Trinity 2
Dear friends in Christ. In today’s text we catch a bit of a glimpse into the life of the early NT Church in Jerusalem. In the chapter before, we have the account of Pentecost, when by the Holy Spirit’s work through the preaching of Peter and the other apostles, 3000 people were brought to faith and baptized. Then in the verses right before our text we read: So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Then we have the first verse of our text: Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. In both verses, we have so close together the fact that these early Christians in Jerusalem still went to the temple. The whole purpose behind the OT temple with its sacrifices was to point the OT people forward to the coming Savior and the perfect once for all sacrifice that He would offer up. The temple really belonged to the people of God, to those who trusted and served the Messiah. Therefore Christ’s followers could rightly continue to meet and pray there. What a joy and what meaning/ significance the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, had for Peter and John and all the Christians. That ninth hour at which the evening sacrifice was offered up, was 3pm, the time that Jesus offered up Himself on the cross and died, the once for all perfect sacrifice.
As Christ Jesus Himself publicly taught in the temple, so now the apostles proclaimed Him where the people gathered because the time of grace for the Israelites had not yet come to an end; they still had the chance to hear of the temple’s fulfillment: the Gospel of the crucified and risen Christ. Although the temple had fulfilled its prophetic role of pointing the people to the Savior, God still allowed the temple services to continue for a while until He would end them once for all by the Roman destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Our text gives us an account from the history of the early Church showing the “next step” of the Church becoming established; it gives us the “now what” of Pentecost. Here we see that Jesus is still mightily at work through His Church.
Our text begins: And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple. This is a great miracle. Here is a man lame from birth—and later on [Acts 4.22] we find out that he was over 40 years old. Here was seemingly a daily routine—his friends or family would bring him to this busy temple gate in which people would be going in and out all day so he could beg and “support himself.” How helpless and hopeless was his situation! It was always the same thing and there was no chance of it being changed. This was seemingly his fate for life.
But this day was different: seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Here was an immediate healing! Peter gave him the command— In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk—and then he helped the man up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
This man who had never walked, who must have been a permanent fixture at the temple, right away started to walk. To be sure, God grants healing to our bones after we break a leg, for example. But we don’t just leap up, stand and walk; instead there’s pain and times on crutches and learning how to walk again. With this man though—who had never walked, never experienced it; whose muscles had never moved before, certainly atrophied, could now all of sudden get up and walk. He received the strength and ability to use his legs rightly. Whereas our Lord normally works through means—a cast, crutches, rehab, etc. to heal broken bones—to bring healing, here he does it immediately, without any “instruments.” He suspended the laws of nature in this case. And that’s what made it a miracle!
Here was our Lord Jesus Christ working in power and grace giving that lame man healing and strength to do what he on his own had no hope of doing-- In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
It is Jesus’ work. Certainly Peter and John saw that lame man at the temple before as they went regularly to the temple; during one of our Lord’s times in Jerusalem during His earthly ministry maybe He Himself even saw this man. Certainly in all these other cases why didn’t Peter and John heal that man? Why now at this time did they heal him? To know that, is to know the mind of God. All we can say here is that Peter and John and the rest of the disciples did not perform miracles whenever they wanted to, but only when the Lord Christ clearly told them to do it by leading them into it by His Holy Spirit. Now, that day and that time, was the Lord’s time, according to His good and gracious will and purpose. As the account unfolds, we see that the man’s healing-- So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God.9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God–led to Peter preaching Christ and that as a result the Church in Jerusalem had grown from 3000 to 5000 [4.4]. Jesus is at work here through the Apostles gathering in, forming establishing His NT Church.
This miracle points to Christ. We think back to our Lord’s earthly ministry. How often do we read in Scripture that Jesus healed in a miraculous way those who suffered so greatly—the lame, the blind, the deaf? We read how Jesus even raised the dead. Just as Peter took this man by the hand and raised him up, so too, for example, when our Lord raised a young girl from the dead, we read [Mk. 5.41]: He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”) Immediately the girl stood up and walked around. Just as during His earthly ministry Jesus healed many people and by that showed and pointed to who He is—the Son of God and the Savior of the world—so also now through the word, work, preaching of His Church, Jesus continues to show who He is.
The prophets describe kingdom of the Messiah, the NT Church, using words to paint pictures that show wholeness, completeness, restoration. For example, the prophet Isaiah [Isaiah 35.5] describes life in the Messiah’s kingdom this way: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a dear and the tongue of the dumb sing. Each of Jesus’ healing miracles during His earthly ministry points to Him as the long-promised Messiah. So also now, this miracle of healing that Jesus worked through Peter and John continues to proclaim Jesus as the Savior and Messiah, long promised by God.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. During His earthly ministry, when Jesus would heal someone He would do it by His own power and authority: for example, Little girl, I say to you, get up! Notice, Peter and John do not do this miracle by their own power and authority; instead, they did it—they had the power to do it by Jesus’ command and authority and in His interest! Peter and John are very clear. They want to make sure that the man is listening to them and understanding what they are saying and in Whose name and by whose authority they are acting. Notice: And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at us." So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk". "Look at us," that is, to gain his attention and make him curious and aware of the source of his healing—that it is really from Jesus.
This miracle of healing confirms the doctrine of Christ—Who He said He is: the Son of God and the Savior of the world—that doctrine that Jesus Himself proclaimed while on earth during His earthly ministry and that same doctrine that His disciples are now teaching. By this miracle, Jesus is establishing His NT Church on a solid foundation. Anyone can say anything; talk is cheap. What is the proof that Jesus is really the Son of God and the Savior of the world? What is the proof that what the disciples taught is true? What is the proof, then, that the Christian faith is true? “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God. This miracle—and the rest performed by the apostles in Jesus’ name and by His authority—puts the NT Church on a solid foundation.
Add to that the 2000 year history of the Church and there you see a wonderful, glorious, undeniable fact: Jesus is still with His Church; He is with each one of us. Jesus’ ascension into heaven does not mean that He is no longer with His Church; instead His ascension means that He can be with His Church wherever she is; that He can be with each of His dear Christians no matter where they may be. In fact, doesn’t Jesus even promise [Mt. 18.20]: Where two or three have been gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. Let this miracle give us a great comfort—Jesus is still with us and works through us and on us. He is not locked away in some corner of heaven; instead He is with His Church and each of us personally.
Scripture testifies of Jesus’ ascension: So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Far from leaving His Church, Jesus is mightily working in and through His Church as He works in and through His holy Word and Sacraments.
Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth... The Word and Sacraments are the true treasure we have in the Church. Just as Peter directed the lame man to the word, and Christ through that word spoken by Peter worked mightily and healed that man, so too is Jesus mightily at work in the word that we hear in the absolution, that visible word we received in holy baptism and in the Holy Supper. Just as we read that Peter didn’t just say “rise up and walk” but also took him by the right hand and lifted him up—so too in the holy Sacraments does our Lord give us something visible—water, bread and wine—to which His word and promise attach. Here in that Gospel word, in the absolution/ forgiveness pronounced by the pastor, at our baptism and in Holy Supper we receive the greatest healing as Jesus gives us the forgiveness of our sin and strengthens our faith—even giving us His very body and blood with the bread and the wine to do that. How mightily He is still at work in His Church!
So that others, too, may have that same blessing of forgiveness of sin and eternal life, the Lord leads and guides us and He strengthens us and gives us the words so that we tell others that good news about Jesus. The very fact that we are Christians testifies to us that Jesus is still at work in His Church. As we share that good news of Jesus with others He gives them an even greater gift than healing—that gift of forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
May this account give us that glorious assurance that Jesus is mightily at work in His Church and mightily at work in our hearts and lives by His holy word and sacrament and will work through us to gather others into His Church to enjoy all of His gifts and blessings—now and eternally. INJ Amen