The Reading
Acts 3:1-10
One day
Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three
o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in.
People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate
so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter
and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked
intently 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 or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth,* stand up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and raised
him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he
stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and
leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and
they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the
Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at
what had happened to him.
The message
As we start
our journey through the experiences of the early church as told by the book of
Acts and Paul’s letters, we have to talk a lot about prayer. To understand the actions and work of the
early church, we must understand that, first and foremost, they were a
community that prayed together. Last
Sunday during my sermon, I talked about the role of prayer in the days after
Jesus ascension, the event when he was taken up into heaven 40 days after
Easter. After witnessing Jesus death,
resurrection, appearances, teachings, and ascension the disciples gather with
Mary and other followers of Jesus. They
gather to support, care for and encourage one another and they find themselves
in constant prayer. Before doing
anything else, they spent most of their time in prayer, in communication and
relationship with God. In response to
last week’s reading, I committed myself
to praying 3 times a day this past week, I invited everyone to try it as well
and I promised I would ask if anyone did. So, did anyone? (We had 7 or 8 people who raised their hands)
I wanted to
start off with some conversation about how my week went. (We will also have a
bible study after church about prayer and more opportunities to talk about our
experiences). First a few people seemed
surprised that I didn’t naturally pray 15 times a day to begin with. The truth
is that the spiritual and prayer life of many pastors and religious leaders is
not exactly strong. Most research on
clergy show spiritual health and prayer life to be an area of struggle for many
people called to serve churches. Just
how bad the prayer lives of clergy are is a matter of debate with a range from
pathetic or pitiful to non-existent. People
blame all sorts of things for this sad statistic, including distractions,
anxiety, lack of support, stress and an ever growing list of responsibilities
clergy are not prepared for, not good at or just plain do not want to do (but
won’t admit it).
During my
week of prayer, I often found myself distracted, jumping from thought to
thought, worrying about what I had to do next and being unable to sit still. It
took a lot of effort to fight through this but it’s something I sort of
expected since I am generally like that. The most frightening experience was a sense of
being sinful. Prayer begins with
glorifying and giving thanks to God. You cannot pray without understanding
God’s promises of forgiveness and undeserved grace. You also need to
change. To clean up the aspects of life
that are not centered on love and to stop doing things that are harmful to
others (great and small). Prayer comes
with action. You cannot just start
praying and stay the same. This prayer
stuff is not as simple as take 30 minutes a day, it is not that easy. It takes over your life.
The positive
experience for me was that I found myself praying at different times, for a
group after a religious debate, for people I spoke with, for churches that were
struggling. I found myself getting back into praying when I heard sirens or saw
emergency response vehicles zip by. This
week led me to remember our visitors from Minnesota who came here 2 summers ago
for a mission trip. As we waited for a
train in the city, there was some graffiti that said “pray”, so their pastor
led them all in a moment of prayer. (I have seen this graffiti many times but
never thought of doing that). There is
always an opportunity to pray, to give thanks to God, to remind ourselves of
this relationship we have with the almighty, to inspire, to ask for help and
intercede for those in need.
As we begin
this post Easter journey through the acts of the Apostles and Paul’s letters,
prayer is at the heart of what the early church did. Today, we have the simple healing of a man
born lame (a condition meaning someone unable to walk or having improperly
developed arms or legs, in this case it seems like there was something wrong
with his feet and ankles). This healing is an act that Jesus did many times and
that his disciples did on their own a few times. First, Peter and John were not searching out
this man or looking to do a good deed for the day. They were going to the
temple for one of the daily hours of public prayer.
As Peter and John
approached the gate, the lame man asks them for money. Even today, many of our
churches and religious spaces around the world have people in need outside. In
Italy, every single church had at least 2 or 3 beggars sitting in the way by
the front door, camped out there all day and asking everyone for money, Its
shocking at first but after a few you sort of become numb, look away and go
right around them. Instead of throwing a
few coins at him as they run by, Peter and John stop. They look at the lame man
that so many others looked away from and pretended not to see. They recognize
him as a person, as a human being in need (not an obstacle or minor annoyance
or something to jump over and try to not feel guilty about). That is the first part of this healing and the
first lesson about God, the recognition
of this man as a child of God.
The second
part of the healing is the invitation, “look at us” (growing up, my dad always
taught us to look at people when they were talking to you, it seemed minor but
he was always adamant about it). It was
a statement of respect, recognition and equality. That was the second part of the healing, an invitation
into real, equal and loving relationship with God and with God’s all different
people.
The third
part of the healing, “I have no silver or gold but what I have I give you” is a
disappointment to the lame man, that’s what everyone says. The lame man had no
idea what they would offer him but it wasn’t gold or silver, so probably not
useful. Church and people of faith are
different, responding to needs in faith is different from help. What Peter and
John offer is the restoration of life,
of joy, of ability and welcome.
This brings
us to the 4th part of the healing, the part we would actually think
of healing: Peter and John declare, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
stand up and walk” and then from what it sounds like they yank him up from the
ground and pull this confused and frightened man into new life. The scene ends
with the prayer of praise and thanksgiving of the man who was healed, He makes as big a public scene as he can
going through the center of the temple and shouting praise for God. (it appears that at certain times, the lame
were not allowed in the temple at all, so this might be the first time he has
entered the actual temple, where he was welcomed into relationship with God’s
people)
Personally,
I am not sure if I have ever healed anyone. There are lots of people I have
prayed with and for who have gotten better, even when the odds were seriously
against them. There are others that have
not. I have never had an experience like Peter and John though, of instantly
watching God make someone well.
At the same
time, I am sure that we can do the first three parts of this healing any time we
want. We can recognize the ignored as
children of God in love and care, we can invite and welcome the neglected or
struggling into an equal, joyful and life giving relationship with God, and we
can make the offer “what I have I give to you” with prayer and help.
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