Our youngest children will be in Sunday School learning about the special healing powers people like Peter had in the early church. In studying this story, I learned that Luke is telling us not just of the ability to physically heal in Jesus name, but also of the healing ability of the church. I felt this during the past week when my 3 week old grandson had to go for some scary tests. Reaching out and asking for prayers was uplifting. I felt a sense of healing. While not physical, it was a comfort knowing others were praying with me.
When this story starts, the man is
outside
the temple every day, seeking charity because he can not walk. However, at the end of the story he goes walking and jumping
into
the temple courts. His healing has moved him from outside the church community to inside it. We are drawn into the church not through ourselves alone, but through grace. And the church provides our healing as well, in all kinds of ways.
In the case of my grandson, we were fortunate and the tests all came back well. We were grateful. Yet, a very real, but different, kind of healing began when I reached out to the church. (And here I mean, the church at large - people at First Pres, Young Life friends, family members in other churches in other states.) May we all be a part of healing for one another, even as we are one body in the church.
