Witnessing from Solomon’s Portico

Acts 3: 1-19

 

            If you’re ever in Jerusalem and visit the Dome of the Rock, you might be standing on the spot where the Temples of first, Solomon and later, Herod the Great, once stood. Both are long gone, or buried, the last being destroyed in A.D. 66. If the temple were there today and you stood at its front door facing away from the entrance, you would be looking across the outer court to the eastern wall of the Temple grounds. In first century Israel, the eastern wall was about 600 cubits, or 900 feet, long. That’s about three football fields. When Herod rebuilt the Temple, the eastern wall was the only portion of the Temple remaining from Solomon’s time.  It was massive. The wall rose over 500 feet high and had double columns all along it. It was called Solomon’s portico because Solomon used to hold court there, pronouncing judgment upon various issues. The gospel of John records that Jesus taught there during the Feast of the Dedication. It was near this historic spot that Pater and John performed the first miracle of the Apostles, healing a crippled beggar.  And it was here, on Solomon’s Portico, that Peter witnessed the gospel to the people running to see the evidence of the miracle just performed.

          Peter and John had gone up to the Temple at prayer time. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. This was one of the three designated prayer times, the others being early in the morning and at sunset. A beggar, lame from birth, asks the disciples for money. Peter says “Look at us,” and the beggar does so.  Peter says I have no money for you, but what I do have, I give to you. Then Peter invokes the name of Jesus and tells the man to get up and walk.

          Peter took him by the hand and the man walked. It was instantaneous. He leaped! He started praising God and all the people in the area saw him. The man crippled from the first day he drew breath on this earth, the one who had to be carried daily to the place where he begged, was walking and leaping in the air!  The people were amazed. The man hung on to Peter and John like his life depended on it. He would not let them get away. And the people. They came running, straining to see what had been done.  

         I have to wonder. Was Peter amazed? Was John amazed? They had never done such a thing. What got into Peter to be so bold! Right in the temple court in front of everybody, Peter attempted a miracle. Peter was always impulsive, but this! This was over the top.

          And then there was this new sermon. Just like his message to the people at Pentecost, Peter proclaims Jesus as Savior, as Lord, as the Holy and Righteous One. Then, he calls for repentance. Peter is doing some serious witnessing. Gone is the lack of faith that made him sink when walking to Jesus on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. Gone is the fear that caused him to deny Jesus three times before the cock crew on the night of Jesus’s arrest. But still present, thank God, is that impulsive humanity, the humanity that got him out of that boat to begin with, the humanity that caused him to leave his fishing business and follow Jesus.

          That impulsiveness of Peter, his willingness to dive in head first without giving much thought to the consequences; that is what we see on exhibit here in Acts 3. Peter sees a man who is lame. Peter believes that Jesus can heal that man and Peter believes that Jesus can heal that man through him, the agent of Jesus. Nobody taught him how. Nobody taught him the words. The record tells us nothing of Peter discussing anything with John. Peter just acts, and he acts in the most exquisite way a Christian could possibly act. His words are perfect. “I have no money, but what I do have I give to you.”

          What did Peter have? What did John have? They had nothing…except what they needed. What they needed was faith…a boatload of faith. And they had it. Peter called for the healing of a grown man lame from birth and he called for it not in private, not in the relative safety of the Upper Room, not surrounded by Christians, but rather in the most public of all places. He was at the gate of the Temple and it was prayer time. Everyone religious was there. A skeptic can call that grandstanding. I call it utter and genuine faith in the living person of Jesus Christ and in the gospel he proclaimed.

          Some say church is boring. Some say church is unexciting. I’m sorry if church hits you that way. I’m so busy being awed by the presence of God that I seldom see it that way. But if you do, try reading the book of Acts. There’s nothing boring about it. It would make a great television series. For starters, look at Peter’s sermon.

          Peter is standing on Solomon’s portico, looking out over the city and back toward the temple. He looks at the crowd that has gathered and he calls out to them. Why are you staring? Do you think we did this! It wasn’t us. It was Jesus! Remember Jesus, the man you delivered to Pilate, the man you denied in his presence? Remember Jesus, whom you let die and delivered a murderer instead? You killed the Author of life itself. At least you thought you did. But he can’t be killed. He arose and it is the living Jesus, the son of God, who did this!

          Then Peter reveals the source of his power, the source of his belief. Peter tells the crowd that God raised Jesus from the dead…and it is that incredible truth to which Peter is bearing witness.  It is fitting that such a sermon is delivered from the portico where King Solomon rendered judgment over the people of Israel, for the news to which Peter bears witness is the greatest, most important news of his time, of our time, of all time! He is risen! He has conquered death and evil, and he invites us to be saved by our belief in him.

          Peter forgives his brethren for missing the message. He tells them that they acted in ignorance, as did their rulers. But he reminds them that what they did does not have to be what they do. He points out that all the prophecies with which they are so familiar have been fulfilled, including the suffering that Christ endured. Then he offers them forgiveness. In the same way that he acted as Christ’s agent to the lame man, he now acts to the crowd assembled on the portico. They can repent. They can turn away from that misguided way and they can find all their sins forgiven, blotted out. 

          It is a wonderful, stirring sermon delivered on the heels of a miraculous healing. How could Peter do it? How could he have undergone such a change in a few short weeks? Peter tells us. He has faith…faith in the name of Jesus and all that it means. Peter’s own faith in Jesus’  name caused the lame man to walk and leap as though he had new legs and indeed, in a very real sense, he did, for those legs had never been used in such a way until faith stood him up on those legs. Peter’s faith came from finding the truth, and the truth is that Jesus conquered death and that he promised such victory to all who believed in him. Faith…that’s all that Peter had…and look what that faith did.

          Peter also had the courage to speak of his faith and to do so in places where it could cost him his freedom or his life. Why now and not before? Because before, he did not have the faith to trust. Before, he did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart.  Now Peter knew the truth and it was so powerful he had no choice but to share it. What changed with Peter? Dorothy Bernard says this about courage: “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”  George Patton, the famous general of the Third Army during World War II, said it this way: “Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”

          I doubt that Peter ever lost his fear, but he said his prayers…and he learned how to hold on that extra minute. I think, that when it comes to Jesus, the question is whether we truly believe who he was, who he is, and what he promised. If we do, his love will give us all that we need to speak…and to live…boldly, for him. Maybe John Lennon said it best of all: “Love is all you need.”