August 10 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 (Acts 3:6). This lame man of our Text had no doubt heard of Jesus. There is no way that he could not have heard of Jesus of Nazareth. Knowing that Christ could heal any disease, he longed for Jesus to pass his way; however, it never happened! Then he heard that Jesus had been crucified. With that, his hopes were dashed to the ground. He would never be healed! One can imagine the sorrow and the heartache of not being one of the thousands who had been healed by Christ, and now Christ was gone! When the lame man arose that day, it would be a day like any other: humiliation, shame, a burden on his loved ones, reduced to begging, that was his lot in life. Being lame from his mother’s womb, he had to be carried everywhere he went, as on all other days. As usual, they would lay him daily “at the gate of the Temple which is called Beautiful, to ask of them who entered into the Temple” (Acts 3:2). This day had begun like all others. Why should it be any different? No doubt, he had been deposited there early that morning. Now the day is moving along. A few shekels are handed to him. It is drawing close to 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Little would he know when 3 o’clock would come and go. Beside that, what did it matter? He did not realize it, but this particular time was going to become the greatest moment in his life! At 3 p.m., “Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1). As Peter and John started to go through the Gate Beautiful, the lame man “asked an alms.” This was not unusual, because he asked alms of all who came through that Gate. He never really looked up. His despondency caused him to cast his eyes downward. About all he ever saw was the feet of men and women. As Peter and John drew abreast of him, mechanically he requested their help. But then he hears one of the men say something to him. Both men are looking at him, and they say, “Look on us.” He then looks up, “expecting to receive something of them.” But Peter said to him, “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” (Acts 3:6). The man heard two things: First of all, they had no money. His hopes must have fallen when he heard that. But then he heard something else. He heard the Name “Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” What did they mean by that? Why were they using His Name, when He had been crucified? But, upon hearing that Name, he was immediately quickened, because he linked that Name with healing. Peter reaches out his hand, motioning for the lame man to join hands with him. When he did, Peter “lifted him up.” The moment he did, the Scripture says, “immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.” But he did not stop there; “leaping up he stood, and walked, and entered with them into the Temple, walking and leaping, and praising God” (Acts 3:8). No wonder! Three o’clock in the afternoon would forever have a special place in this man’s heart. At that moment, he had met Jesus Christ, even though Jesus actually wasn’t there. Still, he knew he could not have been healed but that Jesus Christ, present or not, had effected it! What must the people have thought who brought him to his place of alms-begging each day and who picked him up each night? When they came that night, they undoubtedly went to the same place where they had laid him down early that morning, but he was not there. They were surely puzzled. Where could he have gone? He couldn’t walk, so who would bother to take him? Then they must have seen the commotion. What was going on? They pushed their way through the crowd, and then they see him. How could it be? He is not only walking, but he is “leaping and praising God.” The man they brought that morning, who they no doubt had brought many mornings, would not be the same man who would go home with them that night. How many, down through the centuries, were spiritually lame, despondent, and disconcerted, but then they met Jesus? And they also would never be the same again. Let the following ever be understood: This same Jesus is just as alive presently as He was then. He is still healing the spiritually lame!
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 00:33:16 +0000
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