#WednesdayWalk — Leaping for Joy

#Retrospective — This post originally published April 15. 2020.

I told him him he did not have to beg, that he could live with me. But he knew I barely had enough to feed my family, let alone him. So I carried him to the temple on my back since he was lame and could not walk. There, each day, I placed him by the Beautiful gate where he could beg for alms. Today was no different.

There on my back, like a heavy pack, I carried him once again to the temple. We were approaching the temple gate Beautiful where I was about to set him down, when I felt him shift on my back. I heard him shout to two men in front of me, asking them for money. My heart ached to hear him beg.

The two men turned and looked at us and one of them said, “Look at us!”

I turned my head to see my friend on my back looking over my shoulder at the two men. His eyes were wide open in anticipation of receiving something from them.

“Silver or gold I do not have,” the man said. “But what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”

I was shocked at his words and I felt my friend let go of my shoulders and slip off my back. I turned to see him fall to the ground. I was about to lean over and help him, when the man who spoke to him grabbed his right hand.

I stood in awe as I watched my friend stand, then walk with the two men into the temple courts. I followed them, watching my formerly lame friend walking and jumping, and praising God. Everyone stared at him as he praised God. I was filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Inside the courtyard, I stood at a distance as I watched him hold on to the two men while people crowded around them by Solomon’s Colonnade. My back felt strangely light without my friend. Tears began to stream down my face as I realized I would no longer have to carry my friend to the temple to beg. I would no longer have to see him begging for alms.

I wiped my tears as I listened to one of the men begin to address the crowd.

#WednesdayWalk Through the Bible — an exploration of what unknown people might have seen or felt when they witnessed the events in the Bible. This post is from the perspective of a man who helped a lame man get to the temple gate so he could beg for alms as told in Acts 3:1-11 (NASB).

© 2020 CGThelen

By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. – Acts 3:16