NOTES for Act 3:11-26

Peter does not doubt that the healing he and John performed was a witness to the reality of the Kingdom that entered the world through Christ and in Christ. From the very beginning he shifts the listeners' attention from himself to Him. This is not modesty and not an attempt at some kind of self-abasement, as readers of the Book of Acts sometimes think. Here there is a simple awareness of reality. The reality of how the Kingdom is arranged. And the Kingdom is, above all, relationships. Relationships with Christ first of all, since He is the King of His Kingdom. But also with His heavenly Father. And with other people. Here there is a whole system of relationships, forming that delicate fabric that can be called spiritual life.

This fabric forms the structure of the Kingdom and gives it shape. And a person has to be extremely careful about his intentions and purposes when the matter concerns spiritual life in general and life in the Kingdom in particular. Not in the sense of following some special etiquette. Etiquette is not needed in the Kingdom. But the ability to accept Christ's will as having priority over one's own is absolutely necessary. And not at the level of declaration, but in everyday life. Here it is precisely the experience of life in the Kingdom that helps one learn real humility.

For this is humility: to learn at every moment of one's life to put God's will, Christ's will, before one's own. And the experience of the Kingdom's life quickly makes one feel that the power of the Kingdom and its breath, without which there is no life, enter a person's heart only when one becomes completely transparent to every action of God. Transparent enough that He meets in your heart no resistance to any of His intentions, and in your life no contradiction to any of His plans.

It would seem that in such a case the person should disappear, dissolve, become an empty shell that God fills at His discretion. But in reality everything turns out differently: the more a person gives himself to Christ, the more he finds his true self. The apostles know this perfectly from their own experience. They know to whom they owe both their abilities and their life. And they bear witness to those around them about the One who, if they allow it, will enter their lives too. And having entered, He will open to them the doors of the Kingdom. And the path of salvation.

Thus Peter and John performed a healing in the name of Jesus. The people’s reaction is understandable: delight, amazement... Peter immediately tries to put everything in its proper place. He says, “Why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” It is truly very important to Peter that people understand who performs the healing, that they know that he and John are only instruments in His hands. Glory and thanksgiving must be directed to the Lord alone.

Today we have before us two situations of witness. In both cases, moreover, those who bear witness point to Christ as the One who is greater than they are. The disciples run to John the Baptist, annoyed that everyone is going with repentance not to their beloved teacher, but to someone (Someone) else. But John explains to them that everything is going as it should. He is the herald who yields the way to the Lord who has come. He is the friend of the bridegroom, whose role is to step modestly aside when the Bridegroom meets face to face with His Bride, with the one for whose sake He came - with each person who comes to Him...

When the apostles Peter and John preach in Solomon's Portico of the Jerusalem Temple, they too "move aside," because everyone runs together to them after hearing about the miracle they have performed. And it is possible that, in order to stop the growing fame that is moving in the wrong direction, the apostles have to "shake up" their listeners a little. Sometimes it becomes necessary to take by the shoulders, and almost lift off the ground, a child rushing headlong somewhere. The apostles show the crowd gathered around them that the matter is not in them at all, but in the One whom this crowd had not merely seen, but had even crucified. And that it is His name that heals and raises up. And that glory is fitting for Him, not for them...

Such is the humility of the saints, who are ready to "move over" and "rejoice with joy" when people turn to the One whose friends they are (see John 3:29).

The apostle Peter addresses the descendants of Abraham, reminding them of the covenant and showing that the time has come for the fulfillment of God's promise, the blessing of all the families of the earth through the "seed of Abraham," through Jesus Christ. It is clear that we can easily count ourselves among these "families of the earth" who have received the grace of salvation in Christ Jesus. But, as the New Testament points out many times, we are also descendants of Abraham, if not according to the flesh, then according to the spirit, because faith stands at the center of our life, the very faith that Abraham showed and that God counted to him as righteousness. So Abraham is the "father of all believers," and this means that we turn out to be heirs of the prophecies, revelations, and promises that God gave to the sons of Abraham. But then everything Scripture says about the responsibility of God's people before their God applies to us as well.

Apostle Peter addresses the descendants of Abraham, reminding the covenant and showing that the moment of the fulfillment of God's promise has come - the blessings of all the kindreds of the earth through "the posterity of Abraham" - through Jesus Christ. It is clear that we can easily refer ourselves to these "kindreds of the earth", having received the grace of salvation in Jesus Christ. But, as it is repeatedly indicated in the New Testament, we are also descendants of Abraham, if not by flesh, then by spirit, because in the center of our life there is faith, this same faith, that Abraham manifested and that God imputed to him in righteousness. Thus, Abraham is "the father of all believers ", and consequently, we turn out to be the heirs of the prophecies, revelations and promises, which God bestowed to the sons of Abraham. But then, all which is said in the Holy Scriptures about God's people responsibility before God appertain to us.

The Apostle Peter's answer to the lame man sitting at the entrance to the Temple in Jerusalem prompts us too to consider what we can give the world around us. The world indeed most often thirsts for “silver and gold,” which Christianity is unable to give it. Yet the fact is that deep down the world thirsts for more: it awaits healing and wants to know the truth about itself and about God. The Book of Acts gives us wonderful examples of how the Apostles bring peace, healing, and meaning to those around them. Peter and John not only heal the lame man, emphasizing that this happened not by their own power but by God's; in a few extraordinarily concise words, they also reveal to the Israelites the meaning of their history and their election by God, and point them toward the center of their longings and hopes: Christ. In today's circumstances, the Lord expects all this from Christianity, from the Church, and from us as well.