Peter and John cure a lame man
1 Once when Peter and John were going up to the Temple at three in the after noon, the hour for prayer,
2 a man crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day they would bring him and put him at the temple gate called “Beautiful”; there he begged from those who entered the Temple.
3 When he saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple, he asked for alms.
4 Then Peter with John at his side looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”
5 So he looked at them, expecting to receive something from them.
6 But Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus of Naza reth, the Messiah, walk!”
7 Then he took the beggar by his right hand and helped him up. At once his feet and ankles became firm,
8 and jumping up he stood on his feet and began to walk. And he went with them into the Temple walking and leaping and praising God.
9 All the people saw him walking and praising God;
10 they recognized him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were all astonished and amazed at what had happened to him.
11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, struck with astonishment, came running to them in Solomon’s Porch, as it was called.
12 When Peter saw the people, he said to them,
“Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as if it was by some power or holiness of our own that we made this man walk?
13 The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus whom you handed over to death and denied before Pilate, when even Pilate had decided to release him.
14 You rejected the Holy and Just One, and you insisted that a murderer be released to you.
15 You killed the Master of life, but God raised him from the dead and we are witnesses to this.
16 It is his Name, and faith in his Name, that has healed this man whom you see and recognize. The faith that comes through Jesus has given him wholeness in the presence of all of you.
17 Yet I know that you acted out of ignorance, as did your leaders.
18 God has fulfilled in this way what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer.
19 Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out
20 and the time of refreshment may come by the mercy of God, when he sends the Messiah appointed for you, Jesus.
21 For he must remain in heaven until the time of the universal restoration which God spoke of long ago through his holy prophets.
22 Moses foretold this when he said: The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall listen to him in all that he says to you.
23 Who ever does not listen to that prophet is to be cut off from among his people.
24 In fact, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel onward, have announced the events of these days.
25 You are the children of the prophets and heirs of the covenant that God gave to your ancestors when he said to Abraham: All the families of the earth will be blessed through your descendant.
26 It is to you first that God sends his Servant; he raised him to life to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
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Comments Acts, Chapter 3
• 3.1 We might sometimes think that Jesus cured all the sick. This is not true, since he did not heal this cripple who was in the Temple every day. This new sign brings about another proclamation.
Why are you amazed at this? The miracle was done in the Name of Jesus, that is, by the Power over every creature that Jesus received from the Father at the time of his resurrection. Jesus was in their midst as the servant of the Lord (Is 42:1; 52:13), but speaking of his Name was a way of stating his divinity (Mk 16:17; Phil 2:9).
I know that you acted out of ignorance. Yet Peter de mands that they ad mit their guilt. All of us must confess a similar guilt in the injustices and crimes of our times.
He must remain in heav en (v. 21). The coming of Jesus inaugurated the “last days” in which the Gos pel reconciles hu manity with God, and changes human consciousness thus speed ing up the course of history which, in the end, forces humankind to solve their problems together. Humanity is on its way to the coming of Christ and the restoration of the world, namely, the Res urrection.
He sends him to bless (v. 26). This blessing comes to those who accept reconciliation with God upon seeing the love he revealed to us in Jesus. The blessing is not for us alone, rather, through us – the people of God – it reaches all the families of the earth.