Third Sunday in Easter: First Lesson, Acts 3:11-21                            

Acts 3:11-21

Our reading this week takes us literally to the feet of Peter and John. A man recently healed is clinging to the apostle’s feet and of course brings attention to them and what they have done. Uh….what Jesus, the risen Lord has done. And there’s no two ways about it. They point to their Master as the source of this grand blessing. But there’s more to it.

Twice in the apostle’s message to the crowd they speak of the words of the prophets of old. In verses 18 and 21 we hear them pointing to the fact that all that the crowd has done with Jesus and is now experiencing of Him, had been foretold long ago. Voiced without error was the truth that the Messiah, given to Israel and the world as a gift, would suffer death. And that He would also take all that suffering and through it deliver to His chosen a restoration beyond their wildest imagination. Jesus had done plenty of healing prior to His own suffering and death. Now the task of declaring and manifesting the Kingdom had been laid in the hands of His closest circle, the apostles. The crowd that day, and we most likely, look at the physical healing of the beggar as an end. What was broken has been restored. But there is so much more. Not in denial of that precious and powerful “intrusion” of God into this man’s life, now made whole. But seeing it for what it really is: a prelude.

The message goes on to declare all that Israel has lost will be fully restored. Fully. Nothing will be left for later addition and repair. None will be necessary. The healing of the beggar, like all Jesus’ healings point to something greater. “The restoring of all things” (v. 21) is on its way. It is guaranteed. And the solid steps of a man previously unable to walk are just a taste of what is to come. For all who believe. The prophets said so.