Attentive Gaze

---

“And Peter, directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us”

Acts 3:4

In Acts chapter 3 there is an account of the Apostles Peter and John going to the temple. They were going about their customary practice which was to go to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, or about 3 PM. As they approached the temple gate, they saw a man, lame from birth, being carried to his regular place, the gate called Beautiful, where he daily begged. 

When the lame man saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. At this request, Peter and John fixed their gaze on the lame man and asked the lame man to look at them. They told him that alms they did not have but what they did have they would give to him.

Peter and John did not have the alms requested. In the first century, alms were considered a religious duty and although alms can mean any donation that signifies mercy, pity, or compassion, in this context the alms would most probably mean coins intended for voluntary temple offerings or for personal sacrifice costs. Although Peter and John did not have the coins asked of them, they ended up having something much more valuable than coins. 

This passage of scripture has a great deal of activity, both noted by me, and also imagined. Peter and John are going to the temple in the hour of prayer and the lame man is being carried to his place at the gate. Since it is the hour of prayer there are most likely a lot of individuals heading to the same destination, people moving and talking amongst themselves. So I imagine a bustling, loud setting. Yet, in all the activity surrounding the scene there is a connection between Peter, John and the lame man that allows for a divine connection. How did that happen? Reading the words “look at us” in verse four, really sent me thinking. 

And this is what I imagined…

Many individuals are heading to the Temple. Animals would be in the mix of the crowds. Noise, dust, movement. Approaching the Temple through the Beautiful Gate you must pass through Solomon’s Porch which is open to all, even Gentiles. It was used as a public gathering place. Then you entered into the Court of the Gentiles where Jewish only vendors were selling animals for sacrifice. Other Jewish vendors were exchanging money for the only money accepted in the temple, the silver Tyrian shekel, a coin that was 94%-98% pure silver content and bearing no image. These vendors usually charged high exchange fees to convert the foreign coins to the Tyrian shekel. This is also the same area where Jesus overturned the tables of the money chargers. In John 2:14-17 which records that event, cattle, sheep, and doves are listed as the animals being sold by the animal sellers. So imagine that; cattle lowing, sheep bleating, and doves doing what doves do. Animal waste, animal noise, rattling cages. Upon leaving the Court of the Gentiles you see a low wall, the Soreg, which is a warning zone that you are approaching an area that only Jews can enter. Then the Beautiful Gate, and entry to the temple on a platform at the top of stairs.

And so, as the lame man looks to gather coins on just another day of his life and in his accustomed routine, he looks to two men to give him something he has probably received on countless days of his life, a charitable donation to sustain his life. Yet somehow in all the noise and movement, in all the numbness of daily routine, the Holy Spirit, through Peter and John, asks the lame man to look at Him. He does, and is set free.

I love scripture. I love it because it is alive. It is the only book I have read for forty-four years and have not finished yet. And in this passage of scripture, Acts 3:1-10 (but actually the entire chapter is the story) I see something new, that a quick moment in time can change your life, if you pay attention.