SILVER AND GOLD...

As the infant church continued to flourish, the crowds met regularly within the temple compound. In the Court of Gentiles, a large open area, hundreds of people could gather to hear one of the Apostles tell stories about Jesus or lead the group in prayer.

At three o’clock one afternoon, Peter and John entered the temple through the “Beautiful Gate” (Acts 3:2, 10). They had walked this path a zillion times, but on this day, they recognized something (or someone) that they had never really noticed before.

There, in the gateway, lay a crippled man begging for a few pennies. This wasn’t new. This man was always stationed at this very location. Rain or shine, day after day, “he was placed … at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple” (Acts 3:2).

As Peter and John entered the temple, it must have been as if God pointed a finger, asking, “Do you see him? Do you hear him? Do you recognize him as My creation?” Suddenly the Disciples stopped and fixed their gaze on the needy man. As they did, he may have raised his tin cup and begged for a few coins.

Turning his pockets inside-out, Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” (Acts 3:6).

Because we’ve read this story so many times, we might miss the magnitude of faith required to make such a statement. Peter looked into the eyes of a man who had been a paraplegic since birth, and said, “get up and walk!”  The man was “over forty years old” (Acts 4:22) and had never walked! His legs were as thin as toothpicks. He couldn’t walk. “Come on … hop up … let’s skip into the prayer meeting together!” How? In the name of Jesus! With the miraculous healing power authorized by Jesus, the Son of God, the Creator, the Fixer, the Almighty!

I wonder… did the man have a puzzled grin on his face? “Huh? Get up? Walk?” Peter thrust his hand out, and taking a firm grip, helped the man to his feet. Maybe a bit wobbly at first… then more confident… finally, “he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God” (Acts 3:8).

Imagine the worship service that followed! “All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him” (Acts 3:9-10).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).