J.J.
But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” – Acts 3:6
What did Peter have that this crippled beggar did not? Peter had faith in the name of Jesus Christ.
Here, at the gate called “Beautiful”, this man crippled from birth had been begging for money for years. He was not begging for beauty.
Then came Peter and John who came along, on their way to pray at the temple, who has no money to offer him. They offered him beauty.
Beauty is not merely an aesthetic or emotion. It is the evocation of wonder in response to a marvellous thing. Here, it is a supernatural healing. In an instant, bones shifted, sinews formed, and tendons grasped. The lame beggar leapt. And he praised God. I’ve never seen a crippled man leap. Neither did the people at the temple. It must be quite a sight. The people there stood mouth gaping in amazement.
This happened through Peter’s faith in the name of Jesus Christ. Faith unfolds beauty. But the context of this beauty is suffering. So this is what I gather: faith unfolds beauty from suffering.
Faith unfolds beauty from suffering.
It was hardly the crippled man’s faith that unfolded beauty in his suffering. It was the faith of Peter and John which pulled the man–both physically and figuratively, that is, the man’s own faith–up to the level they were standing at. It was faith in the name of Jesus Christ.
We can give money. We can give help. We probably should in many instances. But there’s something more valuable. Neither silver nor gold, but faith in the name of Jesus Christ. This faith unfolds beauty in the suffering of those around us.
But it’s not everyday we witness faith supernaturally healing people with disabilities or people with sickness or affliction. (Neither was it an everyday phenomenon in the time of the early Church.) So is our faith in these other quotidian unspectacular moments useless? Do they fail to unfold beauty? Possibly. Well the crippled man wasn’t expecting much, and he received much. Today, many expect much and when given much, albeit not of the nature of what’s expected, disdainfully dismiss that much. So to a large extent, much depends on how one is perceiving the matter.
The faith in the name of Jesus Christ which unfolds beauty in suffering does not always unfold beauty in the way we would like it, or at the time we would have it. For the most part, even in Biblical times, faith unfolds beauty on a grander landscape and longer time horizon.
Faith in Jesus Christ unfolds beauty in present suffering which blooms in the eternal destiny of Man.
This sliver of morning light pierces the utter darkness of the long night. It shines on everything we once could not see. It illumines our paths so we may find our way home. It banishes the fear of the unknown that cripples our living.
It is not silver or gold, but it’s infinitely better. So if we have to give something to a fellow sojourner, whatever level he or she is at, I think we must give the most valuable thing we can offer.
Our faith in the name of Jesus Christ, the faith that unfolds beauty in present suffering which blooms in the eternal destiny of Man.
S.D.G.