Intro:
Peter has stood up to speak to an enormous crowd. Peter has watched as thousands of people in that crowd choose to follow Jesus. Peter has worked, with the other apostles, to teach these new followers about Jesus. It all feels like a kind of miracle. But then the time comes where another kind of miracle is needed…
It’s three o’clock in the afternoon. It’s the time that people come to the temple in Jerusalem to pray. And that’s what Peter and John are doing. They are followers of Jesus. And what’s more, they are two of Jesus’ apostles - people he chose to tell the world about him.
The temple gates - the entrances - have names. And the one they are about to enter is called The Beautiful Gate. As they approach the gate, they see something: Friends of a man who has not been able to walk his whole life carry him to the entrance and lay him down there - so that he can beg for coins from people as they make their way through. It’s sad, in a way. But it’s also kind of beautiful, too - that the friends should do this for him, every day.
Like he does with everyone - like he has done for years - the man stares Peter and John and asked them for money. Peter and John stare back. And Peter says, “Look at us.” Which the man does, expectantly, ready to receive whatever coins Peter is about to give him.
But Peter has something else in mind. Something that is….well….much more beautiful!
“I don’t have any silver,” says Peter. “And I don’t have any gold. But I’ll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, God’s promised Messiah, stand up and walk!”
Then Peter takes the man’s right hand and pulls him up. And just like that, strength that was never in his ankles, strength that was never in his feet, comes to the man. And he doesn’t just walk. He leaps in the air and he lands, like a man who has watched other men do that all their lives and has now been set free to do it himself.
He praises God for what has happened. Of course he does. Then through the temple gate he bounds. For the very first time. And the people who see this are amazed.
Because it’s a wonder. Because it’s a miracle. And, maybe, most of all, because it’s beautiful!
Outro:
One of the things that marked the first Christian community in Jerusalem was the way they treated each other. And the awe and wonder that accompanied the miracles performed by the apostles. This story focuses mostly on the awe and wonder side of things. But I wonder if you could figure out how it touches on the “community of love” part, too.
What questions would you ask the man who Peter healed? And what might you ask Peter, himself?
Name something you think is beautiful. Maybe two things. Is “beautiful” a word that people outside of the church associate with the church and with Christians? Why or why not? What do you think was most beautiful in the story of Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate? And how might we be more beautiful?
