Wednesday, October 8th

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Wednesday, October 8

Acts 3:1-10

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 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.

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to the middle east with two colleagues from FBCG to visit a potential ministry partner in that part of the world. One night of our visit was set aside to hear the stories of several people who had become followers of Jesus after spending most of their lives as Muslims.

One of those who shared with us was a woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties or so. She said that in her whole life she had only one Christian friend but that she and her friend had never discussed their respective faiths. It was simply something that she dared not pursue. But she knew the woman was a Christian and they were neighbors.

Eventually the woman developed a tumor on her thyroid and was scheduled to have surgery to remove the tumor. She was very frightened about the process and shared her fears with her Christian friend.

Her friend suggested that she pray to Jesus to ask for help. She went on to say Jesus healed many people and maybe he would help her. The Muslim woman knew of Jesus through the Qu’ran but did not know anything about him. So she asked, “How do I talk to him?” The Christian woman advised her to just say, “Jesus, please come and help me.”

She said that night she prayed that simple prayer not really even knowing who she was praying to. “Jesus, please come and help me.”

That very night she had either a dream or a vision - she couldn’t tell which - of Jesus coming to her in her room. She said he sat on a chair and she went to him and put her forehead on his knees. Then she said Jesus lifted her head so she could see his face. When he opened his mouth, she said, light came out of his mouth. But she said that in her mind she could hear the words that were in the light. This is what she heard Jesus say to her:

“I am the way, the truth and the life.”

She had never heard or read those words before. She had no idea they were in the New Testament because she had never seen a Bible.

She said that Jesus then put his hand on her neck - right on the swollen tumor. She said she suddenly felt as if she was outside her body and was looking down on herself lying in bed. She said she could see that the tumor had been removed from her neck and was actually sitting on the table beside her.

She said that when she woke up the next morning the tumor was gone; her neck had returned to it’s normal size. When she called her Christian friend to tell her about the dream or vision her friend was able to show her in the Bible where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” 

That was the day she decided to become a Christian.

There is no getting around this part of the story. Luke says a miracle happened; a lame man was healed.

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.

It seems to me there are two main reactions to stories like this in the Bible. On the one hand there are the skeptics who try to explain away the miraculous or simply choose not to believe.

On the other hand, there are those who tend to overemphasize miraculous stories of healing to the point where physical healing becomes part and parcel with the gospel; that we can expect and even demand healing miracles from Jesus.

To the skeptic I would simply say that if one accepts Genesis 1:1, that God created the heavens and the earth, one accepts the possibility of the miraculous. If God exists then he has access to power and technology that we do not.

To those who believe their faith should allow them to “claim” miraculous healing I would remind them of a couple of things.

First, the man who is healed in this story did not ask for healing nor did he have faith in Jesus. In fact nearly every miracle in the Book of Acts happens to an unbeliever.

Second, the purpose of the miracle was not primarily so this man could escape a life of poverty and begging. The purpose was so that others could see the power of Jesus and then hear the gospel proclaimed.

Back to the woman’s story about being healed by Jesus through a dream.

Do I believe she was healed? Yes, I do. There is just no way a woman who knew nothing about the New Testament could manufacture that story.

Do I understand how and why Jesus chose to heal her in that manner? No, I do not.

I only know that, just as in the story of the lame man in Acts 3, it appears that Jesus’ main purpose in healing the woman was to make the gospel of salvation known.

My response is to be the same as the people who watched the lame man leaping and praising God.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Pastor Brian Coffey