[Acts 3:1-16]
Not By Your Own Power or Piety
By the Reverend Tom Paine
Preached at First Presbyterian Church Tenino
April 14, 2024
Do you want to know one thing that I give thanks for? Tomorrow, taxes are due and our taxes are done! Do you want to know something else about your pastor? I know many things on may topics and have different skills sets I have developed over the years but one skill I do not have is completing taxes. Since I was married, Lesley has blessed me by doing the family taxes every year. Before that? I had to pay someone to help me with them. I am perpetually grateful not to have to wrangle with that every year.
How often do we give credit to others for a blessing in our lives? How often do we not just see it but also acknowledge it? This is my twenty sixth year of ministry and I have never told any congregation before that Lesley does the taxes. There isn’t one of us who has accomplished what we have without the help of others. While it is important to develop our own skills, it is vital, it should be central to us, to give credit where credit is due.
Our story in Acts is all about giving proper credit. It starts off, after the ascension, and after Pentecost, Peter and John are headed to the Temple in Jerusalem. Indeed, they have decided not to stick with fishing in Galilee but to be fishers for people. And what the Holy Spirit began on Pentecost, was about to continue. And on their way to worship a man called to them. Who called out to them? A man who was infirm. People, which people are unspecified, would place this man near that Beautiful Gate where he would ask for the generosity of the people headed into worship.
Before we go any further, imagine that life. Imagine having to sit outside, in the sun, unable to get up on your own, and ask strangers for money. No one was staying with him. Imagine the self image he had. But the only way he could eat and get shelter was to ask other people for money. Would you want your next meal, or the ability to have the roof over your head, depending on whether other people were feeling compassionate that day? I know I wouldn’t. He likely had hopes and dreams. But day by day, this was his life.
As he does for everyone else, he appeals to Peter and John. Unlike most people who probably never met his gaze or even spoke to him, probably rushing by, even if they dropped him a few coins, they stopped. They gazed intently at him. John says to him, “Look at us.” Just as people didn’t look at him, he has probably given up at looking at other people. Maybe he was even ashamed that he was having to ask. But this time he does. He looked up at them. Hey, these people were treating him like a person. Maybe they will be particularly generous. Peter spoke next, “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.” He gripped him by the right hand and helps him up. And the miraculous happens.
He doesn’t fall onto them. He doesn’t crumple down. His legs and his ankles are strong. He can walk! He is free. His days begging for a handout are over. He jumps up. He runs around. Everyone sees it. They all know him – meaning he has been begging there a long time. They were astounded. He ran back and literally clung to Peter and John. He must have been so happy. Crowds gathered. How was this possible?
I am currently reading Shelby Foote’s trilogy on the CIvil War. And I am just on the first volume and I know the basic story. But he provides so much more color and so much more detail. He helps me to see things from so many different perspectives. Overall, I believe it is why reading is so important today. Different authors help us hear things and see things, sometimes from very different life experiences than our own. I mean it is so easy to demonize other people and think the worst if we turn off our empathy. But Jesus was inherently empathetic. And it is why the crowds moved him so. And we see empathy being practiced by these two apostles in our story.
When Peter saw the crowd he quieted them and spoke to them. “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Do you think by our own power or piety we did this? No. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has done this in order to glorify Jesus. Luke doesn’t tell us Peter paused but I bet he did to let that sink in. Peter and John weren’t taking credit. No, they were giving credit to God. Not because of them but because of Jesus.
Lest they were confused which Jesus, not an uncommon name back then, he was referring to, Peter continued. Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. Jesus, the wholly and righteous one who you didn’t choose when offered the chance. You chose a murderer instead. Jesus, who God raised from the dead – and we personally have witnessed. And by faith in his name – this man – the one you only see as a beggar – has been made strong. It is in the name of Jesus that this man now has perfect health.
How often do we do this? How often do we give God credit for who we are, to what we have achieved, and to any good that we do? We claim, in songs, in words in church, and in prayers that God is the biggest blessing in the world and that it is through Jesus that we really live. But how often do we credit Jesus save, perhaps, when something bad doesn’t happen, we mutter, “praise God” or “thank the Lord.” How often do we witness – not faith based facts – like “do you know Jesus is the Son of God” but rather – “God has truly given me this” or “God blessed me with this.” We talk about what is important in our lives. How often do we talk about God? How often do we give credit where credit is due?
Peter goes on and reminds them that while they rejected Jesus, and chose Barabbas, they did this out of a lack of knowledge. Even their rulers didn’t really understand who Jesus was. But Jesus gave of himself so they they – that everyone can be saved of their sins and been brought right with God. He invited them all to turn back to God – with this man – who could now stand and walk and even run – clinging on to him – and if they did they would be cleansed and changed too. And the religious officials show up, are upset, and arrest them both. But many came to believe that day – twenty percent more than converted during Pentecost! Imagine the power of that. On Pentecost people heard the disciples speak in their native language. They saw the Holy Spirit come upon them like fire! But this day, it was just a man being made to walk, a man they recognized, before their eyes. They were able to empathize with a man they had probably ignored. And Peter’s words helped them see the truth. It was the power of God. Jesus had been just who he said he was.
Who are we meant to see – really see – for who they are? Who can we better empathize with? How can we let people know what we have, we have by the grace of God? These are big questions raised in this passage from Acts. And I don’t mean giving credit just to our family members or our employers. I don’t even mean giving credit to the church, as much as I think of this church. It’s about giving credit to God – far beyond the walls of our church.
We live in a society today that tends to want to figure out what side to be on. We want to decide who is right and who is wrong. We want to choose a banner to fly. But Scripture tells us that God is impartial. God loves us all. For God so loved the world. Peter and John were out there appealing to their fellow Jews to follow Jesus. Soon, they will venture out beyond their home society and invite other peoples to follow Jesus too. Peter and John could have met this crowd – who had literally been part of calling for their teacher and friend to be crucified weeks before – and who had chosen a murderer over Jesus – with anger and vitriol. Instead, they empathized with them. Peter and John knew they hadn’t had the experiences they had had with Jesus. These people just didn’t understand. Can we, will we, grow like this in this 21st century? Can we be empathetic to people who have chosen wrongly in their lives?
In 1996, I was on a seminary mission trip in Managua, Nicaragua. I didn’t know what I expected, I guess I thought they would bring us to churches. Instead, they brought us to a homeless encampment where people there had taken corrugated metal that had fallen off of trains and built themselves houses of sorts. They even scrounged up boards to use as benches and chicken wire to set up one “house” from another. They drove us in there in SUVs.
What happened? The people welcomed us. They invited us into their yards. They wanted us to sit on their benches. They even offered us cold drinks, which weren’t exactly cold, but we drank them anyway. They were most gracious to us. I can remember driving away and thinking how easy it would have been to have ignored us or even been rude to us. Who are these foreigners, with more money than we can dream of, coming in to look at us? But they weren’t. They were kind. They knew we were all interested in becoming pastors. They prayed for us. They empathized with us. I have never forgotten them.
We know we are supposed to be empathetic in church. We should be empathetic here. But can we put ourselves in the shoes of the person we work with that is annoying? Can we see value in the person across from us in the classroom who has been rude to us? Can we empathize with the guy who has a bumper sticker on his truck we would never put on ours?
And what gifts can we bring? Not all of us are healers like John and Peter. Maybe it is our gift of fixing things. Maybe it is our knowledge from work or from school. Maybe it is the way we learned how to host a group or to explain something to others. Maybe it is through giving away some of the good things that we have accumulated. And will we speak up and say why you are doing this? Can we treat that family member who just drives you crazy or who has wronged you in a healthier way? Why? Because we do it in God’s name, even though it’s hard, because we know it is the right thing to do.
Jesus gave us of himself fully for others. Christ established the sacrament we will soon observe so that we will be empowered to love one another. As we celebrate this sacrament, may we always remember that Christ empathized with us so much he gave his life for us.
Let us see the people God puts in our path. It is still the Easter season. Let us engage them. May we too reach out to them and share the love of Jesus. Jesus is still risen. Let’s give God credit where credit is due.
May we all give God be the glory, forever and ever, amen.
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