Acts 3:1-10
The wound is the place where healing light enters. 13th century poet.
Thousands believe in Jesus based on the actions of Peter and John. But this is just another day in Jerusalem. No one would’ve expected anything different to happen that day. This man is laid by the water to receive his alms. He is at the mercy of those who pass by. Life is totally beyond his control.
Or so it seems.
Peter and John know it is not the money that this man needs. He needs something more, he needs Jesus.
This is an amazing event. This man had been lame since birth. He had never walked, not ever. And yet Peter picks him up and he not only walks, he leaps, and he praises God.
They probably never considered their own brokenness, but Peter is going to change that. We can take a lesson from this and realize we may have our own brokenness. Without wounds, there is no place for the healing light to enter. When we convince ourselves we are just fine, we may feel like we don’t need Jesus. The light shines through in broken places, if we allow it. It is at these times we realize how desperately we need the Lord.
The true power in the story is what happens next. Peter takes this occasion to point out the brokenness of everyone around this man. Most of our wounds, our deepest wounds, are hidden. His deepest wounds were his sins, not his lameness. Most of our wounds are mental, or emotional or spiritual. Fear is one of the reasons we won’t share our wounds. Maybe, though, when we open up to others and admit our deepest wounds, that’s when healing becomes possible.
Faith brings healing. Not the “faith healing” so commonly portrayed today. Peter and John know they will heal this man, there is no doubt, that takes faith. Peter is the agent of healing for Jesus. And of course we cannot do the miraculous today as Peter did. But we can lift people up emotionally or spiritually by our words and by our actions.
So we need to ask ourselves where is my wound? Where am I broken? What do I need help with? It will be different for each of us. But we all have wounds. And the longer we resist admitting it, the longer it will takes for Jesus to enter our life to help us.
Maybe it’s because our version of God isn’t big enough. Maybe we limit what God can actually do. We have to realize God’s plans are not our plans and that’s okay. Any limiting factor we see is not God. The answer is not that no bad things will ever happen to believers. The power of this story is that Jesus is the way to real life. The power is found in Acts 4:4 – 5000 souls were saved for eternity. The message is not that a lame man is healed, it is that lame souls are saved.
