Isaiah prophesied (35:6 LXX) that the lame walking would be a sign of the age to come (along with the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, the dumb speaking and so on). However, let’s not be complacent.Ī final point about the man’s lameness. This is, in my experience, a welcoming community. I have seen comparable incidents in my own ministry. But as the preacher was preaching, a man got up, went outside and told the children to shut up and stop interrupting the service. As it was a sunny day, the Junior Church went outside for some fun and games. Only the other day I read an article about a church where someone was preaching on the need to accept all sorts of different people in the Christian family. It can be about what culture you come from. Here’s a video, though, about how some people feel:Īll sorts of people feel they can’t ‘come to church’. To those who believe they are unworthy, Jesus says, “Come.” To those who feel that what they have done excludes them, Jesus says, “I will make it possible for you to come inside. Is this not what the Gospel does? God’s grace is the miracle of inclusion. While we’re not sure exactly which gate is meant by the ‘gate called Beautiful’, what is clear is that now he doesn’t need to be carried just to the gate each day. Healing him meant he could take his full place with the People of God at worship. Lameness excluded you from Temple worship under Old Testament Law. There is something Jesus does in this miracle that we can all do, whether we have a healing ministry or not. Let’s call attention to Jesus through what we do.Īnd what does Jesus do here through Peter and John? This is not just a miracle of healing, and if it were only that this story might be daunting or discouraging to those of us who have not seen healing. Someone once said to preachers, “You can’t make yourself out to be a great preacher and tell people how wonderful Jesus is in the same breath.” That’s true for us all, whatever our gift is. It’s one of those stories that remind us of that important theme: nothing we do as Christians is about drawing attention to us, it’s about pointing to Jesus. Right from the start, this is a story, then, that points to Jesus, as indeed Peter will tell the crowd (verse 12). For Peter and John to heal a lame man here ‘in the name of Jesus’ is a sign they are walking in his footsteps. There, Jesus’ first converts (his disciples in 5:1-11) are followed by – guess what? Jesus healing a lame man ( 5:17-26). Compare it with Luke’s first volume, his Gospel. Right from the start, this is a story about what discipleship means. There is more than enough to meditate upon with the first two elements of the healing itself and then the speech.įirstly, then, the healing. It makes for three phases in the story: the healing, Peter’s speech and the opposition.īut I’ll have to leave that final phase of this story to next week. Just as the opposition to Jesus begins early in the Gospels, so does opposition to the apostles and the Jesus movement in Acts. It extends beyond chapter three, which we read, into chapter four, where Peter and John are hauled before the religious authorities. So we come to this famous story, this first major episode after Pentecost and the formation of the early community of Jesus-followers. “No,” retorted Thomas, “and neither can she say any more, ‘In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk’.” Having shown him many of the beautiful works of art, the ornate architecture and the lavish fittings, the Pope turned to Thomas and said, “No longer can the church say like Peter, ‘Silver and gold have I none’.” One of the thirteenth century Popes was showing the great Catholic thinker Thomas Aquinas around the Vatican. Whenever I read Acts 3, one story always comes to mind. Life has been frantic since returning from leave at the weekend – and still is.
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