Difference between revisions of "Sermon for April 17th, 2016"

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Acts 3:1-10

3One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 2And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. 3When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 4Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” 7And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

First Church: Walking and Leaping and Praising God

Today's scripture passage centers around the apostle Peter and a miraculous healing...so I'm reminded of the story about St. Peter and the medical professionals: Three medical professionals died and find themselves standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter speaks with them and asks them what good they have done in their lives. The first one says, "I'm a doctor. I have devoted my life to the sick and needy and have had a part in caring for and healing thousands of people. "St. Peter replies, "That's great. Come into your eternal reward."

Encouraged, the second medical professional steps forward and says, "I'm a nurse. I have supported the doctor and his patients my entire life as an adult, have taken time to explain things to patients, and have helped them lead healthy lives." "Wonderful," says St. Peter. Please enter your eternal reward in heaven."

By now the third medical professional is looking quite confident, and says, "I am the president and CEO of a very large Health Insurance Company. I am responsible for the health care of millions of people all over the country." St. Peter says, "I see. You can come in ... but your plan only covers the first two nights!"

When I was a young undergraduate student at Oral Roberts University, which was founded by the famous (or infamous) televangelist and faith-healer Oral Roberts, from time to time we would gather in the university chapel for a service of healing. Oral Roberts, or more often his son Richard, would take to the stage and say something to the effect of "I'm sensing someone in the audience right now who has a pain in your left forearm." Or sometimes it would be your right leg, or your head, or some other part of your body. I swear, whenever he would say that, part of me always felt like, "Hmmmm...yeah, maybe it kind of does hurt there!" Of course, next he would say, "If that's you, raise your hand, and come down to the front right now; God wants to heal you today!" And suddenly I felt much better. Not because I was miraculously healed, but because I didn't want to go down to the front.

I have seen and observed many so-called "faith healers" throughout the years, and usually with a fair amount of skepticism. It's not that I don't believe God is capable of working miracles through pastors, preachers, televangelists, or just about anyone. I'm open to being surprised. But as a fairly rational, analytical, non-supernaturally inclined personality...I'm just far more likely to put my faith in well-educated, professionally trained doctors, nurses, technology, and modern medical science. All of which are quite miraculous in their own right, and all of which I consider to be gifts from God.

Incidentally, about a decade after I graduated from Oral Roberts University, I went back to school at one of the country's oldest, esteemed, and thoroughly Presbyterian institutions, Princeton Theological Seminary. I can assure you that in four years of Princeton chapel services, I never once heard someone say, "I'm sensing someone in the audience right now who has a pain in your left arm..." And yet, I consider that place, and that time in my life to be one of great healing, growth, and at least one miracle: His name is Jonah, you've probably seen him running around here a few times!

So there are many ways in which a person can be healed; there are many ways in which the simple things around us can be miraculous, and I'm inclined to look at today's scripture passage in that light. Many of the stories in the book of Acts (written down only decades after the time in which they were supposed to have occured, by an author who was admittedly not there to witness them firsthand) are not meant to be taken literally, but are rather to make a point, or to teach something about what life in the church ought to be like, and maybe was a long, long time ago.

I suppose there may have been actual miraculous healings in the early church--there are certainly plenty stories like that throughout the New Testament--but whether they are historically, factually, medically "true" or not kind of misses the whole point. And in any case, Peter, John, and most of the characters in the book of Acts had long faded from the scene by the time Luke puts pen to parchment to tell his version of the story. A better question is, what point was he trying to make to his audience with this story, and what can we make of it in our situation today?

Throughout Acts, Luke is telling the story not just of amazing miracles that happened to random people, but he's telling the story of what the church should look like, what a real, dynamic, powerful, faith community can look like. And if you look all around the edges of this story, and don't get too distracted by the big miracle...you'll see that amazing community in action, and a lot of little miracles at work, too.