NL 241: Peter Heals in Jerusalem

image: “Peter heals the lame man outside the temple” Mezzotint by P. van Somer after K. Dujardin. source/CC

image: “Peter heals the lame man outside the temple” Mezzotint by P. van Somer after K. Dujardin. source/CC

Acts 3:1-10

Initial Thoughts

Bible Study

  • Literary Context

    • Comes right after beautiful description of the Beloved Community

      • “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers…”

    • This healing causes an uproar, draws a crowd, and leads to Peter’s second sermon, arrest, questioning, and release.

  • Movement from the beloved utopian image of the church at the end of chapter 2 into the pain of the surrounding community here in Acts 3

    • The church is called outside of itself to serve the world

    • “Luke goes to great pains to show that the church’s gathering to break bread, teach, and pray joyfully was in no way a detour around the misery of the world... The path toward significant prayer is a way that goes straight through, not around, human misery.” (William Willimon, Interpretation:, Acts, p. 43-44)

  • “I will give you what I have”

    • This is the central confession of this passage and a living out of the beloved community described in Acts 2

    • They shared what they have - cannot share what we don’t have (in this case money), but he can share what we do have (the good news of Jesus Christ)

    • Everyone has something to give - this seems obvious, but it isn’t

      • Think back to Christmas, the little drummer boy, Amal and the Night Visitors, the Gift of the Magi, etc

      • There are so many stories of people giving and sharing what they have to those who need it most

  • What the man receives is not what he asked for - the man wanted money, but instead received healing and acceptance by Peter and John, not by the others (which leads to their arrest in Acts 4)

    • How much of the healing was the power to walk and how much was the acceptance into the beloved community?

    • Peter and John didn’t ignore the man, or see him as a crippled person, but instead say him as a man who was also a beloved child of God.

  • “He grasped the man and raised him up.”

    • Again, “raised up” is similar language to Jesus being “raised up by God” and Jesus raising up Jairus’s daughter and the deceased son of a widow (Luke 7:14, 8:15) 

    • He raised up the man and entered the temple with them.

    • The main was lifted up from a position of servitude to a position of partnership. From kneeling, literally lower than Peter and John, to walking side-by-side with them. 

      • “The comparison of the man who lies helpless and dependent at the gate compared with the man who now is seen “walking and leaping and praising God” (3:8) makes the healing all the more impressive.” (Willimon)

Thoughts and Questions

  • What do you have to give? It may not be what someone asks for - but you have God-given gifts to share. What are they and how are you sharing them?

  • How much of our “hand outs” are “hands up”? Does the charity we offer as a church keep people in a begging position, or does it raise them up so we can walk side-by-side. This is a challenging question, and perhaps not terribly appropriate to ask right now. But still something we need to consider. Shout out to Christopher Marlin-Warfield, author of Radical Charity, for a great book that looks at some of these issues.

Year 2Eric FistlerActsComment