✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Acts 3,1-10 4512
12. Sonntag nach Trinitatis. 057
Samuel, Prophet, 1096 B.C.
26. August 2012
1. O Holy Spirit, Comforter of the Church, we grieve when foes bring tribulations our way. Our weak, sinful flesh enjoys peace and prosperity but complains when hardship and trials come our way. Rightly do we sympathize with Ananias who was concerned about helping the Church’s notorious persecutor. Nevertheless You assured Ananias of Your Providence, and likewise You comfort us all the same. May we faithfully respond: „Here I am, Lord.“ and help those who assail us on account of our faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.
2. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at 3 p.m., which is the hour of prayer. And a man crippled from birth was being carried, whom they placed daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said: „Look at us.“ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said: „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 he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
3. First century Jewish society did not have Social Security, Medicare or Disability payments as we know them in 21. century America. Instead, 1. century Judaism had almsgiving. Middle Eastern culture took seriously the care of the neighbor, the stranger and the guest. The Commandments exhort us to love our neighbors, and almsgiving is doing good to a neighbor in need. Particularly, alms of money, food or other possessions are given to help the poor, the sick and the infirm.
4. Peter and John encountered a crippled man. He had been born this way. We do not know the exact nature of his infirmity, but it affected his feet and ankles. It may have been deformed feet or twisted ankles. He could not walk, and therefore, he could not work. He was at the mercy of other’s charity to have money for food, clothing and medical expenses. How many passed by this man and ignored his plight? How many tossed him a few coins to assist him?
5. Two of our Lord’s apostles meet him. Peter and John are now poor themselves. They cannot give him silver or gold as their alms, but they do have something in their possession: they have the authority of Christ Jesus. Early in His ministry, »Jesus called the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority. So the apostles went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them« (Mark 6,7.12-13). Before He ascended back to heaven, »Jesus came and said to the apostles: „All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.“« (Matthew 28,18). In this morning’s Gospel Reading, we heard how Jesus Himself healed the sick, in particular a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. The apostles, therefore, continued the ministry of Jesus.
6. Peter and John straightaway dispense God’s gift: mercy. Although Jesus had ransomed all men and women by His death and resurrection, He did not forsake those destitute by human sinfulness. Jesus’ mercy involved both the earthly and spiritual. In the Name, and by the authority, of Jesus, Peter and John heal the crippled man who immediately praises Yahweh.
7. There are many accounts in the Gospels and the Book of Acts of Jesus and the apostles healing the sick. They did not heal every single sick person around them. The healings of Jesus and His apostles manifest the power of Yahweh and give proof that the gospel of Christ crucified is the only saving testament that Yahweh has established with His fallen creation.
8. This is not to say that Jesus does not heal people today. We all can give testimony of the healing power of Jesus in peoples’ lives, people we know who have been healed after prayers were said for them. The Church continues to carry out the care of the sick, the infirm and the dying. In Acts 6, the Church set aside 7 men to become deacons. The apostles would continue the pastoral ministry of prayer and the ministry of the Word, while those deacons ordained by the apostles would serve tables. As the diaconal office grew, deacons and deaconesses feed the poor, cared for the needs of the destitute and were doctors and nurses to the sick. Hospitals, as we know them, are the result of the Church and her diaconal office. „The declaration of Christianity as the accepted religion in the Roman Empire drove an expansion of the provision of care. Following First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 construction of a hospital in every cathedral town was begun. Among the earliest were those built by the physician Saint Sampson in Constantinople and by Basil, Bishop of Caesarea,Turkey“ (Wikipedia).
9. Noted Luther scholar, Steven Ozment, recently wrote: „Consider Luther’s view on charity and the poor. He made the care of the poor an organized, civic obligation by proposing that a common chest be put in every German town; rather than skimp along with the traditional practice of almsgiving to the needy and deserving native poor, Luther proposed that they receive grants, or loans, from the chest. Each recipient would pledge to repay the borrowed amount after a timely recovery and return to self-sufficiency, thereby taking responsibility for both his neighbors and himself. This was love of one’s neighbor through shared civic responsibility, what the Lutherans still call „faith begetting charity.“ He who receives, recovers and profits from society in a time of need has a moral responsibility to pay society back by acting in turn as a strong citizen who can help fill the common chests and sacrifice for his now needy neighbors, who had once helped him. Such is the sacrificial Lutheran society. In classic Lutheran teaching, the salvation of the believer „by faith alone“ does not curtail the need for constant charitable good works, as ill-informed critics allege. Faith, rather, empowers the believer to act in the world by taking the worry out of his present and future religious life“ (Ozment).
10. Many of the earliest hospitals and colleges in colonial America were established by churches, pastors and lay people. „In the United States the traditional hospital is a non-profit hospital, usually sponsored by a religious denomination. One of the earliest of these „almshouses“ was started in 1713 by William Penn in Philadelphia“ (Wikipedia). Interesting how the first American hospitals were called „almshouses“. The 7 Ivy League colleges (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown and Dartmouth), plus William and Mary and Rutgers, are the earliest colleges in colonial America, and all 9 of these institutions were closely linked to a particular Christian denomination. Harvard trained Congregationalist (Puritan) and Unitarian ministers. William and Mary was founded to be a College of Divinity, Philosophy and Languages, plus the arts and sciences. Yale was established to train clergy and political leaders. Princeton was founded to train ministers. The University of Pennsylvania was started to train clergy and focus on other colleges of arts and sciences. Columbia was established by the activity of the Church of England. Brown was founded by the Baptists. Rutgers was established to train Dutch Reformed ministers. Dartmouth was founded by a Congregationalist (Puritan) minister.
11. Through these examples we see how Jesus continues to care for the destitute and heal the sick. Jesus works through His Christians to serve our neighbors. The gospel creates faith, faith believes in Jesus unto salvation, and faith bears forth works of mercy. Diaconal service brings Jesus’ mercy to the neighbor. Every time you utilize your talents, abilities or alms in service of your neighbor, you are being merciful to your neighbor. Through these acts of mercy the Holy Spirit brings proof of the validity of the gospel and its power to save men and women, both in body and soul, unto life everlasting. Amen.
12. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your Name is blessed at all times, send us the Holy Spirit so that we are empowered by the gospel to give alms for the benefit of our neighbors. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Ozment, Steven. „German Austerity’s Lutheran Core“. New York Times. Saturday 11. August 2012.
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