Acts 3:1-10, Deut 28:13, Mark 2:1-12

Glyn Barrett

I read Acts 3:1-10 again recently. You'll know it, the story of the crippled man who used to be carried to the temple gate called Beautiful to beg everyday. Everyday! Every single day this man would wake up, and every single day, people would come by to literally pick him up and carry him for the journey over to the temple gate. Everyday! Talk about repetitive, talk about a soul destroying routine, talk about a perpetual pattern of hopelessness! That is until 'one day' when Peter and John walked by the gate. The one day when they bothered to stop and interrupt their own agenda to reach out to a desperate situation. One day could be anyday, it could be our day, it could be today. You see one man's everyday can be an opportunity for someone else's one day. We are living in one day, with so many opportunities being presented before us. God places our one day in people's everyday for us to make the difference. Let's take a look at what can be found at the gates in our world:

1. The problem

This miracle occurs in a place of paradox - a gate. A gate either lets some people in or keeps some people out. In this story Peter and John were walking in but the lame man was kept out. The man was at a beautiful gate with an ugly problem. This is so true of people everywhere because life is beautiful but there can be many ugly problems. I wonder what would make a person stop and help a lame man walk? The story tells us that Peter and John walked by at 3pm which would suggest to me that others must have walked by before them. What was it about Peter and John that compelled them to engage with the man instead of ignoring him? Maybe they could empathise with him. They could see something of themselves in him. The problem with church sometimes is that we can forget what it's like to be on the other side of the gate. We've forgotten the confusion, the lonliness and how chaotic it can feel. We sometimes walk past the spiritually lame who are sitting outside of the gate when in fact these are the people we were destined to stop for.

2. The people

When we look at this story we see two types of people; the carried and the carriers. Whatever the lame man does and wherever he goes, he does it and goes there carried. Today all over the country, there are many people who are being carried. Carried people:

• Are not in the decision making loop


• Are at the whim of other people's mood


• Are not in control


• Do not pull their weight

We all need carrying at times but to live carried is not what God intended. We are called to be the head and not the tail (Deut 28:13). The story of the men bringing a paralytic to Jesus in Mark 2:1-12 shows what carriers do:

• They show initiative - they couldn't get through the crowd so they made an opening in the roof


• They find a solution - they dug through the roof and lowered the man down


• They live faith filled - Jesus responded to 'their faith' and healed the paralytic

3. The Position

When I read the story of the lame man at the gate I'm relieved that at least he knew where to go. Nowhere in scripture does it say that we are meant to bring unsaved people to church. In fact, we are only ever compelled to go and position ourselves where people are. Here are some gates that may exist in your world:

• Business


• Education


• Sport


• Politics


• Family


• Media

There are many people at the various gates that exist in your day to day world, who are currently sat on the outside with a life without Jesus. Instead of walking by the spiritually lame, set on our own agenda, let's be like Peter and John, who were so moved by what they saw that they took the time to stop. Let's reach out to those who are sat at a beautiful gate with an ugly problem, and help journey them through the other side into a relationship with Jesus.