Find Healing
In Acts 3, Peter and John walk by a man who asks for their help by giving him some spare coins. This would not have been an uncommon sight or experience for them or for any devoutly religious person at that time. They were at the Temple, a place where devout people went to worship. So this lame man was positioned in prime real estate to benefit from the monetary generosity of those entering the Temple. Seeing the man, they respond to him, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And, do you know what happened? He was healed!
Here’s the really curious thing, Peter didn’t just notice him; he “fixed his attention on him.” In that, he looked at him and saw his greatest need, spiritual healing. Yes, physical healing was needed, but the liberation and life that comes with spiritual healing is the only thing that brings abundant life. Brennan Manning, in his memoir, reflects on the need for deep healing,
“Healing is a response to a crisis in the life of another person. It’s enough of a response, a satisfactory response to a crisis in the life of another. And where the word crisis is used in the Greek New Testament, it is translated in English as judgment. That’s right – judgment. Healing is a response that I make to a decisive moment in the life of a brother or sister; whether I respond or not, I have made a judgment.
Healing becomes the opportunity to pass off to another human being what I have received from the Lord Jesus; namely his unconditional acceptance of me as I am, not as I should be. He loves me whether in a state of grace or disgrace, whether I live up to the lofty expectations of his gospel or I don’t. He comes to me where I live and loves me as I am.
When you read the Gospels carefully, you notice this extraordinary gift that Jesus had. I’m not talking about physical healing per se, but more of the inner healing through a simple word a look, a glance, a touch.”[1]
That day, Peter looked at a man in crisis and made a judgment to offer him healing by handing off what he had received from the Lord, the gospel. Yes, God willed the man’s physical healing, but he had a deeper need that Peter saw; he needed inner healing. When we see our neighbors and friends in crisis, what do we offer? The single greatest thing we can offer to a hurting world is the truth of Jesus because the truth of Jesus is the only thing that helps us to find inner healing.
[1] Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God (excerpt from chapter 7, Healing), p. 82-84