who, seeing Peter and John about to enter into the temple, asked to receive alms.
It is an ordinary afternoon at the temple. Two apostles are walking in to pray, and a man lies at the gate where people have carried him every day of his adult life. He sees them and asks for the only thing he has ever asked anyone for — and commentators point out that his ask was far smaller than his need.
A beggar at a door he could not enter
His daily place was the gate, never the inside. One writer sees in that detail a picture of the whole nation — a fine entrance to a house that could do nothing for the helpless.
He reminds us of another helpless man, the one lying by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, whom the Lord Himself healed in the same way. And as in that case, we see here the condition of the nation. It stood helpless at a door no helpless person could enter. God's dwelling place was near, and the way up to it was beautiful. But it had no power to bless. By now it was empty — only a respectable form.
Another writer notes that the healing happened outside the temple, not inside it:
Note it again: the man is outside the temple, and it was there — outside — that he received the blessing. God had just formed His new house, and now the Holy Spirit shows that the blessing lies outside the old house and belongs to the new.
A request made from habit
He asked out of habit. He wanted money, and nothing here suggests he hoped for anything else. One commentator also asks a question about the years before this day.
He was now forty years old, and every day people carried him and laid him down at that gate. Had he ever seen the Lord passing in or out? If he had, the Lord did not heal him then. Not every disabled or sick person received help from Him... But now God's set time had come for this man to be made whole. When he saw Peter and John, he asked them for money. That was what he always asked for. It was all he asked, and clearly all he expected.
Asking small, receiving more
He aimed low. What he received went far past what he asked for.
At the Beautiful Gate, as they were about to enter the temple, a man lame from birth asked them for money and got a far better blessing. People saw him often, because they laid him there day after day. Peter looked straight at him, with John beside him, and caught the attention of a man who expected some small gift. He may have been discouraged to hear "I have no silver and gold," but then he hears of something better.
A case nobody could dispute
Why this man, and why in public? Because everyone who used that gate knew his history.
The next chapter tells us that this man was forty years old... Everyone knew him. He was no longer a child, and no one could do anything for his condition. Now the power of the name of Jesus reaches him. He was forty years old and well known, so no one could deny that he had been healed. God was about to work a remarkable miracle, and He makes sure it is well attested. The poor lame beggar pictures a sinner who has nothing if he does not have Christ.
Empty pockets, full hands
The two men he asked had no money to give him. Writers have made that fact a test for the church itself.
There is a well-known story about a Pope in the Middle Ages who showed the theologian Thomas Aquinas the splendour of the Vatican, with its huge displays of gold, silver and precious stones. The Pope smiled and said, "You see, Thomas, the Church can no longer say what it said in early days, 'I have no silver and gold.'" The reply came straight back: "No, and it cannot say either, 'Rise up and walk.'" A worldly Church has lost its spiritual power.
What the sign was meant to say
The healing was not an isolated kindness. It was addressed to a nation that had just crucified its Messiah.
The sign was well suited to wake the Jews up. It showed the grace of God towards people who had no strength at all. It displayed the power of the risen and glorified Messiah. And it did so all the more because the Messiah was not there in person. This was His answer from heaven to His servant on earth, who had called on the power of His name. If the name of Jesus had that instant power for the lame man, what would follow if Israel believed in that name?
Summary
- Need — the man sat at a beautiful entrance he could never walk through. Commentators see in him a whole nation, helpless at a door no helpless person could enter.
- Ask — he asked for money, because that was all he had ever asked for and all he expected. His aim was low. His need was total.
- Timing — for years people may have carried him past the Lord Himself without his being healed. God set the hour for his healing, not the beggar.
- Gift — he asked for money and got a better blessing. Grace answers the deeper need, not the one we name.
- Witness — lame for forty years and known to everyone at that gate, he became a miracle no one could deny. He is also a question to any church rich in silver but unable to say "rise up and walk."