Peter, One of the Chosen 12: Transformed by the Power of the Holy Spirit

Let Us Pray

Our dear heavenly Father, thank you for giving us ears to hear your Holy Word. We pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit to make these ancient words of Scripture relevant and near to each of us this day. Shine your holy light in our hearts so we may share it with others.In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

From the Book of Acts Chapter 3:1-10

Peter Heals a Crippled Beggar

3 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 4 Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,[a] stand up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him.

In the early years of the church, after Jesus had ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit had come at Pentecost, temple worship and Jewish customs remained key parts of early Christian life.

Followers of Christ continued to live as faithful Jews and met daily in the temple courtyards to hear the apostles preach about Christ. This is what is happening on this afternoon, when Peter encounters the crippled man. The daily time of prayer for the evening sacrifice was approaching, and the temple area was thronged with believers. Poor people gathered there, hoping for handouts as worshipers came in.

Here we see the supernatural power and authority demonstrated by the apostles in the early church through the miracle that Peter performs for the crippled man.

What does Peter tell the man? “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,[a] stand up and walk.”

What happens next? Peter reaches out his hand to help the man up. Does this healing miracle sound familiar? How many healings had Jesus done while he was on this earth?

How does the healed man react? What a beautiful picture of someone overjoyed to be mobile for the first time in his life.

Peter was acting not in his own authority, but through God’s power granted by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Could this be the same disciple that Jesus called so long ago? The same person who spoke sometimes without thinking, but who deep down loved Jesus with all of his heart?

It was indeed. And we have the example of Peter’s discipleship to guide us through our spiritual journeys as well, because we have the same gift Peter had—the indwelling Holy Spirit, a gift from God by His grace to all of us. That is what transformed him into the person he became, furthering God’s work of spreading the church.