The title of this post comes from a healing recorded in Acts 3:1-10.
The first recorded healing after Jesus rose from the dead.
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.
A man who was lame from birth was being carried there.He was placed each day at the temple gate called Beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.
When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked for money.
Peter, along with John, looked straight at him and said, “Look at us.”
So he turned to them, expecting to get something from them.
But Peter said, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”
Then, taking him by the right hand he raised him up, and at once his feet and ankles became strong.
So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.
All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple.
So they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.
A man was being carried there ...
The timing - was he late or Peter & John early?
A God coincidence / Kairos moment.
Placed there every day ...
Had Jesus walked pass him, or did Jesus never go that way?
... had the guy missed his Kairos moment? cf Mark 10:46-49
We read that Jesus healed the blind and lame in the temple. cf Matthew 21:14-16
... but the guy sat at the temple gate, he never went in.
Placed at the temple gate
The law did not permit a priest with a physical defect to approach the altar. cf Leviticus 21:16-24
... but nothing about not entering the temple - although the temple did not exist at that time.
Some point to 2 Samuel 5:6-8 as justifying exclusion of such from the temple.
... but the context is about the palace and refers to David's enemies.
... although the Septuagint translates this passage to exclude the blind and lame from the house of the Lord.
If such a rule applied in Jesus' day then how come Jesus healed the blind and lame in the temple?
... The incident mentioned above occurred after Jesus had cleared the merchants out of the temple. Matthew 21:12-13
... So He had opened the way for the blind and lame to enter.
... Jesus quoted Isaiah 56:7 - refers to house pf prayer for all nations, presumably including the Jebusites David referred to.
Jesus' mission mandate can be found in Luke 4:18-20
"... he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sigh for the blind,
to release the oppressd
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."
He went on the proclaim in Luke 4:21
"Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
The Greek work 'sozo', or one of its derivatives, is often used when Jesus heals someone, be it physically, emotionally or spiritually. It is defines the 'full package' of salvation including deliverance, health and wholeness.
Romans 10:9 – For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (sozo).
Luke 19:10 – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save (sozo), what was lost.
Matthew 9:22 – Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Daughter, take courage! Your faith has made you well (sozo)!” And the woman was healed at that moment.
Luke 8:36 – And those who had seen it reported to them how the demon-possessed man had been healed (sozo).
The guy referred to in Acts 3:1-10 was healed ... physically, emotionally and spiritually ... a sozo moment.