NOTES for Act 3:1-10

When reading many passages of Scripture, it can be difficult at first to understand and feel the atmosphere of what is happening and the mood of the people, despite the fact that the Evangelists often mention them. This is probably because the authors do not put their own attitude or emotions about what they describe into their lines. To understand, we need to stop, perhaps reread the passage several times, reflect on it, and picture the situation. The Word of God is more alive than any other book precisely because it is not obscured by the personality of the writer and gives us the opportunity to become participants in those events. To “read” today’s passage from Acts, it is not enough merely to read the phrase “...lame from his mother’s womb...” and understand it as we normally understand the word “lame,” meaning able to walk, but only with effort and pain. We must see what was really happening. This man was “carried and laid” there: he could not move by himself. We must see his gaze fixed on the apostles as he waits for alms. Unlike other people whose healing we know (see, for example, Mk 10:51), this man did not think of asking to be healed. It is remarkable that such a seemingly unimportant detail is given: which hand Peter takes to raise the lame man. But this detail brings the account to life and speaks of the importance of what is happening. Surely this man remembered for the rest of his life the touch after which he was able to walk. Then the man who had perceived each day partly in terms of how much he would be given that day leaps up and enters the Temple. Previously he had only sat beside the Temple; no one carried him inside, and perhaps he had not asked them to... And now this man glorifies God, who for him is henceforth connected with His Son, Christ, in whose Name the healing was performed.