‘And Peter directed his gaze at him’ (v 4, ESV). When life is busy, there’s a deadline to meet and a bus to catch, I wonder how often I fail to take notice of those in need around me – perhaps even wilfully so? Peter not only noticed the lame man, he then went further, he interacted with him (v 4). Peter wasn’t there to look down a self-righteous nose at the man, ‘God helps those who help themselves’, ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’. Instead, he intended to be compassionate towards him, took him by the hand and helped him up (vs 6,7). Compassion + Faith = Healing. That’s how Jesus did it. That’s how Peter did it. That’s how God wants us to do it.

It’s a truly wonderful picture of what Jesus can do for any one of us who is down and out. The lame beggar started his day helpless, waiting to be carried to the place where people would have to literally step around or over him, begging them to spare some change. He finished it leaping and praising God for what he had done, and walked into the Temple, healed and restored. 

‘Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.’¹

This passage really demonstrates God’s transforming power. First, we read of the healing of a paralysed man. It is made clear that his condition was something he’d had from birth, so no one could argue it was a short-lived problem from which he’d simply recovered naturally. The complete nature of his healing is also emphasised. He did not just manage a few unsteady steps but was leaping about the place! God’s power was surely at work!

There is another transformation on view here too: Peter’s! Gone is the timid disciple who denied Christ to save his own skin, someone who was often slow to understand Jesus’ teaching and even challenged the Lord about the inevitability of his death. Now Peter is shown powerfully and successfully continuing the Lord’s work. Indeed, he emphasised that this miracle was not performed through his own strength but done in ‘the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth’ (v 6): in other words, through Christ’s power and with his authority. Luke wants us to understand that Peter is continuing to do the things Jesus did, which included making the ‘lame walk’.²

We, too, are called to continue Jesus’ work and be his representatives on earth. Do we know what our role is in this? Sometimes people assume that only full-time Christian work is a calling and can fail to pray about how Christ wants them to continue his work through their secular jobs. Perhaps we do know what we are called to do but feel daunted by the task and inadequate for it. However, God does not give us the responsibility without providing the resources for it. The same power that transformed Peter and healed the paralysed man is available to us too: we are not expected to continue Christ’s work without Christ’s help.

In what ways do you need the Lord’s help to fulfil your calling? Ask for his Holy Spirit to equip you with what you need.

¹ 1 Cor 12:27  ² See Luke 7:22