Walking and Leaping
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Scripture
Scripture
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.
And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.
When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms.
Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”
And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”
And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
All the people saw him walking and praising God,
and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we went from the heights of the Mount of Transfiguration into the valley of human misery. Today we will be taking a similar journey. from the heady day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in a powerful way. They went into the street and preached and the pilgrims from all over heard the preaching in their own languages. Luke comments that there were about 3000 people believed and were baptized that day. What a day that must have been!
Luke goes on to describe the church in a very idealistic fashion. All wealth was held in common. All were in awe because of the powerful deeds the apostles were doing. The believers were practicing Jews and spent much time in the temple. But they also were practicing followers of Jesus who broke bread at home. “And day by day, Luke says, the Lord added to their number those who were bring saved.
But today, we look at the church going back out into the world after this very inward experience that Luke describes. Peter and John come down out of the heady experience of Pentecost to encounter a suffering world and the beginning of push back from the Jewish authorities.
Exegesis
Exegesis
Luke says this miracle of making a lame man walk came soon after Pentecost. In fact, this is the first miracle to occur in Acts. John and Peter are going up to the temple. its always going up because the temple was built on a small mountain or big hill, which ever you prefer, Mt Zion they called it. They encounter a begger, 40 years old we learn later in the story, but not in what we read, a begger who has been lame “since leaving his mother’s womb” it literally says in the Greek.
They encounter this lame beggar at the “Beautiful Gate.” We have no idea what gate this refers to. This is the only place in any writing where we have a gate referred to as the “Beautiful Gate.” I will give you my opinion on what the Beautiful Gate was in a minute. But suffice it to say commentators and scholars have argued for centuries over which gate this is. Anyway, John and Peter encounter this begger, who Luke says is placed there everyday for the evening prayers and sacrifice. Devout Jews pray 3 times a day, even today. The work day is from 6AM to 6PM. The first prayer was at 9AM, the second at Noon, and the evening prayer 3PM. There was also a sacrifice in the Temple for the evening prayer so those that could would go to the Temple for this prayer time.
This lame beggar had an ideal spot at a gate. There were only so many gates, like at a stadium and this was the most well attended prayer time of the day. Like the paralytic we encountered 2 weeks ago this lame beggar has some folks that carry him to this ideal spot where he had sat begging for years.
The begger asks Peter and John for alms. Probably with his right arm extended. it says Peter looked “intently” at him as did John. This greek word literally means to gaze and is often used in connection with the Holy Spirit. So this intent looking or gaze is evidence of this recently arrived Holy Spirit in their lives.
Of course Peter has no money, because we are told in the verses prior to this story that all wealth was held in common by the church. But what Peter and John have to give is greater than any amount of money. However at this point the beggar doesn’t know what’s going to happen. I picture him, sitting there with his right arm extended and his hand open with a disappointed look on his face. But peter says in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk. Then Peter takes him by that hand and raises him up (this is resurrection language here!). Luke says that immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and for the first time in his life the man that was once lame, jumps up, walks and leaps into the Temple praising God!
You see going into the temple is a big deal. He wouldn’t have been allowed to be carried into the temple area before because he was lame. But now, not only is he cured, but he is healed, because Christ has made him whole again. yes I said Christ not Peter. it was the invocation of the name of Christ that healed this lame man. I don”t mean that Peter used this as a magical kind of incantation. This is no magic, but a miracle brought about by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus.
(Story of Louise’s healing here.)
Louise not only full consciousness, she returned to the community. She was cured and healed. She was made whole again. She was mad wholly human again, just as this beggar. He rises and walks, even leaps, and his return to the community. This is a wholeness that Jesus came to bring that the Jews call shalom. Shalom and health are interrelated. Shalom is often translated as peace, but it means so much more. it means “wholeness, well being, vigour and vitality in all dimensions of human life. Most often in the OT shalom is used together with health.
Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord;
and I will heal them.
Isa 57:19
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
And who brings this shalom?
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
Isa 53:5
Application
Application
The church is shown through Peter and John here to be the mediators of this shalom, this wholeness. The Beautiful Gate, is Jesus Christ.
So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
The gate is beautiful because of what Jesus did there. Peter and John led the lame man to the gate of Jesus and he went through that gate healed, participating in the Shalom that Jesus brings. He goes through that gate leaping and praising God! And it is the church that leads him to the gate. We had several people volunteer to mentor returning citizens that have been incarcerated. These folks are helping people to become whole again after being excluded from society. They are John and Peter. When you are giving out food at the food pantry, this is a form of alms. As one commentator says:
Where there is need, Christian witness dare not offer healing or forgiveness instead of alms. Alms too are a genuine gift, even a required one for followers of Christ who have money or property . And, in the right place and the right time, they too provide a form of healing—the “healing” that was, in fact, expected that day at the Beautiful Gate. But Christian giving is not content with alms; in the name of Christ, there is more to give: healing, salvation, life itself.
Let us not be content with just alms giving as ambassadors of Christ, like John and Peter, we have to lead them to the Beautiful gate too. Peter gave the invitation that produced the response of praising God from the lame man.
The lame man got much more than he expected that day, didn’t he? Instead of a few coins he was given the ability to walk and become a whole human being. How often have you gotten more than you thought from God? When have you gotten not what you wanted, but you really needed?
Sherry’s Mother always wondered why God performed the miracle he did for her. Why did she receive a miracle when others don’t. You know a lot of folks ask why God doesn’t perform miracles like he did in the Bible. Well, I think the fact is that our post scientific culture sometimes places an overdependence on what we can see that we lose our faith on what we can’t. In a pre scientific culture of the first century there was no control over the forces that could not be seen, so it was easier to believe in miracles. Miracles still occur we just tend to explain them away.
The fact we can transplant a heart, or replace a heart valve without opening the chest now is a miracle to me. The fact that we can send a robot to Mars that can collect information and send it make is a miracle to me. You see we have to be open to what can open at the beautiful gate. I often told Sherry’s Mom that the reason she made have received that miracle was so she could see her Grand Kids grow up.
You and I we sit at the beautiful gate, a gate where Shalom is found. We must help those that are broken to experience the shalom that comes from going through that gate. Just like Peter and John it’s what we are called and comissioned to do.