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Peter Speaks in the Temple
11While the man kept holding on to Peter and John, the whole crowd ran to them in amazement at the place known as Solomon's Porch. 12Peter saw that a crowd had gathered, and he said:
Friends, why are you surprised at what has happened? Why are you staring at us? Do you think we have some power of our own? Do you think we were able to make this man walk because we are so religious? 13 The God that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and our other ancestors worshiped has brought honor to his Servant Jesus. He is the one you betrayed. You turned against him when he was being tried by Pilate, even though Pilate wanted to set him free.
14 You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, 15and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done. 16You see this man, and you know him. He put his faith in the name of Jesus and was made strong. Faith in Jesus made this man completely well while everyone was watching.
17My friends, I am sure you and your leaders didn't know what you were doing. 18But God had his prophets tell that his Messiah would suffer, and now he has kept this promise. 19So turn to God! Give up your sins, and you will be forgiven. 20Then the time will come when the Lord will give you fresh strength. He will send you Jesus, his chosen Messiah. 21But Jesus must stay in heaven until God makes all things new, just as his holy prophets promised long ago.
22 Moses said, “The Lord your God will choose one of your own people to be a prophet, just as he chose me. Listen to everything he tells you. 23 No one who disobeys this prophet will be one of God's people any longer.”
24Samuel and all the other prophets who came later also spoke about what is now happening. 25 You are really the ones God told his prophets to speak to. And you were given the promise God made to your ancestors. He said to Abraham, “All nations on earth will be blessed because of someone from your family.” 26God sent his chosen Son to you first, because God wanted to bless you and make each one of you turn away from your sins.
Reflect
Have you ever pondered the miracle of wireless internet? How does it work? As a journalist from the Boomer Generation, I pride myself on being an early adapter of technology when it’s helpful. Today we pay bills, send documents, and access the latest news from around the world with only an invisible network connection – no cables. Amazing.
In a similar way, people in today’s reading were amazed by the power that enabled Peter and John to heal a man who had been crippled since birth. They wanted answers. Where did this power come from?
“It wasn’t us – it was Jesus,” you can hear Peter and John reply while all eyes were fixed on the healed man – living proof of God’s power. But who is this Jesus? Many people today are asking that same question. That is the point that Peter wants to make clear now that he has everyone’s attention.
Peter and John had walked and talked with Jesus. They had witnessed his miracles. His God-centred life and now his resurrection – as foretold by the prophets – convinced them that Jesus was God’s chosen one to bring a world in rebellion back to God. Peter uses terms drawn from the Jewish scriptures to explain who Jesus is. Jesus is the “anointed Messiah”, the long-awaited, holy and innocent servant of the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” His own people betrayed him and yet he freely accepted death on a Roman cross to free God’s people from their sins and win forgiveness for all. Jesus is the one the prophet Isaiah wrote about: “He bore the sins of many (Isaiah 53:11).”
For the crippled man who trusted God, Jesus was his healer and Lord. This healing was a sign to all that God was on the move to “make all things new.”
Respond
Jesus, surprise me today with your power at work in my world. Give me eyes to see and faith to believe that your power can change even the most difficult of circumstances because you are the God who restores the broken. In the name of Jesus, the Healer. Amen.
Lorna Dueck
Lorna Dueck has explored the intersection of journalism and Christianity for over 30 years. That curiosity led to the creation of Media Voice Generation (MVG), a community-held Canadian charity that exists to create boundary-breaking media that reveals Christ. Context with Lorna Dueck is the flagship TV show and online production of MVG. As Executive Producer, Lorna enjoys interviewing culture-shaping guests for any evidence of God. Lorna is a regular commentary writer on faith and public life in Canada's leading national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, and a frequent media commentator. She has travelled the world reporting on church-led response to humanitarian crisis.