter. What did Peter feel? Peter, who just weeks before had denied even knowing Jesus. He had seen Jesus heal others in his time with him, but did he ever before this moment truly believe that he could do the same? Was there a voice in his head telling him this was all just a fairy tale, or had the Spirit truly eradicated every doubt?
In the book of Acts, Luke (or whoever the writer of Acts may be) has Peter making speeches right and left – long, impassioned speeches. Peter who never spoke in public all that much.
Perhaps the most dramatic healing that occurs in the whole Book of Acts, is the healing of Peter – Peter who loved Jesus and believed in him wholeheartedly, but had so much trouble loving and believing in himself. Peter, who so truly became the leader Jesus named him to be, the Rock on whom the church would in time be built.
There are many kinds of healing.
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