Acts 14: The Lame Man in Lystra for Little Children
Do you remember all the gifts of God that Jesus gave when he was in Galilee? Blind men were given their sight. Lepers were cleansed, and their skin was clean, and smooth, and youthful. A mother and father were given their daughter. She had died, but Jesus raised her from the dead. A widow was given her son. He had died, and she was heartbroken, but Jesus gave them both life.
Jesus died too. Joseph of Arimathea, and others, took his body down from the cross he died on, and placed his body in a tomb Joseph had bought for himself when he died. Jesus’ body was pierced through. His side, his hands, his feet, his face, and his back. Jesus had been horribly abused and mistreated. But he was lovingly prepared for his burial, because Joseph of Arimathea and other thought Jesus was a good man, and that he had suffered a grave injustice. So, they wanted to honor his good life by burying Jesus in the tomb of a wealthy man.
But that is not the honor that Jesus would be left with. His Father would honor him. On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead—the Father repeating through this new life out from death, “Behold, my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God the Father had not finished giving His gifts to men through Jesus. In fact, He had only just begun. Jesus’ death was not the end; it was the beginning of a new creation.
You might think when Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days later, and was taken into the clouds, that Jesus was gone and that the very great blessings by the hands of Jesus had vanished with him. Not so. On his throne, Jesus now had all authority to give the gifts of God to all men—not just those happy few in Galilee—but to all of us, even to you and me.
Do you remember the story of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple shortly after Jesus ascended into the heavens? That man jumped up and down like baby fawn, and sang the praises of God like he had never been allowed to speak before. He rejoiced and all who were with him were amazed. But wait. Time out. How is that possible? Jesus wasn’t there, was he? Yes, he was there through the Holy Spirit, through Simon Peter.
In that very moment Jesus was honored again by His father—and that man was given to Jerusalem as a very great gift. God was speaking to them and they should have heard the sound of God’s voice, “Behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus is alive, and God has made him both Lord and Messiah.
But you might think God was done and that He would only bless men through the disciples who had walked with Jesus: Peter, James, John, and the rest. You might believe God was honoring His Son through these men who had known Jesus so well—because something of Jesus had rubbed off on them in some way while he was with them. And that the lame man wiggling his toes was the result of Peter’s relationship with Jesus in Galilee.
But you would be wrong. God the Father was giving gifts to men after Jesus rose again from the dead because such gifts made His heart glad, and it pleased His Son, and it made His name great. The lame still needed to walk, the blind still needed to see, and Tabitha still needed to be raised from the dead because these wonderful gifts proved Jesus was the Son of God in glorious kingly raiment. And so, Jesus healed them, from His throne, through the power of His resurrection, through the person of the Holy Spirit, at the hands of the apostles. Many are involved in all these stories—but Jesus stands at the heart of them all, because He is still very much alive, and He remains very much loved by His Father, and He loves us.
How do we know He loves us? While we were yet sinners, He died for you and me.
Let me show you more. There was a man named Saul, who did not like Jesus at all. He hated what Jesus stood for and he hated everyone who even so much as mentioned that name. He wouldn’t speak it. He wouldn’t even think it. Instead, he wanted to root it out like a cancer. Saul grabbed men, even women with their children, by the scruffs of their necks and he threw them all into jail. He was violent, breathed out violence like a great dragon, and his heart was full of darkness, until that day he too was arrested by Jesus on the road to Damascus. Through this once-hateful man Jesus was going to give more gifts to men.
And some of these gifts from Jesus were given in a town called Lystra. There, Saul, also known as Paul, found a lame man, just like Peter had found Aeneas in an earlier story. Like all lame men, this one was powerless, helpless, and dependent upon the charity of others. He did not yet know Jesus’ heart was bursting and overflowing with love for him and for all who lived in Lystra. Through that lame man from Lystra, Jesus was going to give the gift of love and good news to them all: Jesus was alive. And as Paul spoke to him, that man jumped up with joy.
Now how was that possible? Paul had not been with Jesus in Galilee. He had not been friends with any of the Twelve. And he had hated Christians with a passion. But Jesus changed his life outside of Damascus, and Jesus changed the lame man’s life in Lystra. Both men’s lives were changed once and for all and forever—not because they had met Jesus in Galilee, but because they met Him risen, ascended, and glorified.
The point of all these stories in Acts is this: Jesus remains very much alive and wishes, ever so much, to give gifts to men—and to show us once and for all, and forever, that He is alive and that His heart is still brimming and overflowing with love for you, and me, and all of us. Still.
Note: I have written several posts for little children although they are written for big children too. You do not need to read them first; they each stand alone. But here are the links if you want to read them all together.
The Healing of the Aeneas for Little Children
