The Cripple are Healed - 3:1-10

Acts 3:1-10

1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 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. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 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!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 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.

What triggered the opposition of the Jewish authorities was the healing of the cripple, coupled with Peter's sermon which followed it. So the time and setting is that this took place shortly after the evening sacrifice and was observed by all pious Jews like Daniel and 'God-fearers' like Cornelius. The apostles arrival at the temple coincided with the arrival of a man lame from birth, who was being carried there, more than likely by friends/family, so that he could beg from those who came to worship and give alms.

The text tells us that, probably in the normal fashion, this man saw Peter and John heading into the temple, and he did the equivalnt of holding up his cardboard sign that said, "injured/crippled, need money, food, and beer". Here's what John and Peter didn't do: They didn't reason out that, "well, we litterally don't have any change, but we could heal him, however if we heal him he may just walk to the nearest tavern and have a few beers..." They weren't concerned with what he would do with the gift, they simply gave what they had, which happened to be better than any amount of mone they 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!" The result was the man followed them into the temple.

So practiacally how does this confront us?

1. Daily: Mission seems to be a thing we prepare for, an event we do, something we schedule, however we see no trace of this here. We don't see a previous planning meeting in which John and Peter are setting down with their 'Jesus is my Homeboy' t-shirts on planning their 'mission trip.' Not that mission trips are bad, but there is a difference between living on mission and going on a mission. When you live on mission, it happens all the time, everywhere, and anywhere: at a poker game, on your way to a movie, while your out to dinner with your spouse, or at the local bar drinking a frosty cold Guinness, wait, I mean coke. Mission is part of who we are. John and Peter had a different agenda. The problem isn't having a different agenda than God does, the problem comes in when we are unwilling to embrace his agenda when he interrupts ours. This is what it means to DAILY live on mission, to live every day ready to respond to God's interruptions. So here is the question for you: How do you begin to look at the homeless, the cripples, the marginalized, the lost that you pass daily as people who may need what you have. Maybe it is time to stop justifying our inaction with our 'lack of planning' and be ready to give open-handedly when Jesus interupts our lives with those who are broken!
2. Intentionally: Though this probably wasn't part of John and Peter's plan, they had passed this man many times as they followed Jesus, but more than passing this man many times, they had watched Jesus many times go out of his way to meet the needs of those who are broken. It's as if Jesus lived with more than an 'end-result' vision, but also a daily intentional vision as well, Jesus lived with his eyes wide open. This is what we see here, the disciples were living with their eyes wide open, with eyes that saw the world as Jesus did, with hearts that mourned for those who mourned, wept with those who wept, and broke for the broken. When we are saved by Jesus we no longer get the option to live our lives for ourselves, which we intentionally do before we are saved. We are called to love our neighbors with action and intentionality. So here is the question for you: How different would your day go, if you began to intentionally begin to look at those around your through the lens of the cross, through the lens of compassion, through the eyes of one who can relate, because you too were once lost, broken, and ashamed?
3. No Strings Attached: I love this part. I was at the first Saddleback HIV/AIDS conference. Kay Warren was speaking and she said, "one of the ways you can tell that you don't have the mind nor heart of Christ when serving someone with HIV/AIDS, is when the first question that pops in your mind is, 'I wonder how they got it' as a filter on how you will serve them." I would dare say, that another way to prove we don't have the heart/mind of Christ is when we attach strings to needs of others. If I give you this $5, you can't...you must...I will if you... Go ahead, fill in the blanks. First take that in context and stride I do believe in discretion, but here is the problem with that (1) We've never walked a mile in their shoes, how can we make requests different from what Christ made as he was handing out free healings. (2) We are given so that we can be a blessing to others, not so we can figure out some religiou way to justify being selfish with our stuff. Here is my point, and I'm gonna wrap this up, but when we are around others who are in need, our posture should be one of humility and generosity as we mimic our savior and the 1st apostles with a hear that says, "what I do have I give to you!"