One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

The Gate Beautiful (also called the Nicanor Gate) was the favored entrance to the Jewish temple. It led from the court of the Gentiles to the Court of the Women, on the east side of the temple.
What I find interesting about this passage is that a lame man is begging at the gate called Beautiful. The lame man likely has his mat lying on the ground, his body dirty from the dust and having to crawl around, and his appearance is anything but beautiful.

Peter and John show up, and they are full of God’s Spirit. They show up at the time ordained to meet God. They are attuned to his prompting on their hearts. Most everyone may have just walked by and paid this man little notice. Some might have given him alms. But now one came ready to call on God to heal this man.

From a distance they see this crippled man being carried to the gate. They had compassion on him like the heart of God would have had compassion on him. And they went to him determined to heal him in the name of Jesus. This power only comes from God, so they would have had to have known this was God’s will.

They looked at this crippled man and looked into his heart and looked figuratively at his current life and what God wanted to do with him. They looked upon him with an immense sense of value, as God’s child. And they said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, walk.”

There are so many things to glean from this passage. 1) The things this world calls beautiful (a gate) pale in comparison to the beauty of the heart of a child of God. He values us so much. Peter and John knew the beautiful attraction here was not the gate but this man’s soul and the work God wanted to do to heal him. 2) People with disabilities were thought to have sinned big time or their parents to have sinned big time, and this was God’s judgment on them. Peter and John engaged this cripple outcast. They looked him in the eyes. I wonder what they saw there? And they treated him as a child of God, when everyone else seemed to treat him as a poor sinner to be pitied. 3) They gave him a greater gift than he asked for. Many times when people ask for something, they don’t ask big because they cannot comprehend a big ask. This man asked small, but Peter and John delivered a big gift. And it was a big gift of healing which changed his whole life around.

What big spiritual gift can we ask God for and trust him to deliver on?

Thank you, Lord, for your servants Peter and John who were faithful to see people as you see them. They acted in loving and serving this man when others just passed him by. Teach me to see others through Jesus’ eyes, so I can see the potential in the body of Christ and minister to them by your Spirit.