Unsung Heroes: The Lame Man Of Acts 3

Text: Acts 3:1-10. KJV: 1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; 3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. 4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. 5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. 6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. 7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ancle bones received strength. 8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God: 10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.

Thoughts: this man, whose name is not recorded, was lame from his birth. Luke doesn’t describe what the problem was; causing the man to be born lame, but it was serious enough that he couldn’t work. The only thing he could do was beg (“ask alms”). Opportunities for people like him to have gainful or meaningful employment—aside from begging—seemed to be very rare in those days.

Apparently he was not only poor but helpless. He was carried daily and placed (strategically?) near the Temple’s “Beautiful” gate. The identity of this gate is not certain but there must have been a good number of people coming and going. Some of these people seem to have given him “alms” or else he wouldn’t have been placed there!

Then one day Peter and John came by this gate and noticed this man. Did he know who Peter and John were? The lame man didn’t ask for anything except money! He didn’t ask for prayer or anything else. Did he think anybody could help him except by giving him money?

Peter and John had no money to give him! These two were on their way to the Temple so they could take part in the daily hour of prayer but still stopped and looked directly at the lame man. Luke records how Peter fastened his eyes on the lame man—we might say his eyes were glued to the lame man. Then Peter said, paraphrasing, “I don’t have any money to give you, but I’ll give you what I do have. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, GET UP AND WALK!”

Peter took the lame man by the right hand and lifted him up (from off the ground?). Now here’s proof of the miracle. Most of us have seen children attempt to walk and seldom if ever do they “get it” the first time. They fall down but, fortunately, they don’t give up even though it may take them a while before they “get it”. Not so with this man: Luke tells how he “immediately”, no time lag, no training, RIGHT THEN, his feet and his ankle bones received strength!

Not only could he walk, he could leap, too! To say this man was happy is an understatement!

And best of all, the lame man knew he couldn’t have been healed by any other person except God. If his parents or family had taken him to a doctor to see if there was any healing possible, we don’t read of it. We do know he was over 40 years old when he was healed (Acts 4:22), and we also know the first thing he did, once he enjoyed the privilege of walking (which sometimes folks take for granted) was to head to the Temple and worship the very God Who had provided his healing!

What happened to this man after this event is not recorded, except that when Peter and John were arrested (Acts 4:1-12), he was either arrested with them or stood with them at the trial (Acts 4:13-21). He could have said, “Thanks, fellows! See you later!” and fled but he didn’t. He showed himself to be a true friend, an unsung hero, because he not only could testify that he had been born lame and now was healed but he also stood with these two apostles when they were on trial—for performing this miracle! Acts 4 has the rest of the story..

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)