JESUS HEALS THE LAME BEGGAR

Acts 3:1-10
Bob Bonner
July 11, 2010

This morning we are going to look at one of the most delightful accounts of the power of the risen Jesus Christ at work through His apostles. In Acts 3 we have the story of the healing of the man lame from birth. This miracle will be the second occasion in Acts for the gathering of a large crowd on the Temple Mount. It will be the occasion for the second sermon Peter preached to the devout Jews of Jerusalem. How long after chapter 2 this takes place is mere speculation. Based on Luke’s description in Acts 2:46-47 that people were selling and sharing their goods to provide for the needs of those who did not live in Jerusalem but needed to stay there for a while to be taught enough about their faith in Jesus, we can surmise that a significant amount of time had passed. I have read estimates that range from a few months to possibly even a year. The favor in the eyes of all the Jews that was mentioned at the end of chapter 2 is now gone. Once more, some time had to elapse for there to be such a change in attitude toward these fellow Jews.

I want to take a little time setting the stage for you before we read our passage for today, so that you can have a clear mental picture of how this true story is played out.

Typically, the beggars of the day favored three locations from which to seek alms: outside the houses of the rich, on main highways, and the temple. Of the three, the temple was the best site. Not only did crowds throng there daily, but they also came to impress God with their piety. One way to do that was to give alms to the poor. Further, the temple treasury (whose location is debated but most people believe was in the Court of Women) was where people gave their offerings to the Lord. They would therefore be in the frame of mind to give money when they came into the temple, having passed through the Court of the Women.

Our scene takes place on the Temple Mount in the outer court of the temple that had been enclosed by Herod. It was not equal in sacredness to the rest of the temple buildings. Gentiles might enter here, but they were strictly forbidden from penetrating beyond it. Hence this outer area came to be known as the Court of the Gentiles. Jewish worshipers might well regard themselves as not entering the temple proper until they had passed from this court to the inner courts through one of the nine gates into the temple. So when you read in the New Testament that they were in the temple, it does not mean the Temple Mount, but in the Temple, unless the context specifically says otherwise.

One of the things the early church did was to attend worship in the temple.  The people assembled for the hour of prayer in that part of the temple called The Court of Women. The women were permitted in this part of the temple but were never allowed to go beyond. This court was 135 cubits square. This would be where the corporate prayer of both men and women Jewish believers in Christ would take place daily at 3 PM.  In time, God would cause a break with formal Judaism, and corporate prayer in this area by Christian Jews would cease. But the break had not come yet. Temple worship for most Christians ceased with the beginning of their persecution in Jerusalem and then for all people when the temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.

Inside the Court of Women and leading into the Court of Israel was a gate through which only Jewish males could enter. This gate was called either the Great Gate or the Beautiful Gate. It was seventy-five feet high and about twenty-five feet wide. The Jewish historian Josephus describes this gate as made of fine Corinthian brass, with huge double doors so beautiful that it "greatly excelled those that were only covered over with silver and gold." The doors were thicker than normal and took twenty men to open and close because of their massive height and weight. One source states that it was cast with a symbol of a vine, signifying Israel’s cherished confidence of being the vine of God in the vineyard of history. When the sun came up in the east, the polished doors shone with spectacular beauty. Typically, it was on these steps, at the entrance of the Beautiful Gate, that this lame beggar was positioned each day of his forty-year life.

We have one last point to cover in setting the stage for what we are about to read and study, and that is what I would call an outline of a Four-Act Play. Luke’s words explain the miracle of the healing of the lame man and the events that followed directly in its wake. The four acts break down as follows:

Act I     3:1-10    The miracle of the healing of a lame man

Act II    3:11-26   The explanation of the miracle in Peter’s second sermon

Act III    4:1-22    The arrest and trial of Peter and John

Act IV   4:1-22    The response of the church to persecution

Keep in mind that a major change has occurred since the close of Acts 2. The healing of this man resulted in the leaders of the Jews changing their attitudes toward the disciples from favorable to antagonistic, as 4:1-4 will illustrate for us. From this point forward, Christians no longer enjoyed the favor with all people, spoken of in 2:47.

With that background and this picture firmly set in your minds, let’s look at our passage, Acts 3:1-10. 

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour,

the hour of prayer. ²And a man who had been lame from his

mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down

every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order

to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. ³When he saw

Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to

receive alms. ⁴But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and

said, “Look at us!” ⁵And he began to give them his attention,

expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “I do not

possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name

of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” ⁷And seizing him by the right

hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were

strengthened. ⁸With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and

he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising

God. ⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰and

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.

You will notice that there are great similarities between the miracle which we find in our text and the miracles performed by Jesus in Matthew 21 and by Paul Acts 14. The similarities are that each of these cases concern lame people. That is because, as I understand it, the Lord Jesus was at work in each case, fulfilling the Messianic prophecies of healings of the lame, as found in Isaiah 35:5-6. It says, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy.” The lame men’s joy is a fulfillment of the prophecies of what Jesus the Messiah would do.

Later in the story, according to Acts 4:4, we learn that this man was forty years old at the time. The statements about his being carried every day to the temple indicates a resignation, not only on his part but also on the part of his friends, to the hopeless situation of being a beggar for the rest of his life, especially after having already seen and being passed up by Jesus for healing. Remember, Jesus had been to the temple many times during His ministry and passed by this very spot, crossing this man’s station yet choosing not to heal him. He saved this healing to take place later at the hands of His apostles in order to authenticate His message through them. 

At the ninth hour, 3:00 PM, the busiest hour of the day in the temple, the lame man would be placed and left in his spot until evening, when those who had brought him would carry him back home. At 3:00 PM, Peter and John were on their way to the temple to observe a regular time of prayer. As they were heading into the inner Court of Israel with other devout Jewish men, the lame man was being carried to his normal post at the Beautiful Gate. He was not, as we so often visualize him, sitting or lying down at the gate, but only on his way.  As he was approaching his station, he observed two men nearby about to go through the doorway of the Beautiful Gate.  Beggars generally seemed to get attention by calling out “Alms, Alms” to those who would pass by. Almost instinctively, I think, he called out with his usual petition.  Here were two prospects, so he might as well get right to his task of begging, even though he wasn’t yet in his usual position to do so.

As I read these words, I sense that the beggar called out but didn’t seem to expect anything to happen, because he wasn’t even looking at Peter and John.  Had he been directly in front of them, perhaps he would have stood a better chance of getting something and would have been more focused in his begging. Furthermore, Peter and John were nearly out of his territory, ready to walk through the gate. So, he made a half-hearted attempt to solicit funds.

It kind of reminds me of one time fishing. I had been fishing for quite a while in one spot with no bites. So, figuring I wouldn’t get a hit, I just casually cast my spinner into the water and wham! Fish on! No one was more surprised than I. I get the sense that this was the same thing with the lame man. He had been coming there all of his life to beg. He probably knew many people by name. He probably knew that until he was sitting down and directly begging and looking at those who came in, he would not profit much for his effort. Hence, at this point, he blind casts for alms and lands a big one!

Meanwhile, Peter and John heard his call for alms but did not respond typically to an almost disinterested beggar’s request. They just didn’t ignore him and keep on walking. They fully intended to do something for him, whether he was ready or not. Note a couple things about Peter’s response. First, it was not the beggar who fixed his eyes on Peter and John, but they who first fixed their eyes on him. Second, Peter and John had no money to give him. Surely it was not that they were opposed to giving to the poor, but they could not give what they did not possess. But they did give what they had, and how fortunate that was for the beggar. The best he hoped for was a little money.  He got no money, but what he did receive was his health and mobility, and maybe even more, his salvation.

When Peter and John gave him no money, we might have heard the beggar complain, "You don't care about me. You won't support me. Look at the mess I'm in." But Peter and John had no interest in supporting him in his mess. They wanted to transform his life by the power of the risen Jesus Christ.  Dr. William LaSor, a highly respected seminary professor and Biblical scholar, made this modern day application to the priority Peter placed on his ministry to this lame man. He wrote, "It is not the Church's business in this world to simply make the present condition [of people] more bearable; the task of the Church is to release here on earth the redemptive work of God in Christ." 

Today, there are “ministries” out there asking for financial support who claim that they are Christian endeavors and want to demonstrate the love of Jesus to the world. But when you look closely at them and ask them, “When and how do you present the gospel?” Some have no specific plan to present the gospel. Others have no intention of sharing the gospel. They are interested in meeting the immediate need, with absolutely no plan to meet someone’s greatest need. My suggestion, when such a ministry solicits for money, is to tell them, “When you show me you are not just meeting their temporal need, but you have planned to meet their greatest need, then I will support you. Otherwise, you are no different than a secular do-good-to-others organization. There is nothing that makes you stand out as a Christian ministry.” 

After telling the man he had no money to give him, Peter seized the man by the right hand and raised him up. The man who had never walked before in his life, who never even had a lesson in how to stand up, stood up with a leap and didn’t quit leaping. What a scene he must have made, this raggedy old lame beggar leaping through the broad doorway of the Beautiful Gate for the first time in his life.  For years he sat outside looking in, but now he would get to go inside with a heart filled with glorious praise and worship. 

This was a sight no one in the vicinity could have avoided. The healed man had spent his life around the temple, begging. Everyone knew him—they couldn’t have missed him. The man and his condition were well known by all who frequented the temple, according to 4:16, 21. And the fact that he had been crippled from his mother’s womb and had to be carried by others was more than ample evidence that he was the poster person for the hopelessly disabled, and thus this miracle was a spectacular one. And mark this down—the fact that the miracle happened was never in question.  His testimony was very public in a very crowded temple. And the Jewish leaders could not deny it, even when they wished they could, according to 4:16. The people who witnessed this were understandably filled with awe and amazement. No wonder a crowd was attracted to this Women’s Court.  And once again, as God had done in chapter 2, He marvelously prepared the people’s hearts for Peter’s second sermon which followed directly, and which we will look at next time.

The healing of this lame beggar was the first of three healings of crippled people by the apostles in Acts. The other two are found in Acts 9:32-34 and 14:8-10.  In the past, when I have been in Bible studies with others and we have looked at this event, there has been a question raised as to whose faith brought about the healing of this lame beggar.  Sometimes in scripture the text shows us that the person who was healed demonstrated faith. At other times, the text reveals that the healed person didn’t demonstrate faith to be healed, but others around him had faith. In this case, I believe the text is clear on whose faith healed this beggar. It was not the beggar’s faith that healed him, but that of the Apostles and their exercising the gift of healing that healed this lame beggar.

The gift of healing as it existed in the early church was quite different from the so-called gift of healing some claim to possess today. Examples of people using the gift of healing in the New Testament seem to indicate that the person with this gift could heal anyone, subject to God's will. To put that another way, it appears that those who had the gift of healing had very few occasions when people were not healed. It was the exception, not the rule, for someone not to be healed.  For instance, when Jesus was about to send out His disciples to preach “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” meaning that He, the Messiah, was here, Jesus also sent them out to serve the people in His name. Matthew tells us in Matthew 10:1, “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” And then further down we read Jesus’ instructions in verse 8, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.” In other words, heal everyone you come in contact with. And obviously, it was God’s will for them to be healed. 

Another example of this unique gift of healing that the Apostles possessed is recorded in Acts 28:8-9, where we read:

And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted

with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and

after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. After

this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had

diseases were coming to him and getting cured. 

That’s a zero percent failure rate.

One difference in the process of the Apostles’ healing while Jesus was on earth and after Jesus ascended into heaven is the pronouncement of “in Jesus name.” In Mark 16:17-18, Christ prophesied that His apostles would heal the sick in His name. To do something in the name of Jesus is to act consistent with His will, to do what He would do if He were here, and to act in His authority and with His delegated power. To declare that you were healing in Jesus name was to say, “I am not the one who is healing you. The one who heals you is Jesus Christ. Look to Him and give Him thanks for your healing.” Christ’s prophecy of the apostles’ ability to heal supports the idea that sometimes it is not the faith of the recipient that heals, but the faith of the healer, in this case, His apostles.

Both in Acts 3:6 and later in 4:10, Peter specifically declares that this miracle’s source was Jesus Christ. He says in 3:6, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—Walk!” And in 4:10, in his recounting of this miracle before the Sanhedrin, we read, “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified . . . by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” “Jesus the Nazarene” was the common name for our Lord during His earthly ministry. It describes him as Jesus, the Messiah, from Nazareth.

But there is another valid question: “Could it not be that both Peter and the lame beggar exercised faith?” The answer is “Sure. They both could have exercised faith, but the evidence does not point to that conclusion.” When we look closely at the text, the lame man wasn’t looking for a healing or even asking for a healing. He was asking for money. When Peter responded to him and began to reach out his hand to the lame man, the lame man doesn’t even have time to think or consider what Peter said. It all happened in the blink of an eye. All he saw was a man’s hand reaching down to grab him, and then he felt Peter pull him up.  Only after that did the lame man realize what had happened to him. And then, in response, he jumped up and down, praising God as the three of them together entered the Court of Israel that stood beyond the Beautiful Gate. 

In the end, the lame beggar was healed as an act of sovereign grace, without any indication of faith on the beggar’s part. In 3:16, Peter explains to the crowd that it was on the basis of faith in the name of Jesus that this man was healed, but Peter seems to be referring to his own faith, not to the man’s faith. In other words, Jesus gave Peter the faith to believe that Jesus would heal this lame man. Peter simply responded to the prompting of the Lord.

Other than wanting us to have a reminder of God’s mercy and His ability to physically heal people, I believe that the Spirit of God had Luke include this event in Scripture because it teaches us another important spiritual truth. And that spiritual truth is this: Salvation is a miraculous gift from Jesus, not a human self-improvement project. We often underestimate what happens when God saves a soul. We view it in human terms, as a human decision that requires human follow up so that the decision “sticks.” I’m not denying that a person needs to make a decision and receive proper follow up so that he can begin to grow in his new faith. Rather, I’m emphasizing, “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature,” according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. Salvation is nothing less than God imparting life to a person who was dead in sin. It is God making a new creation out of an old one that is corrupted and decaying. God’s mighty creative power is involved in saving a soul! Spiritually transforming a sinner’s heart and making him a new creation is a far greater miracle than physically healing lame legs.

This man had been lame from his mother’s womb. He is a sad picture of the human race, maimed by the fall. Sin cripples humanity. The Bible uses many different metaphors to picture the fallen condition of the human race: dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1), blinded by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), ignorant and unable to understand spiritual truth (1 Corinthians 2:8, 14), deceived and deluded (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11), deaf and dumb (Mark 7:32-37), leprous (Mark 1:40-42), and lame (Mark 4:1-12).

Another reminder of truth we learn from this story is that just as there were no operations available that could cure his congenital condition, so there are no human exercises that we spiritually lame people can perform to improve our condition. As Isaiah 64:6 clearly states, “All man’s righteousness are like filthy rags” to God. There is nothing we can do to improve our state of acceptance or forgiveness from God. Just as there were no physical operations or physical therapy or efforts at self-improvement that could help this lame man’s condition, we on our own can do nothing to earn or receive God’s forgiveness. This lame man had no hope that he could ever walk. And so he did the best he could to get by—he begged for money.  Likewise, apart from putting one’s trust in Christ, there is nothing that spiritually lame people on their own can do to heal their spiritual condition.

Thirdly, the power for healing this man came from “the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene” (3:6). Peter attaches the despised name “Nazarene” both to show that God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27), and to emphasize that it was the man Jesus from this village of Nazareth who is still living, who imparted from heaven the power to heal this cripple. There is no other way, no human effort, no other religion, no other name under heaven by which a person can be saved.

The healed man knew where his healing had come from. He didn’t shout praises to Peter and John. He didn’t praise his own mental attitude, saying, “I knew that if I kept a positive mental attitude, someday I’d be healed!” No, he simply praised God. God and God alone. His great mercy was the cause of his cure.

When God mercifully saves your soul, He doesn’t do it because of anything that He sees in you. He doesn’t do it in cooperation with your best efforts. He doesn’t see great potential lurking beneath the surface of your life and save you because He knows that you’ll make a great disciple. He doesn’t see that you really mean well, in spite of your many mistakes, and save you because of your basically good intentions. He doesn’t see great faith deep in you and thus save you because He knows that you will be a model believer. He saves you because of one reason: His undeserved favor. It is totally by His power and grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). All the praise must go to God, because God heals the spiritually lame by His mighty power, as His free gift, apart from our merit or works.

Finally, this lame man was not expecting a miracle. He only wanted a handout to get him through another day. Isn’t that a picture of so many who come to God? They are overwhelmed by life’s problems. Perhaps their family life is a mess or they’ve failed in business or they have a life-threatening illness. They come to God just hoping for a handout--something to get them through another day. But in His great mercy, God imparts to them the miracle of regeneration. They are born again to a living hope, to a whole new life in Christ, and they obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for them! (1 Peter 1:3-4) They just wanted a little handout, but they became joint-heirs with Jesus Christ of all the riches that God can bestow! (Romans 8:17) As Paul exclaims, God is “able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” (Ephesians 3:20) Or to put it in the form of a principle:  When God saves our soul, He always gives us far more than we expect. And all that we can say in response to His ongoing graciousness toward us is, “To Him be the glory!”

This lame man could not but rejoice and tell others what God had done for him. When was the last time you shared with someone who does not know Christ what God has done for you? God’s miraculous gift of salvation should cause us to praise Him with exuberant joy so that others will marvel at His mighty power.

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