When
Peter healed the lame man who had been begging, people noticed and
stopped what they were doing so that they could see what was going
on. And why not? They recognized him as the man who was lame from
birth and who had always lain on a mat, begging, but now he was
“jumping, and praising God”! (See Acts 3:1-10.)
When
a crowd gathers in amazement for a healing like that, Peter
knows what to do. He knows that the healing of one person can lead to
the repentance and healing of many others, so he steps up to preach.
In
words that parallel his Pentecost sermon (Acts 2:14-39), Peter urges
his listeners to repent of their sin and believe in Jesus Christ. The
crowd may be amazed by what happened to one lame person, but Peter
sees a greater purpose. This healing is not meant to bring praise for
the lame person or the apostles. It is to lead people to look beyond
the healed person to Jesus Christ, in whose name the healing has
occurred.
We
often see and meet people who do things for others in order to draw
attention to themselves. But if we really want to live as the body of
Christ, we need to help people come to know Jesus.