Seeing with Reverence, Restoring with Love: Acts 3 : 1-10
Commentary 3 on Lectio Divina Acts 3:1-10
In New Testament times there were large numbers of disabled and handicapped people. They had to fend for themselves because there was no health care or social welfare. Most people were just about scraping a living, but those who were destitute depended upon the generosity of others to survive. As you can imagine, beggars were everywhere. They were a noisy, demanding, public nuisance. The cripple at the gate called beautiful, i.e., the Nicanor Gate, known for its grandeur and Corinthian bronze construction, was no exception to the general rule. People were used to the sight of him. He was always in the same place, rattling his begging bowl. Then the apostles Peter and John happened to pass by. He asked them for money in his usual pathetic way. We are told, “Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” Acts 3:4.
The emphasis on looking is very striking. The apostles had a special way of looking at the man and they wanted him to reciprocate by looking at them in a new way. Maybe it is fanciful, but I imagine that the look of the apostles was contemplative. The word in English comes from the Latin, contemplari meaning “to look at, to pay sustained attention.” I also imagine that their look was respectful and reverential. The word “respect” in English comes from the Latin, respicere, which means “to look again,” in other words the apostles did not judge the beggar by human appearances. They look beyond his handicap, rags and off-putting manner to see and reverence the sacred presence of Christ, who is present in the least of his brethren.
Peter and John were well aware that the beggar had got used to seeing people in utilitarian terms, as potential almsgivers. They wanted him to switch his attention from the alms he hoped to get from the donors to the donors of the alms. We are told, “So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them” (Acts 3:5) While he did pay attention to the two men, he was still focusing in a rather self-centred, impersonal way on the money he was hoping to receive. While his reaction was understandable, it was regrettable because it was so impersonal. Clearly his poverty had dehumanized to a certain extent. He was crippled emotionally and spirituality as well as physically.
By looking at the crippled man with reverence, the apostles were witnessing to the unconditional and affirming love of Christ. Like his master, Peter demonstrated the liberating reality of that love by saying, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Walk.” (Acts 3:6) There is a story about Thomas Aquinas visiting Rome. Pope Innocent II was said to have been counting a large sum of money in the Vatican treasury. The Pontiff said, “You see Thomas, the Church can no longer say, “Silver and gold have I none.” “True, holy father,” Thomas replied, “but neither can she now say, “rise up and walk.” However, we are told that when St Peter spoke, “instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk” (Acts 3:8) Surely, the cripple’s outward healing was matched by an inner healing that affirmed his dignity and restored his self-esteem as a person who was truly loved by God. As a result, he would have looked at himself, the two apostles and the Lord in a new way.
One implication of this story is that Christians have to develop a more contemplative and reverential way of paying attention to people, especially the poor. I have found that what they crave, more than anything else, is the alms of understanding love. It is best expressed in the form of a listening ear and an empathic heart. Just as a sculptor can look beyond the rough surface of a block of stone to see a lovely figure locked within, so too we have to see, with the aid of divine grace, what the divine Artist sees, and enable it to be set free.
