I was browsing the internet a few days ago – news stories about the “same old, same old”. “Same old” suggests “nothing has changed” and speaks to those things that frustrate us or annoy us. We can easily slip between boredom and depression because nothing ever seems to change or improve. It could be the “same old” cold weather, health challenges or national/global problems; same old me with broken resolutions, routines and outcomes; same old…
The wonderful news for 2018 is, we don’t have to adopt a framework that suggests we expect the same old, same old”! Today’s text incredible news that life is altered when Jesus becomes a part of our stories!
Peter Heals a Lame Beggar
This day is pretty much like any other day. We’re told that Peter and John were going to the temple for the prayer service at 3 in the afternoon (verse 1). It was only eight weeks ago that they witnessed Jesus’s ascension into heaven – before that, Mary saw him at the tomb. This same Peter ran into the tomb with John standing outside, peering in, witnesses to the empty grave clothes. They were heading to prayer after witnessing Jesus breaking bread and in a moment when they recognized him, he vanished! They were heading to prayer after accounts of 120 and 500 people saw Jesus among them; heading to prayer. Peter was fresh out of his regrets having denied knowing Jesus and fresher still, having been reinstated by Jesus when they walked the beach together, before Jesus returned to Heaven. Somehow I imagine the prayer experience before their encounters with the risen Jesus couldn’t match the prayer experiences of these later days!
On this day Peter and John encountered the lame beggar (verse 2) who they likely saw every day they went to the temple. The lame beggar was over 40 years of age (Acts 4:22) and spent every day in the same place the whole of his life. He is a representation of any person living out their lives without an “other” context. Life looks and feels different when there isn’t knowledge of another dimension. These live as they do every day – trying to put food in their belly and make the most of the pain and struggle they face. Questions of whose fault it is make no difference because it doesn’t change the reality of one’s condition and lot in life. The sin nature doesn’t only rack the mind and soul but it bleeds into the daily realities of our lives and bodies too. Nothing about brokenness is original design by the Creator. I think it interesting that this day he has an audience with Peter and John. He would have seen them or they, him, numerous times. But today, they have a conversation. Maybe it has something to do with divine synchronization as John Stott coined the phrase. Maybe it is a divine appointment that wasn’t supposed to happen before today. And so, he does what he always does – he begs: “do you have some spare change? Anything will help. God bless you!” (verse 3)
In response, Peter speaks to the man while looking straight at him to which the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. (verse 4-5) In some ways, Peter is the same as he was before his encounter with Jesus; always the first one to open his mouth! His earlier experiences of doing that never failed to get him in trouble. Peter knew too well what it meant to “put your foot in your mouth”. For instance, in response to Jesus’s question in Matthew 16, “Who do you say that I am” Peter speaks without a second thought, “You are the Christ of God” to which Jesus declares that because Peter spoke what was revealed to him by God, the Church would be built on Peter, the rock. (Matthew 16:16ff) Almost in the same breath, when Jesus tried to speak of the suffering and death to come, Peter spoke again, wishing it not to be so and Jesus rebuked him with the stinging words of, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (Matthew 16:23) That must have been like a blow to head. He went from being identified as the rock on which the Church would be built, to being addressed as Satan! What just happened there? Another time he curses and swears that he doesn’t know Jesus – oh, the sting of betrayal. The pain is too deep for another to understand, either from the perspective of the betrayer or the betrayed. But, weeks later, Peter’s heart is sanctified, holy, full of Spirit power so his speaking up is different! His strong, outgoing personality, in God’s hands, will achieve amazing things! The lame beggar must be wondering what these men will give him. Maybe today he’ll hit the jackpot and get enough change to not need to beg all day today. He had no idea! Looking straight at the man is not simply an act of casual eye contact. Peter is on a mission.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
Oh my goodness! He didn’t see this coming! What did Peter have to give? He could give the lame beggar his story of brokenness restored; his knowledge and experience of Jesus would serve as an open door for this lame beggar to be restored and whole! Peter did not give the man a hand-out but a hand-up! It is easy to slip a looney out the car window while stopped at the light. Actually, some find that hard to do. But it’s easier than reaching into the brokenness and being involved personally. This is that same Peter who was behind closed doors, hiding in fear, when the Holy Spirit broke into the room and baptized them. Before Pentecost, as it’s called, Peter wouldn’t have known what to do in this situation, something like the situation of Matthew 17 when a boy was possessed by a demon. When Jesus arrived the father of the boy said, “I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him.” (Matthew 17:16) That was before Pentecost. After the Spirit comes – anoints, fills, transforms a person, the story is different; the perspective is different. “In the name of Jesus – walk!” This account is not simply a story of a lame man walking, who doesn’t know what it is to walk, though that in itself is story enough! It’s all our stories. It’s the story of a broken person inviting another broken person to experience the Kingdom of God! It is seeing the supernatural in the natural realities of our everyday stories! It is knowing that the brokenness caused by Sin can be restored and we can walk in fellowship with God as we were meant to walk from the beginning!
The people (verses 9-10) saw this man having a “glory fit”! They knew who he was but they didn’t know what to make of the change they saw. “Wonder and amazement” is probably as good a way of describing their emotions as any phrase. It is why, when a contractor knocked on my door to give me his business card, I assumed he must be a Christian, a follower of Jesus. His infectious spirit and smile was such that this wasn’t just a man giving me a business card. I asked, “Would you happen to be a Christian?” to which he replied, “I most certainly am! How did you know?”
Peter Speaks to the Onlookers
Peter was always ready to have a word! But this time his words, as mentioned earlier, were filled with Spirit power! They weren’t words he’d regret or wish he could take back. And so, seeing the wonder, amazement and astonishment of the people who don’t know quite what to make of the change in the man they knew, who was clinging to Peter and John, who for years sat at the gates begging for money, Peter presumes on the occasion to tell them what was going on. (verses 11-16) This instruction is in Solomon’s Colonnade, a place named after king Solomon who build the temple that housed this space. It is more accurately known as a portico or a place where people walked about! The story began with a lame man being carried to the Temple gate to beg; it ends at Solomon’s Colonnade, where the man, no longer lame, walks on his own two feet! It is in this strategic space that Peters begins to speak to the people. He revisits the events of the previous weeks, reminding the people that everything they denied in Jesus is the reason this mind-staggering change occurred; that Jesus proves again he is God of the living and Deliverer of the accused and broken! Peter gives them a history lesson that takes them back to Abraham. He quickly defuses any personal prestige or power in what transpired, knowing the people are fickle and will very quickly attribute authority and god-status to him and John for what’s happened. Peter replays the accounts from Passover to Crucifixion, putting the blame where it belongs – with the same people who know don’t know what to do with what they’re seeing. But there’s more. He continues:
17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.’ 24 “Indeed, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have foretold these days. 25 And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant, he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.” The beautiful thing about Peter’s story of the lame man’s healing and the part the people had to play in the drama of Jesus’s crucifixion and death, is the grace with which Peter charges them. He didn’t remind them so he could point fingers or cast blame. He didn’t scold them and feel a prideful superiority to them. Peter remembered well his betrayal of Jesus and the suffering it caused both of them. Peter simply told them the story that they are pretty much like the lame beggar. They live outside the parameters of Kingdom possibilities but they don’t have too! Verse 17 brings to mind the words of Jesus in Luke 23:34 where he pleads to God for the people’s forgiveness because they didn’t know what they were doing. Everything they believed about the Law and the Prophets is all true but it’s not the whole story. It is only a part of the story! Jesus is the finishing touch to the story, the icing on the cake, the whip with the cherry on top or the ice cream on the pie; he is the central part of the story! They need now to become aware that they must make the final step to come out of the nature of lame beggars to be wholly restored and fully alive! Salvation came when Peter preached repentance, giving an invitation to change direction and turn around. With that he warns of the dangers of rejecting Christ and the invitation to repentance.
Let’s consider a few applications of the story to our context, though these applications are not exclusive.
The man at the gate asked for money.
It is fascinating to contemplate the fact that this man sat at the 75-foot gate of the Temple and expected nothing from God; he didn’t look for God. He would have lived his “same old” reality probably another 40+ years had Peter and John not made him aware of Jesus. It’s not that he had no particular interest in God. He simply wasn’t aware of God.
Our pitiful, broken lives tend to look around rather than look up. God doesn’t want us or those around us to merely get by without any awareness of his activity on our behalf! He wants more for us. When was the last time we looked up and expected something more than what and where we are? God is with us (Immanuel)! Ephesians 1:13-14 reminds us “you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Our reality is not meant to be “same old, same old”! Newsflash: we won’t solve our problems and fill our greatest needs by looking around us for answers. We have to look to Jesus!
Peter and John had no interest in supporting the lame man in his condition.
Their focus and intent was to redeem him from his condition. There is a critical lesson in this for us. We are quick to give handouts, to support a person in the obvious challenges they face. While we must respond practically to human need, we must not lose sight of the most practical thing we can do which is introduce people to Jesus! One scholar admonishes us: "It is not the Church's business in this world to simply make the present condition more bearable; the task of the Church is to release here on earth the redemptive work of God in Christ." (LaSor) We must move past the handout to the redemptive message of God through Christ.
The message of repentance is not popular, but is necessary.
The invitation hasn’t changed and cannot. If we wish to offer the gospel message to people, with all the hope and redemption it holds, we cannot ignore the current reality of the human condition that makes redemption necessary. Jesus didn’t die on the cross because we’re okay. We’re not okay. It’s not all good. We must confront our broken reality and out of that walk the road to the invitation to repentance. The gospel is a living, breathing message and anyone who accepts its message will experience transformation. While there will be an instant experience of Christ entering the room of our lives, most of the changes that need to occur take a lifetime of growth and development. But change will come when repentance occurs.
The transforming message of the gospel can only be offered to someone else when it first transforms me.
Verse 6 warrants repeating: “what I do have I give you.” Peter and John couldn’t offer something that wasn’t a transforming reality in their lives.
Salvation Army Songbook, song 771:
“Only as I truly know thee
Can I make thee truly known;
Only bring the power to others,
Which in my own life is shown.” (Ruth Tracy)
What is your broken, lame-beggar condition that needs healing?
Are you spending too much time looking around for relief instead of looking up?
To what depths have you gone with Jesus with a focus toward taking others with you?
