In Acts 3, Luke introduces us to a man who had been born lame. Can you imagine what that must have been like in those days? Lots of people in Israel back then assumed that that sort of thing was a judgement from God. Did people avoid the family, not wanting to be tainted by whatever secret sin they weren’t admitting to? Did that little boy struggle to make friends? While his peers were running around, was he propped up at home, desperately longing to be part of their games? As he grew older, did he feel like the eternal outcast? As his peers started working and getting married, might he have fallen prey to depression and despair?
This man wasn’t completely alone; there was someone who would carry him to the Beautiful Gate at the temple, putting him down there to beg from those going into the temple. But there was no social security system for people like him – only the philanthropy, or the guilt, of others whose lives were going better than his. He must have been a regular sight for those going to worship God. Perhaps one of those people we try to tune out. Maybe people chose to use other entrances. Maybe they tried to walk as far away from him as they could.
There was nothing this man could do to improve his situation. At best, he could get enough to survive on.
Then, one day, Jesus’ friends Peter and John walked past him on their way to the temple. He called out to them as they were about to go in. That’s all he could do, after all: ask for a handout. But even as he asked, he looked away. He asked everyone for a handout, and most people walked past.
But these two were different. They stopped, and looked at him properly. They treated him with dignity, as more than his disability. They engaged with him as a fellow human being; someone made in the image of God. And they called him to look at them – to undo his hopeless posture.
He assumed they were going to give him money – but far, far better was being offered to him. “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”
What was it that Peter had to give? God. Peter and John were filled with the Spirit, and what they had to offer was nothing less than the power of the Living God.
I can’t, but God can. That’s the good news of the gospel – that although we are weak, God is strong.
I wonder if the man believed Peter at first. We don’t read of him immediately jumping to his feet in triumphant faith. Instead, we’re told that Peter took him by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did so, his feet and ankles were healed and strengthened. The fault that prevented him from walking was rectified, and atrophied muscles were given the definition they needed to bear his weight.
And it’s at this point that the man starts jumping, standing, walking, leaping, and praising God!
The best thing about this? He went into the Temple with them. He had always been on the outer, unable to worship God fully – but suddenly, by God’s grace, everything had changed.
We all have lameness in our lives of various sorts. Perhaps we assume that there is no way that we could ever dare enter in to the presence of God. Sit on the edges, maybe. Maybe even attend church now and again. But deep down, so many feel themselves broken failures, who don’t belong with God.
But God… God entered into our world.
What Peter and John offered that man is on offer to us, too. We may not be physically healed like he was. But know this: God is for us. He sees us and loves us. We are precious to Him. And what he wants is for us to be with Him, and to enjoy Him forever.
“I can’t,” we say. But God can. Will we take the hand that is being proffered to us?
To read: Acts 3
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