Many years ago, a dear friend and second-Mother asked me an intriguing question. That question comes to my mind multiple times each year even to this moment. Paraphrased, the question would be something like:
"If you could hold a dinner party to talk with any ten people, living or dead, other than the obviously invited guests of Jesus and the disciples, who would you invite and why?"
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Dinner Guest #10: The Lame Man at the Temple Gate "Beautiful"
The Introduction
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene - walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
(Acts 3:1-10)
The History
Going back to Acts chapter 2, it opens with the day of Pentecost, a feast day known historically and currently in Judaism as the Feast of Weeks. Pentecost means "fiftieth (day)". Levitical Law regarding the time of the Feast of Weeks instructed the Israelites to count seven weeks after the feast of the Feast of First Fruits observance.
God instituted seven major feasts for the Israelites [See: Leviticus 23 among others]. The first of the seven major feasts instituted by God is Passover. Jesus was crucified on Passover as "the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world". He was hidden away in the tomb during the second feast: the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He was resurrected on the third feast: the Feast of First Fruits. Jesus then spent forty days appearing to various believers and continuing to teach the disciples before His ascension. Then ten days later (the fiftieth day) the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples in the upper room on the fourth feast known as the Feast of Weeks: Pentecost.
On that day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples in the upper room, Peter delivered his first public sermon to the crowds of people in the city. Around three thousand people came to faith in Jesus because of that message.
Immediately after this passage regarding the lame man, Peter delivers his second sermon and around five thousand people came to faith in Jesus not just because of Peter's message, but because this man they knew to have been lame from birth was now walking and leaping around them.
When Jesus was still on earth, He entered Jerusalem a number of times. At the absolute minimum, in fulfilling the Law, Jesus would have throughout His earthly life obeyed God's command to observe the three high feasts requiring the men of Israel to come to Jerusalem annually: Passover/Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, and Tabernacles [Deuteronomy 16:16].
While in Jerusalem during His three-year ministry, Jesus entered the temple multiple times to teach. In fact, that was a point that Jesus made to His accusers in the garden of Gethsemane: that He had been teaching daily in the temple, not in hiding or in secret, and they did nothing then to take Him into custody then, but rather they came under cover of night to take Him.
The Temple Mount complex was enormous at the time of Jesus. It had been expanded and enlarged during the rule of Herod the Great who, among other things, was known for his building projects such as the fortress of Masada, Caesarea Maritima, and more. The temple had many entrances and gates, and the passage indicates that this man was placed at a very particular gate every time.
Not very much time had passed between that first Pentecost and this passage regarding the lame man. Jesus' ministry, miracles, crucifixion, burial, and the report of His bodily resurrection (or bodily disappearance, depending on who was doing the telling) from a tomb under guard by armed soldiers would still be a talking point. (It is still today!)
The Person
From this passage we learn that this man was lame from birth and had been carried, had been set down at this particular gate, and from there he begged for alms - every day. In the following chapter, Acts 4:22, we learn that this man was over the age of forty. So every time that Jesus entered and left the temple, that man was most likely sitting at that gate.
This contrasts with the paralytic at Capernaum who, when his friends were taking him directly to Jesus in hopes of having him healed, they couldn't gain entrance into the house where Jesus was teaching, so they carried him to the roof of the house and tore a hole in it to let him down through. What of this man at the gate though? What of his family or friends that carried him daily to that gate?
It also contrasts with the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. The passage states that there was a "multitude" of sick, blind, and lame gathered at the pool. But Jesus saw this man out of the crowd lying on his mat. That man had himself been ill for thirty-eight years. Jesus initiated the encounter with the man by asking if he wanted to be made well. The man, clueless to Jesus' meaning, indicated that he didn't have anyone to let him down into the water. [See John 5:1-9] Jesus healed him and sent him on his way.
The Conversation
It is just curious that this man was at the same temple gate every day; Jesus was teaching in the temple a number of times; and that the sick, and blind, and lame were brought to Jesus wherever He went but this man never experienced that healing. That said, Jesus didn't heal everyone He encountered.
Things I would like to know from this man would include:
+ Reports of Jesus' healings, raising the dead, and other miracles were widespread so he had to have heard about them; did he just lack faith in Jesus?
+ With Jesus in and around Jerusalem often, did those who set him at the gate not ever consider taking him to Jesus to be healed?
+ Had he followed the Pharisees in their rejection of Jesus?
+ Was it just bad timing so that when Jesus went into the temple, the people who carried him had left him at the gate and went on their way?
+ Did he ever see Jesus whenever He entered or left the temple?
+ If he saw Jesus without being healed by Him, what did he think about that?
+ How were the remainder of his days spent after being made whole and fit?
The Why
Scripture tells us that Jesus was moved by compassion for people. If His setting aside His divine glory, becoming a man, and His sacrificial death wasn't enough evidence of that, it is further evidenced by His tears before raising Lazarus from the dead, raising the widow's dead son during the funeral procession, feeding the hungry multitude following him, healing the two blind men outside Jericho, etc.
I have suspicions on why this man was still lame when Peter and John passed by. They may not be very strong and certainly not conclusive, but they are based on two events. If Jesus had indeed passed by this man leaving him in his condition, I suspect it would be for one of two reasons with my leanings being strongly toward the second:
1) Lack of faith from the man and his friends.
And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.(Matthew 13:58)
2) For the glory of God to be displayed through Peter and John demonstrating they continued to act with authority and power given to them by God through Jesus, even after Jesus had ascended, for validation of the truth of the gospel.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.(John 9:1-7, emphasis mine)
I would love to hear his transformation story from his own perspective. Forty years is a long time to have never walked to then instantly leap and dance for the Lord!
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