Do we ever feel inadequate for the circumstances, like we are a little lacking, just don’t have enough of whatever to meet the needs before us? Imagine how Peter and John might have felt a few days after Pentecost when on the way to the Temple, they both are asked for alms. Beggars asking for money was common and this lame man had been here daily every time they were on their way into the Temple compound. He would have been on the fringes because society felt the same about him as ours does toward the homeless. How many times had they passed by, looking the other way, avoiding making it personal? Yet today, the lame man catches both of them and their gazes fix on him. Peter is the one who speaks for the two of them,
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 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. 1
Both Peter and John ‘fix their gaze’ on him, give him all their attention, and the lame man expects he’s about to receive alms. But, Peter is quick to replace the hope for alms with something meeting a greater need: “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, Peter gives him a hand up! I don’t know your experience but this is a miracle. The lame man was carried to the gate daily, would have had no leg muscles, couldn’t have stood in his own ability for atrophy would have weakened everything necessary. But, ‘in the name of Jesus’ makes the impossible probable. He doesn’t get up wobbling, tentative, reluctant but rather,
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. 2
The man’s response was much greater than if he had received what he had been seeking! This is exuberance personified. The crowds recognizing that something unusual had happened also got excited to the point that Peter had to redirect the masses’ attention:
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.
And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 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… 3
As wonderful as the man’s miracle was, Peter points the crowd to their own need and how this same Jesus can ‘heal’ their lives,
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 4
Just how much of the needs you see can Jesus touch through you? Do you see Him capable of changing lives even to the point of changing eternal destinations and are you willing to speak on His behalf when He sees through your eyes? His is able to ‘give what you have’ and you will still not run out of all of Him.
