¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. ²And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. ³When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. ⁴But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!” ⁵And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” ⁷And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. ⁸With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹And all the people saw him walking and praising God; ¹⁰and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

The apostle John joins Peter in the prominent role among the apostles (see also Acts 8:14) at the first miraculous healing. Notice the attention to prayer as the backdrop of the story, and the name of the place, the gate called Beautiful—an appropriate place for God’s tangible work that is both heavenly focused and attentive to human suffering. Like those depicted in John’s gospel account, miracles were signs that pointed to a greater matter. In this case, the healing of the lame man sets the stage for Peter’s second recorded sermon. This healing was the beginning of what John later recorded that Jesus had told them: “[H]e who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father” (John 14:12).

The miracle was not staged but seemingly happened spontaneously. The man had a financial need—obviously he couldn’t work with his physical limitations. One might have thought the apostles would have called on the fledgling body of believers to reach out with financial and material donations just as they were doing among themselves. In fact, Peter and John had no money on hand to give the poor man. But the greater need was for healing (which would obviate the need for social services).

More so, this was an opportunity to glorify God; the command to walk was given with authority “in the name of Jesus Christ.” The apostles made the first move; the man responded—with no lack of enthusiasm. He was healed! The healing was so clearly miraculous that the news could not be contained—and it resulted in wonder and amazement, to the praise of God.

Lord, I commit today to tell someone about Your miraculous work in my life.