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.