Due to a minor snafu in scheduling, I am repeating thoughts on Acts 3:1-11. Rather than throw off the entire schedule you get a “two-fer”.
Click here for today’s passage.
Recorded in the late 60’s, The Rolling Stones sang “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and while the context of this song is “somewhat different” lets say from our passage, it is one of the first things that popped into my mind – the tag line of the song that is.
There were a few things that really stand out in this passage:
- Prayer at 3 p.m.
- a lifelong lame man begging everyday
- the word alms used in the NRSV translation
Healing – many look to the church for healing. The lame man must have felt a great sense of hopelessness – day by day being carted to the temple looking for…here is where the word alms comes in…money? A handout? I’ve never really understood why this word pops up in many translations so I did a little digging. Now promise not to screech too much but it is interesting to understand what the original Greek translation says about this very important word. The word on a superficial level can mean pity but it’s intended use is meant to convey “emotion roused by contact with an affliction which comes undeservedly on someone else”. It is about benevolent activity which I think is different than pity. This lame man is looking for a HAND-out I think.
Peter and John – going to prayer (emphasis added) and this lame man was “expecting to get something from them”. Think about it – how many days must he have been there and all he would get would be a few coins. He was looking for the church to help him. Peter’s response is so powerful – all I can give you is the ability to walk…IN THE NAME OF CHRIST!! And do not miss the next point – together they go into the very temple where this lame man spent so much of his day. The only ones not amazed were Peter and John – what they gave came from the grace of God.
Daily, there are people knocking on our doors – from within and without. What will we give them? Give them what they want?
Maybe we can give them what they want but…our ideas of what we want and what others want can’t come close to what God thinks we need. Christ showed us that it is perfect health that interests him most. Maybe we can include this in our prayers…at 3 p.m.
Peace and blessings to all as you continue to grow in God’s Word!
First Pres Joliet 
September 23, 2013 at 6:26 am
Dale ~ This makes me kind of laugh because I sing that line to my boys a lot…..now I will think of what you have written about…:) Happy Monday all….
September 23, 2013 at 6:30 am
Who caused the snafu? We need to out who this jerk.is. The text made me wonder how many needy people I walk by every day. People just as incapable of helping themselves but to proud to ask for help.
September 23, 2013 at 12:37 pm
Shhhhhhhhh….secret!
September 23, 2013 at 6:48 am
The crippled beggar asked for “alms” and he got legs!
September 23, 2013 at 12:39 pm
I think this will have to be a sermon illustration for this passage – well done Marvin!!!
September 23, 2013 at 7:46 am
Thats well said.. What God wants us to have, and what we want are sometimes different. Its a perspective that we as Christians need to live by.. One great women I know always says.. Let Go, and let God…
September 23, 2013 at 7:56 am
Not that Mick and the boys were ever great theologians, but they got this one right.
September 23, 2013 at 8:30 am
This is such a great passage that reminds us that God gives us what we need not what we want. He sees the big picture and He is there for us always. Sometimes we just need to keep putting in the work and be patient. God reminded me of this big time at Lake Geneva this year and I am so grateful.
September 23, 2013 at 9:48 am
This healing is liberating to the man involved because he could now enter the temple again (Lev. 21:18) and to worshippers who came and left the temple thru the Beautiful Gate. Having a severely handicapped person greet and meet you at the front door of a church would certainly complicate one’s mood for the service.
September 23, 2013 at 10:08 am
“you cant always get what you want but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need”i need Jesus and being apart of this study is a gift from you Craig, Dale, and Micah, through are Lord,thankyou
September 23, 2013 at 12:33 pm
First I want to thank all of you for now getting this song stuck in my head…again. I use this line in my classroom with my 6th graders all the time. Sometimes it is hard to accept getting ONLY what we need and not always what WE want. I have to remind myself of this all the time when I see a commercial for something that I would really like to have that is out of my budget. When we are constantly bombarded by advertisements, along with friends and acquaintances who always seem to have the next best thing, it can be hard to have the proper perspective. Enter the Stones tune…it’d plays back in my mind often.
September 23, 2013 at 2:47 pm
Thank you for sharing, as it has helped me with something that I have been struggling with over the last couple days. I won’t go in to detail, but I can say that this passage has put some perspective in my mind, so thank you.
For those of you who are wondering, I was not planning to do this at almost 3 PM, this is just how my schedule works out 😉
September 23, 2013 at 3:03 pm
It is 3:00 p.m. and I leave this prayer for all of us…today…tomorrow…everyday
It is not original but it seems most fitting…
The Prayer of Saint Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
September 23, 2013 at 6:22 pm
This prayer is beautiful when it is sung also
September 23, 2013 at 8:02 pm
One of my favorites especially when it is sung. :0)
September 23, 2013 at 11:05 pm
The Keir family has been praying every day at 3:00 for our new baby with the heart condition, for the last two months. So far he is doing well as we all wait for his surgery. Three o’clock prayer is not new but is keeping us focused.
Mary Lynn Keir