Day 932: 'Look at us.' - Acts 3 vs 1 - 16

1-10 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (3pm). And a man, lame from birth, was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze 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 and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

11-12 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13-15 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16 And his name - by faith in his name - has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. ESV

Luke, the writer of Acts, describes an astonishing miracle that took place in the early days of the Church in Jerusalem, and which caused wonder and amazement in the city. The story is straight forward so doesn't need much comment, but the words “Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, 'Look at us'”, caught my eye. Peter got the man's attention. That's important when we speak to people about Jesus. We aren't presenting them with something that is neither here nor there. It is a message of life or death.

The writer of the New Testament book called Hebrews brings this sense of urgency out, as well as explaining the importance of miracles such as the one we're reading about. He said to the people he was writing to: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” (Hebrews 2:3-4)

So Peter explained who it was who really did the healing of the man who’d been lame from birth. He makes it clear that it wasn’t by any power or magic on the part of himself or John. But what else does he do in vs 13-15?

He made it very clear to the crowd that they were complicit in crucifying Jesus! They had rejected the Roman Governor's offer to release Jesus, and chose to have a murderer released instead. They had killed 'the Author of life'. They’d put to death the one who had come to bring eternal life. But God raised Him up.

Before we say 'how awful that was', or 'how could they have done such a thing?', we need to remind ourselves that Jesus died because of sins that we have done too. Even those of us who were brought to Christ in our early years, and who may not have fallen into the darkest of sins, were still guilty of sins which required a perfect sacrifice. His blood is as much on our hands as it was on theirs. But His sacrifice was so that we can be forgiven. No wonder the writer of Hebrews said: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” The gospel is a message that demands our full attention if we would be healed from sin.