The Miraculous Healing Of A Lame Man

Today’s Scripture

“And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze 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 and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” (Acts 3:2–10)

1. A Life-Changing Encounter

Here was a man who brought to the gate of the Temple daily in order to beg. Peter and John are on their way to the Temple for the time of prayer. They would have seen this man before this day because Luke tells us he was placed there daily. We are told he was lame from birth and unable to work. I think I would have really liked to see this man not only walk but leap.

1.1 Miracles Restore God’s Order

“then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:6)

Isaiah 35 is describing what’s going to happen in this world when God comes back to restore everything, and Peter is drawing the same connection. Have you wondered why Jesus or the apostles never perform a miracle like the ones we see superheroes do in movies? Why didn’t they fly like Superman or use x-ray vision? All the crowd would have gasped.

“Watch this,” Peter would say, “Watch me fly. Look, six feet, sixty feet, ten feet.” That would have impressed people, wouldn’t it?

Or how about this, “I can see through walls. There six people sitting on the floor on the other side of this wall.”

Nearly all of the miracles you read about in the Bible work to alleviate suffering. Nearly all the miracles deal with human suffering just as our story today. Why? It’s because the miracles point forward to a time when God restores all things.

Go back to the Garden of Eden and you’ll see when God put human beings in the garden, that’s not the way things were. We were meant to serve God and care for creation, but when we turned away from God, everything fell apart. That’s when poverty and injustice and sickness and disease and death all exploded onto the scene.

Here’s what we learn: God did not invent blindness. He didn’t invent lameness. He didn’t create suffering, and He didn’t create a world filled with death. The miracle reminds us that God is no happier with our world than you are. Someday He will deal with all this suffering and “right the ship.”

1.2 Peter’s Sermon

People gather around quickly because everyone knew who the lame beggar used to be. Just as Peter did back in Acts 2, a miracle takes place and Peter seizes the opportunity to share the reality behind the miraculous.

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:13–21)