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It would be interesting to observe the shifting sentiments and moods of the public passing in and out of the temple from the lame man's perspective. How many years had he begged outside the temple? Likely since long before Jesus started His ministry. Surely he had overheard its and pieces of conversations from passers-by about all sorts of things. If he was felt a lot of shame and was somewhat withdrawn he may have pondered his observations alone in his heart. If he was more open and socialized he may have even engaged different ones with questions, dialogging with those who were sympathetic enough to stop and converse with him occasionally.
How could he have missed all the disturbing events that had so challenged the status quo of society in and around the temple. Jesus had personally emptied out the temple twice in less than four years which could not have gone unnoticed by one who begged just outside its gate. Many times Jesus passed in and out of the temple Himself and performed many acts of healing in its vicinity. If the lame man had been begging there all that time it would be very hard to miss the stories and rumors.
Or maybe this lame man was new to the area. Maybe he was brought in recently by friends in hope of healing only to find out they were too late, that Jesus had been crucified and the era of miracles was apparently over. However, this idea does fit well with verse ten where people were apparently quite familiar with him. Verse two says he was set down every day at the gate of the temple implying this had been going on a considerable time.
This man must have had hope stirred within him during the years of Jesus' ministry. He very possibly may have narrowly missed a number of opportunities for healing from Jesus directly. He had to have know something about Jesus and His character from all the circulating reports. He must have been somewhere not terribly far from the events of Passover weekend just past. He must have felt the cold chill of the triumph of legalism and religious traditions that were quickly enforced in and around the temple after that turning point. The hardliners and purists of Judaism likely would have taken strong measures to reinforce the rules and regulations that had been challenged and weakened by Jesus and many who had been influenced by His teachings and example. He must have noticed, if any had passed by him at the gate, the smug attitudes of the many Pharisees and priests on their pious and pompous trips in and out of the temple the past few weeks. There may have been a crackdown in the temple area and very possibly a spat of new regulations to prevent a disruption of the comfortable traditions imposed by the elite. God had to be served with strictness and exactness or the Jews were in danger of bringing down His wrath on them. The temple police may have been required to be re-trained with stricter controls instituted to prevent future outbursts of “celebration” and other such unauthorized activities from occurring in the temple.
For a few weeks it appeared that the hardliners had gained the victory they so craved. “Undesirables” were barred from entering the temple area and all discussion of the subversive theology and activities of the renegade Jesus were quickly squelched. Religion was on track once again to be returned to the “old ways”, strict enforcement of the traditions of the elders and strong controls to keep everyone “in line” so they could one again focus on the true “goal” of the nation – achieving perfection and holy living, at least for the “favored” ones.
While many of the leaders were openly pleased with the new strictness and reforms, much of the public was experiencing widespread despair and a more intense feeling of hopelessness. The lame man was very likely also deeply affected by this shift in public sentiment. After the crucifixion of Jesus the sense of hope and joy that had been seeping deeper into the hearts of thousands all across the country seemed to have been cruelly snatched away by an elite group of corrupt, self-righteous, arrogant men who only cared about power and wealth for themselves. Jesus was gone, despite swirling mixed rumors of a possible resurrection. His followers were very seldom seen and rumor had it they had stayed mostly holed up together in a large room where they had spent their last night together with Jesus before His death. Talk about clinging to the past! These people seemed to be desperately hanging onto must memories. No deliverance from the Romans had even been attempted by this professed Messiah. He just knuckled under both to the corrupt Jewish leadership and to the Romans when He meekly let them have their way with Him in the garden.
For about two months everything was really looking grim and hopeless. The conversations of temple-goers was limited and moody. In fact, attendance of temple services had dropped off dramatically. People were bitter and angry and were even becoming much more cynical. This made begging much more difficult with sympathy and compassion becoming more and more rare among the public. Both emotionally and financially things had become very bleak for the lame man. He was barely surviving and hope was fast dying completely within his heart.
But an explosion of rumors and animated comments occurred on the day of the Jewish Pentecost. And the days following that saw an upsurge in new people with a strange glow of joy on their faces frequenting the temple on a regular basis. They were gushing with praise for God and could not suppress their animation and joy. It seemed contagious and indeed their numbers were quickly mushrooming. They were eager to enter the temple and though he wasn't sure what they were doing in there, reports began to leak out of “temple incidents” and complaints of “disturbing the peace”. The Pharisees and other hardliners seemed to be even more ill-tempered than usual. Something new was definitely underway again challenging the status quo. But the lame man could hardly afford to allow his hopes to rise again. They had been disappointed and dashed so many times before and he felt he could not emotionally survive another crushing disappointment. Better to just keep his head down and accept his fate and let the world pass on with whatever it wanted to do without him.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Gatesitter scene 3
As far as blessing goes, the lame man had never experienced the impartation of blessing so important to every man received at a Bar-Mitzvah. His father was not really proud of him like other fathers – after all, he was deformed. So he was not seated on a chair and lifted up and honored before all to see by his father as a special and important son. His heart was as crippled as his legs, even from birth. For when his parents saw his crippled legs at birth their anguish and feelings of repulsion began the life-long damage to his soul.
Peter and John had only very recently experienced their own full “release” into manhood, not through an earthly Bar-Mitzvah ceremony but through the baptism of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. This powerful experience that had transformed them along with 118 others had really been the very first Bar-Barakah, which means “son of the blessing”. They were now overflowing with blessing, the very identity and presence of Jesus, the Son of God, living full force inside of them. Everything else was of little importance to them now. Money was valueless except as a tool to bless their rapidly growing “family”. Their primary currency now was praise for God. Their primary mode of relationship was transparent unity and openness with every person in their new family. Their primary emotion was joy – intense gladness to share life together with every believer in Jesus. They had become high-volume receivers of God's blessing and were wide open to dispensing His blessings as they were received. They let Jesus be in charge of who to add to their family, for only Jesus could know what hearts were ready and safe to bring into His body. Peter and John were simply living in joy, celebrating the goodness of God, and staying constantly tuned to their born-again spirit to know who God wanted them to invite into the family next.
When they laid eyes on the lame man they saw far more than a crippled man that could use healing so he could walk like everyone else. The Spirit notified them that this man was starved in his spirit and was ripe to invite. Peter and John were together in fellowship and joy. This man was alone most of the time except for the friends who carried him around. But these friends had never carried him to Jesus like the friends of the paralytic had done. This man was ripe for a new identity as well as a new body. This man would become Exhibit A in the case for Jesus' reputation.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Gatesitter scene 2
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." (Acts 3:1-4 NRSV)
This man was doing what he usually did; looking for potential donors with enough sympathy to respond to his obvious needs and give him money. This is what he did day in and day out. He may have been returning after the heat of the day just in time for the “rush” when people would be entering the temple for the traditional time of afternoon prayers. Before he had even gotten settled into his usual place he spotted Peter and John with faces different from most people he was used to seeing. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to tag anyone with this much potential he hit them up for a hand-out.
The response that he received was not exactly what he was expecting, but got his attention more than his typical interaction with passer-bys. Instead of dropping a few coins into his cup to quiet their conscience and hurrying along to avoid further contact, Peter and John stopped in their tracks and insisted on a full face, deliberate interaction. They refused to settle for a hurried, impersonal excuse to avoid one whom most people preferred to ignore. They “looked intently” at him and requested his undivided attention before offering him something much better than what he was looking for.
In effect they were saying, “Look at us! Allow your mind to focus on the present with all of its pain and disappointment. But also focus outside yourself for hope and contrast. Give us the gift of your undivided attention and you will prepare yourself to receive the gift of the very presence and power of Jesus.
“We have this gift within us. It is the most valuable possession on earth and we are eager to give it to you. This gift is the blessing of your identity that Jesus wants to give you. It is much more than healing your legs as valuable as that may be; it is making you full, rich in confidence and joy, satisfied in your soul. And His presence will cause you to realize the fulfillment of all the deepest longings God has planted inside of you.”
And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; (Acts 3:7-9 NAS95)
Peter and John physically engaged with him with gusto and with joy. It says the seized him by his right hand. Maybe he had timidly, fearfully held out his hand to them hoping to receive some pittance of money. But in a sudden gesture of hope and with anticipation on their faces, together they seized his hand and pulled hard on him raising him not only onto his feet but out of darkness and despair into delirious joy and freedom. His body was immediately healed to match the healing of his soul and he was now empowered to become a witness along with them of God's amazing grace, goodness and power.
What is recorded next is very interesting and significant. First of all he entered the temple with Peter and John, something he had never before been able or allowed to do even though he was a Jew. Because of his lameness he was barred from entering the temple courts and participating in the worship of his people's God. But now, with wild abandon and undignified expressions of wild joy he entered the temple “walking and leaping and praising God,” something you would likely not find anyone else doing in this solemn place. In fact, it was so out of place that it is interesting to note that the people could only observe him “walking and praising God”, not leaping. This was so far beyond acceptable behavior they could not even bring themselves to admit that it was really happening right in front of them.
“...and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” (Acts 3:10) People were trying to label him with his old identity. They were filled with wonder and amazement not only at his physical healing but that it was even possible for someone to receive such a radical new identity after so many years of his previous depressed, hopeless identity. No wonder he was clinging to Peter and John. He was under tremendous pressure to discount his new identity received from the blessing he had just experienced. He felt a great need to stay very close to those who understood their own new identities until he was stabilized enough in his own experience. He was an infant in need of nurture and protection from those who had just assisted in his new birth.
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