The Power of a Name(2012April15)
Sharing the Presence M4 (Acts) 04 15 2012
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: The Power of a Name
Text: Acts 3:1-10
BIG IDEA: We can become an instrument of healing when we hold people in a place of belovedness, when we recognize the power of Jesus’ name, and when we realize that the church is bigger than the building.
The movie Simon Birch is a story of a 12-year-old boy named Simon, who despite his miniature size and abnormally small heart, senses that God has a plan for him.
Show clip or how powerpoint image (if clip not available):
The small-town’s tired minister doubts that God could have a plan for small Simon Birch. In a conversation between Simon, the 12-year-old boy, and his minister, Simon asks, “Does God have a plan for us?” The minister hesitantly replies, “I like to think he does.” Simon Birch says enthusiastically, “Me, too! I think I am made the way I am for a reason.” The minister coolly states, “I am glad that your faith helps you deal with your, you know, your condition.” “That’s not what I mean,” Simon states. “I think I am God’s instrument. He is going to use me to carry out his plan.” The minister says, “It is wonderful to have faith, son, but let’s not overdo it.”
Could God have a plan for someone who was born in a miniature body like Simon Birch to serve as one of his instruments?
Could God have a plan and a call to use us as one of his instruments?
Today as we resume the series sharing the presence we are going to be looking at the passage in the book of Acts where Peter and John, two of Jesus’ original students, meet someone on the street as they were making their way to the temple for a time of prayer at 3:00 in the afternoon. Peter and John become instruments for this person to experience Jesus’ power to physically and spiritually heal him.
As we look at this passage, we will discover how we too can become instruments of Jesus’ healing.
Text: Acts 3:1-10:
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Pray.
Devout Jews at the time of this scene would go to the temple at 9:00 am, 3:00 pm and in the evening to pray. Peter and John are walking in the midst of the crowd making their way in the crowd to the temple for their 3 o’clock prayers. As we see in verse 2, as they were walking, a man who had been lame or paralyzed from birth was being carried to the temple gate called “Beautiful” so he could beg from those going to the temple courts. This particular person who was being placed at the gate called “Beautiful” (verse 2) had picked a great place from which to beg for money. The Jewish historian Josephus’s account tells us that the gate was 75 feet high, had double doors, and was covered in bronze. It was a spot which was en route to the temple where, of course, religious people passed by, for whom giving to people in need was considered a good deed.
The paralyzed beggar sees Peter and John about to enter. He asks them for money. As we see in verse 4, Peter looked straight at him as did John. Most people who beg feel invisible. My colleague Jade Holownia a few years ago was involved in a poverty simulation exercise. He dressed up as a homeless person and Jade sat out in front of London Drugs here on Broadway, put a hat out in front of him, with a cardboard sign that said, “Could you spare some change?” Virtually no one even looked at him and what Jade began longing for more than money was a simple look of acknowledgment.
And Peter and John look at this man who is begging and Peter says, “Look at us.” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. But then Peter said to him, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—walk.” We read that Peter takes him by his right hand, helps him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumps to his feet and begins walking and leaping praising God (verse 8).
Luke, the author of this book, is a medical doctor and he is using very specific language in the Greek to describe what happens to this man. He writes that as soon as Peter uttered the phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk,” the man’s ankle-bones were immediately made strong and instantly he was able to walk, and he begins running and leaping and praising God.
WOW! What an incredible moment for him--and for everyone walking to the temple who witnessed what had happened. We read in verse 10 that the people who saw this were filled with wonder and amazement.
As we reflect on what it means to become instruments of Jesus’ healing, I want us to look first at verse 4. Peter in this verse we read “looked straight at him. As did John.” Peter and John are looking at him. Luke takes the time to point out that Peter and John looked right at this person who had been paralyzed from birth.
One of the first steps in becoming an instrument of Jesus’ healing as we seek to share God’s presence with others is to look at people--to really see them, to look them in the eye, or if you are Asian or from a traditional culture maybe just below the eye (in Asian cultures looking someone who is older and of higher status that you directly in the eye can be taken as impertinent—the way to avoid this is just to keep bowing all the time J ).
When I was an undergraduate student I remember hearing about how some resident assistants (RAs) were being trained in how to be more sensitive in a multicultural context. What the instructors did prior to one of the sessions with the new RAs was to agree together for the next session that,when teaching, not to look in the eye of any of the people in the group who had blue eyes. And the new RAs being trained were not told about this decision.
At the end of the session one of the instructors was debriefing with the group of new RAs, and she asked, “How did you feel in the session?” The people with blue eyes said, “Oh, I don’t know why, but I just felt very marginalized. I am not exactly sure why, but I felt devalued, invisible.” After several people had mentioned that, the instructor said, “We intentionally did that today with people who had blue eyes that so you would get an experience of what subtle racism is like.” (She could have done that with people with green eyes or hazel eyes or brown eyes.)
York Moore who was here a few weeks ago was telling me over lunch that “When people look at me sometimes they don’t know what race I am (show photo and keep showing photo over high lighted area):
Sometimes people assume that I am African American ancestry, of which I am, in part. Sometimes Latino. One time I was mistaken for being Japanese.” Which made me say, “Really?” He said, “When I am mistaken for being Latino in our area (Detroit), it is like I am invisible. People don’t pay any attention to me. When I was buying my house in Detroit, people who were selling me the house assumed that I was Latino, I was the gardener, and given my race they assumed I was I would not be able to buy a house.”
When we do not look at someone, or when we see past them, or look over their shoulder, it can be a dehumanizing experience.
Conversely, when we look someone in the eye, and as we see them, we can help them to see themselves. As we see them, we can help them to see how much they are beloved by God as we in some way become an embodied sign of God’s love for them.
About a year after I made the transition from working in the corporate world to training for some kind of vocational Christian ministry, I enrolled in something called the Arrow Leadership Program. Of the group of 25 younger Christian leaders, I was the least experienced in ministry and the youngest (or one of the youngest). And the people in the group in some cases already had international ministries or were pastoring large churches or speaking in stadiums, and I felt very out of place and inadequate in this group of already accomplished leaders.
I remember standing in line for lunch during one of my first days at Arrow and the founder and senior mentor of the Arrow Leadership Program, an older Presbyterian minister name Leighton Ford approached me and asked me if I wanted to have lunch with him.
(show photo through highlighted section).
At a time when I was feeling that I didn't belong in this group, feeling that they had made a mistake admitting me, Leighton looked at me and without sizing up my potential or judging me, through his eyes, but through his body language, said, “Welcome! I am happy to know you!”
Just a look and just the spirit of welcome brought a measure of life and healing to my own heart.
Have you ever had someone look at you and make you feel love just by the look – it may have been the look of a mother, a family member, a friend, a mentor, a lover, or even a relative stranger.
(Pause).
For those of you who feel like you know God in a personal way have you ever experienced a sense of being looked at with love by Christ? Have you ever had a sense that you're being looked at by him without condemnation, grace, with tenderness, with love…
And one of the lowest times in my life after a very painful breakup, I really sensed God, and it was for brief time, but in a way I still remember, God looking at me with a deep sense of love which strangely surpassed the sense of wonder of the romance itself.
Take a moment to recall a look from someone or a look from God that made you feel loved…
And if you can recall that sense of being loved in a look, pray that God would help you then reflect that look of love to others.
Saint Teresa of Avila said, Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out.
In the name of Jesus, pray that you would be able to see how deeply you are loved by God and then to be able to reflect through your eyes and body language the love which you yourself have first received to others.
Pray through your eyes Christ would hold a person in a place of belovedness and become an instrument of healing for others.
(And remembering that we are seeing by Christ with eyes of love is a gift. Reflecting in our look to others the look with which Christ sees us is also a priceless gift. But remembering how we are seen by Christ is also something that we can consciously recall. Something that we can practice recalling. We can also practice the art of looking at someone else in a way that reflects a sense of God's love to them.)
Now I'm going to use an example of someone who has practiced this art of looking at others which may surprise you. This person by his own admission has many faults and failings and certainly not an example in many areas of life as he himself would freely concede. But I really believe that we can learn from people who are not perfect.
Leighton Ford who I mentioned earlier in the sermon and who is now my mentor had the opportunity to have dinner with Bill Clinton when Clinton was president.
There were about eight people seated around a table at a hotel. Leighton said there was a boy who came by the table. He was eight or nine years old. He came over to President Clinton and he said to this boy, “When you meet someone you shake your hand like this with a firm shake and make sure you look them straight in the eye like this.” (The President was giving away some of his important trade secrets.)
I later learned that Clinton has a kind of condition which makes it unnatural for him to actually look people in the eye, a condition that makes eye contact more difficult for him than most. He trained himself to see people. I have heard from others who have met him like our pastor KP, he looks you in the eye and whether you are black or while, rich or poor, powerful or not, he has a way makes you make feel that at that moment you are the only person in the world.
Bill Clinton, by his own admission, would say that he has many faults. What a gift to be able to make someone feel like they are the only person in the world.
We can become instruments of Jesus’ healing by sharing the presence of God this week like Peter and John who looked people in the same way with which we have been looked at by Jesus.
We pray that our eyes would be the ones through which Christ looks at people.
As we read on, we see that when Peter and John look straight at him (verse 4), the paralyzed man who had been begging became excited, expecting to get money from them, and gave Peter and John his attention.
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth--walk” (verse 6). Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and instantly the man who had never walked experienced his ankle-bones becoming instantly strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.
So we see that Peter and John first give the man the gift of their attention. Then Peter and John gave the man something even more precious. They gave him the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We see in this passage, there is power in the name of Jesus, to paraphrase the old hymn, “there is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious name (in the hymn it’s blood) of Jesus.”
The idea of a name having power is a bit strange to those of us who live in the modern western world, though at times we can catch the glimpse of the power of a name even in our society. Many young people get their first job because they use the name of an aunt or a friend of their dad’s. They discover that the name of that person can open a door. I am not a young person anymore, but I still appreciate it when someone says to me, “If it is ever helpful in this context, feel free to use my name.”
While in our culture we only recognize a dim echo of the power of a name, most of the people in Peter and John’s first century world and many people in non-western countries today know exactly what is going on here. They know that names can carry power, a magical kind of power, an invocation of hidden forces summoning up new possibilities.
And in this story we see how Peter and John who knew Jesus personally through the invocation of the name of Jesus were able to mediate the power and authority of Jesus to bring healing to this man (and this is why in verses 15 and 16 of the text Peter and John make clear that it was not by their power that this paralyzed man was able to walk, but that it was the power of Jesus Christ that made it possible for this man to walk). For us in the modern world, if we know someone we can in a sense invoke their presence through a phone call (use prop). If we know Jesus personally, we can invoke his presence through prayer in his name.
And like Peter and John when we know Jesus Christ personally through the use of his name in prayer we are able to mysteriously mediate the actual authority of the living, risen Christ.
A number of years ago when I was still a fairly new pastor here at Tenth, I was invited by one of the Christian leaders of the region to offer a prayer on behalf of Vancouver and the metro area of Vancouver at a big outdoor rally in a park in Surrey which featured some Christian rock bands. I remember the night before I was supposed to pray for the region, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like this one thousand-pound foot was stepping on my chest. I don’t have asthma. I don’t have any condition which would make it difficult for me to breathe. I just couldn’t breathe. The pressure was immense. It felt like something was clearly trying to harm me and if possible kill me. I remember invoking the name of Jesus and how the pressure lifted. Next day I was able to go to this park out in Surrey where hundreds of people had gathered and to pray for the region.
As a pastor I know that my experience is not unique. There are times when people during the night or during the day can experience a very real sense of spiritual oppression and have found that the name of Jesus can help.
Let me share the story of Pastor Lee, not our Pastor Lee, but a fellow pastor who serves in a different church.
He says:
I had an experience that opened my eyes to the reality of spiritual warfare. While I was sound asleep, I heard the phone ringing (or so I thought). In the darkness, I grabbed blindly for the phone, but I was so groggy that I couldn't really wake up. When I put the phone to my ear, I heard a voice, flat and menacing. He just said, "You thought we'd forgotten you."
On the phone there was just silence, but I was sure he was still there. My mind was racing to think, Who wanted to hurt me? Who wanted me to cower in fear? The man who got angry a few weeks ago when we wouldn't give him money? I was getting very scared. I sensed this was something dark and diabolical.
I couldn't even speak, but somehow I simply blurted out, "Jesus!" And suddenly the fear left my heart and my bedroom. I came wide awake and realized I did not have the phone in my hand; that it was still across the room. Yet I knew that what had happened was more than just a dream. I had felt the presence of real evil—the presence of the Evil One. But now, after calling on Jesus' name, I wasn't frightened. As a matter of fact, I was exhilarated at the power of Jesus' name. I got up, turned on the bathroom light, washed my face, and cleared my head. Then I went back to bed. Surrounded by the presence of Christ, I felt a great peace.
As I was falling back asleep, I heard a melody in my mind. It was beautiful, like a lullaby. I recognized it but couldn't place it. The next morning it came to me: It was a tune from Les Miserables, and the words, which I didn't even fully know then, are "You will keep me safe, and you will keep me close; I'll sleep in your embrace at last." I've always felt that my heavenly Father hummed me to sleep that night—that night when the power of Jesus' name conquered the Evil One.”
Sometimes the name of Jesus helps us invoke the authority of Jesus to overcome a spiritual attack. At other times, as we see here in Acts 3 the name of Jesus enables us to invoke the authority of Jesus in a way that helps someone experience physical healing.
And at other times mediating the presence of Jesus through his name helps us experience spiritual growth.
Sometimes a physical healing leads to spiritual growth as was true of the man here in Acts.
This man who was paralyzed from birth experiences a physical healing and then he experiences a spiritual healing as we see in vs. 8 as he walks, jumps, and praises God.
There is power in the name of Jesus to bring healing – sometimes that healing is physical and sometimes that healing is spiritual and sometimes the physical healing will open the door to a spiritual (or vice versa) healing.
I was recently talking with a young woman here in our community who some of you would know who has given me permission (thank you!) to share part of her story.
She was telling me that when she was in junior high school she was diagnosed with chronic pain, an illness which made it very painful for her to use the joints in her limbs. Up until this time she had swum competitively, and had had hopes of soon achieving provincial times. However, because of her illness she was forced to quit swimming. In addition, because she had to wear bandages, it was externally evident that she was in pain, and people were aware that she was sick.
Before this time she had offered her life to Christ, and upon graduating from high school ended up going to UBC. While she was there she had a number of people faithfully lifting her up in prayer for healing in Jesus’ name. And she was fully healed. Now she enjoys being physically active and swims regularly for fun and exercise at UBC.
I asked her, “What was the impact of this healing for you?” She said, “Well, when I was healed physically, it became a tangible sign that God could actually work in my life, and so I began to trust him to do a spiritual work in me. I began to read the Scriptures more. I began to share my faith more. As I look back, the physical healing was something that helped me trust God to do a spiritual work in me.”
Through the name of Jesus, the person of Jesus, he can bring spiritual healing, as he did for the paralyzed person at the temple gate. He can bring physical healing, and then spiritual healing as he did for this young woman. Sometimes God can bring physical healing into someone else’s life as a sign that Jesus can do something spiritual in our lives as well.
(As I have said before, sometimes the healing isn’t always physical. For some people like Nick Vujicic (pronounced Vooy Cheech) was born with neither arms nor legs, or Joni Erickson a woman who through an accident became a quadriplegic” God seems to be using them in a more powerful way because they have NOT experienced physical healing.)
We become instruments of God’s healing, people who share the presence as Peter and John did, to look at people in the eye and really see them as we recognize the power of Jesus’ name that brings physical and spiritual healing.
Notice where the miracle takes place for Peter and John and for the person begging for money. It takes place outside the temple, outside the church. Yes, they are on their way to the temple, but the miracle takes place outside of the temple.
We know that our ministry here at Tenth takes place in part in the church, but it takes place primarily outside the walls of this church. I love the expression of John Wesley, the great 18th century preacher in England who became the founder of the Methodist Church. He used to say “the world is my parish.”
That phrase is sometimes misunderstood. When he said “the world is my parish,” he was not saying “here I am, some international great guy who is going to go all over the world to proclaim the gospel.” Though, he was an international great person, he was also a modest British person. That was not what he was saying. When he said “the world is my parish,” he meant the world, meaning “the world outside the walls of the church… the community itself is my parish, the place where I will do ministry.” Because he was such a controversial figure in his day as an Anglican, he was barred from of a lot of churches and did much of his ministry speaking in the open air outside of any physical church building.
So it can be for us. Our ministry can take place primarily outside of the walls of this church or any other church for that matter, as was true for Peter and John here in Acts 3.
We can extend God’s care to others beyond the walls of the church. Several years ago my wife Sakiko asked me if I could dig out a certain bush in our backyard. I was digging and digging, finding it very difficult to get the bush out of the earth. The roots went all the way to Japan. This is a tough one.
As I was digging, a neighbour happened to be walking by. He’s very handy…very physically strong..very thick neck. He said, “Hey, Ken, how are you doing? Need some help?” I said, “Fuuny you should ask! Yeah! I could use some help” He grabs the shovel and the pick and starts working real hard…sweating…and he is able to get the bush out.
Afterward, Sakiko said, “What did you do?” “I was praying for him. I also got him some lemonade. I am a delegational leader.”
Sometime thereafter, this person in our neighbourhood confided in me, expressing a lot of stress because he was about to get a biopsy for cancer. He is not a church-going person. I said, “Wow, this must be really hard. Do you mind if I pray for you?” Right in the street I offered a brief prayer for him. He ended up getting treatments, but he is alive and seems to be doing really well.
Let me close with this thought which seems to encapsulate in a modern way right here in Vancouver.
Kathleen Morrissey, who shared earlier in our service this past week, described a time when she embodied what the spirit of Peter and John(have her share):
One day I was walking down Main St and a homeless man
asked me for some money. I’ve been unemployed for months now
so I truly don’t have any spare change. Instead of walking past him
I felt God prompting me to pray for him.
I stepped out of my comfort zone and said “I don’t have any
money but can I pray for you” He said yes so I looked him in the
eyes and I spoke the Fathers blessing over him. I said that I thought
there were times in his life that other people had given up on him
and also times that he had given up on himself but God had not
given up on him and God loved him beyond what he could ever
imagine and his heavenly Father would never give up on him.
When I was done the man’s eyes were as wide as a saucer and his
mouth was open in amazement. His countenance had changed, His
grey, heavy demeanor seemed to have lifted and he seemed
transformed. Almost in a whisper he said ‘thank you’. He gathered
up his shopping cat and I haven’t seen him since.
And the greatest gift we can give someone is not money – giving money can sometimes be a practical and helpful gift – the greatest gift we can give someone like Peter and John, like Kathleen, is Jesus. And we become instruments of Jesus, we share his presence with others as we see them as Jesus would have seen them, as we invoke his presence using the name of Jesus, as we do this not just in the church but in the city of Vancouver in the world.
Prayer: Saint Teresa of Avila said, “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.”
Speaker: Ken Shigematsu
Title: The Power of a Name
Text: Acts 3:1-10
BIG IDEA: We can become an instrument of healing when we hold people in a place of belovedness, when we recognize the power of Jesus’ name, and when we realize that the church is bigger than the building.
The movie Simon Birch is a story of a 12-year-old boy named Simon, who despite his miniature size and abnormally small heart, senses that God has a plan for him.
Show clip or how powerpoint image (if clip not available):
The small-town’s tired minister doubts that God could have a plan for small Simon Birch. In a conversation between Simon, the 12-year-old boy, and his minister, Simon asks, “Does God have a plan for us?” The minister hesitantly replies, “I like to think he does.” Simon Birch says enthusiastically, “Me, too! I think I am made the way I am for a reason.” The minister coolly states, “I am glad that your faith helps you deal with your, you know, your condition.” “That’s not what I mean,” Simon states. “I think I am God’s instrument. He is going to use me to carry out his plan.” The minister says, “It is wonderful to have faith, son, but let’s not overdo it.”
Could God have a plan for someone who was born in a miniature body like Simon Birch to serve as one of his instruments?
Could God have a plan and a call to use us as one of his instruments?
Today as we resume the series sharing the presence we are going to be looking at the passage in the book of Acts where Peter and John, two of Jesus’ original students, meet someone on the street as they were making their way to the temple for a time of prayer at 3:00 in the afternoon. Peter and John become instruments for this person to experience Jesus’ power to physically and spiritually heal him.
As we look at this passage, we will discover how we too can become instruments of Jesus’ healing.
Text: Acts 3:1-10:
1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2 Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. 4 Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7 Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9 When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Pray.
Devout Jews at the time of this scene would go to the temple at 9:00 am, 3:00 pm and in the evening to pray. Peter and John are walking in the midst of the crowd making their way in the crowd to the temple for their 3 o’clock prayers. As we see in verse 2, as they were walking, a man who had been lame or paralyzed from birth was being carried to the temple gate called “Beautiful” so he could beg from those going to the temple courts. This particular person who was being placed at the gate called “Beautiful” (verse 2) had picked a great place from which to beg for money. The Jewish historian Josephus’s account tells us that the gate was 75 feet high, had double doors, and was covered in bronze. It was a spot which was en route to the temple where, of course, religious people passed by, for whom giving to people in need was considered a good deed.
The paralyzed beggar sees Peter and John about to enter. He asks them for money. As we see in verse 4, Peter looked straight at him as did John. Most people who beg feel invisible. My colleague Jade Holownia a few years ago was involved in a poverty simulation exercise. He dressed up as a homeless person and Jade sat out in front of London Drugs here on Broadway, put a hat out in front of him, with a cardboard sign that said, “Could you spare some change?” Virtually no one even looked at him and what Jade began longing for more than money was a simple look of acknowledgment.
And Peter and John look at this man who is begging and Peter says, “Look at us.” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. But then Peter said to him, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—walk.” We read that Peter takes him by his right hand, helps him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumps to his feet and begins walking and leaping praising God (verse 8).
Luke, the author of this book, is a medical doctor and he is using very specific language in the Greek to describe what happens to this man. He writes that as soon as Peter uttered the phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk,” the man’s ankle-bones were immediately made strong and instantly he was able to walk, and he begins running and leaping and praising God.
WOW! What an incredible moment for him--and for everyone walking to the temple who witnessed what had happened. We read in verse 10 that the people who saw this were filled with wonder and amazement.
As we reflect on what it means to become instruments of Jesus’ healing, I want us to look first at verse 4. Peter in this verse we read “looked straight at him. As did John.” Peter and John are looking at him. Luke takes the time to point out that Peter and John looked right at this person who had been paralyzed from birth.
One of the first steps in becoming an instrument of Jesus’ healing as we seek to share God’s presence with others is to look at people--to really see them, to look them in the eye, or if you are Asian or from a traditional culture maybe just below the eye (in Asian cultures looking someone who is older and of higher status that you directly in the eye can be taken as impertinent—the way to avoid this is just to keep bowing all the time J ).
When I was an undergraduate student I remember hearing about how some resident assistants (RAs) were being trained in how to be more sensitive in a multicultural context. What the instructors did prior to one of the sessions with the new RAs was to agree together for the next session that,when teaching, not to look in the eye of any of the people in the group who had blue eyes. And the new RAs being trained were not told about this decision.
At the end of the session one of the instructors was debriefing with the group of new RAs, and she asked, “How did you feel in the session?” The people with blue eyes said, “Oh, I don’t know why, but I just felt very marginalized. I am not exactly sure why, but I felt devalued, invisible.” After several people had mentioned that, the instructor said, “We intentionally did that today with people who had blue eyes that so you would get an experience of what subtle racism is like.” (She could have done that with people with green eyes or hazel eyes or brown eyes.)
York Moore who was here a few weeks ago was telling me over lunch that “When people look at me sometimes they don’t know what race I am (show photo and keep showing photo over high lighted area):
Sometimes people assume that I am African American ancestry, of which I am, in part. Sometimes Latino. One time I was mistaken for being Japanese.” Which made me say, “Really?” He said, “When I am mistaken for being Latino in our area (Detroit), it is like I am invisible. People don’t pay any attention to me. When I was buying my house in Detroit, people who were selling me the house assumed that I was Latino, I was the gardener, and given my race they assumed I was I would not be able to buy a house.”
When we do not look at someone, or when we see past them, or look over their shoulder, it can be a dehumanizing experience.
Conversely, when we look someone in the eye, and as we see them, we can help them to see themselves. As we see them, we can help them to see how much they are beloved by God as we in some way become an embodied sign of God’s love for them.
About a year after I made the transition from working in the corporate world to training for some kind of vocational Christian ministry, I enrolled in something called the Arrow Leadership Program. Of the group of 25 younger Christian leaders, I was the least experienced in ministry and the youngest (or one of the youngest). And the people in the group in some cases already had international ministries or were pastoring large churches or speaking in stadiums, and I felt very out of place and inadequate in this group of already accomplished leaders.
I remember standing in line for lunch during one of my first days at Arrow and the founder and senior mentor of the Arrow Leadership Program, an older Presbyterian minister name Leighton Ford approached me and asked me if I wanted to have lunch with him.
(show photo through highlighted section).
At a time when I was feeling that I didn't belong in this group, feeling that they had made a mistake admitting me, Leighton looked at me and without sizing up my potential or judging me, through his eyes, but through his body language, said, “Welcome! I am happy to know you!”
Just a look and just the spirit of welcome brought a measure of life and healing to my own heart.
Have you ever had someone look at you and make you feel love just by the look – it may have been the look of a mother, a family member, a friend, a mentor, a lover, or even a relative stranger.
(Pause).
For those of you who feel like you know God in a personal way have you ever experienced a sense of being looked at with love by Christ? Have you ever had a sense that you're being looked at by him without condemnation, grace, with tenderness, with love…
And one of the lowest times in my life after a very painful breakup, I really sensed God, and it was for brief time, but in a way I still remember, God looking at me with a deep sense of love which strangely surpassed the sense of wonder of the romance itself.
Take a moment to recall a look from someone or a look from God that made you feel loved…
And if you can recall that sense of being loved in a look, pray that God would help you then reflect that look of love to others.
Saint Teresa of Avila said, Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out.
In the name of Jesus, pray that you would be able to see how deeply you are loved by God and then to be able to reflect through your eyes and body language the love which you yourself have first received to others.
Pray through your eyes Christ would hold a person in a place of belovedness and become an instrument of healing for others.
(And remembering that we are seeing by Christ with eyes of love is a gift. Reflecting in our look to others the look with which Christ sees us is also a priceless gift. But remembering how we are seen by Christ is also something that we can consciously recall. Something that we can practice recalling. We can also practice the art of looking at someone else in a way that reflects a sense of God's love to them.)
Now I'm going to use an example of someone who has practiced this art of looking at others which may surprise you. This person by his own admission has many faults and failings and certainly not an example in many areas of life as he himself would freely concede. But I really believe that we can learn from people who are not perfect.
Leighton Ford who I mentioned earlier in the sermon and who is now my mentor had the opportunity to have dinner with Bill Clinton when Clinton was president.
There were about eight people seated around a table at a hotel. Leighton said there was a boy who came by the table. He was eight or nine years old. He came over to President Clinton and he said to this boy, “When you meet someone you shake your hand like this with a firm shake and make sure you look them straight in the eye like this.” (The President was giving away some of his important trade secrets.)
I later learned that Clinton has a kind of condition which makes it unnatural for him to actually look people in the eye, a condition that makes eye contact more difficult for him than most. He trained himself to see people. I have heard from others who have met him like our pastor KP, he looks you in the eye and whether you are black or while, rich or poor, powerful or not, he has a way makes you make feel that at that moment you are the only person in the world.
Bill Clinton, by his own admission, would say that he has many faults. What a gift to be able to make someone feel like they are the only person in the world.
We can become instruments of Jesus’ healing by sharing the presence of God this week like Peter and John who looked people in the same way with which we have been looked at by Jesus.
We pray that our eyes would be the ones through which Christ looks at people.
As we read on, we see that when Peter and John look straight at him (verse 4), the paralyzed man who had been begging became excited, expecting to get money from them, and gave Peter and John his attention.
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth--walk” (verse 6). Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and instantly the man who had never walked experienced his ankle-bones becoming instantly strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.
So we see that Peter and John first give the man the gift of their attention. Then Peter and John gave the man something even more precious. They gave him the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We see in this passage, there is power in the name of Jesus, to paraphrase the old hymn, “there is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious name (in the hymn it’s blood) of Jesus.”
The idea of a name having power is a bit strange to those of us who live in the modern western world, though at times we can catch the glimpse of the power of a name even in our society. Many young people get their first job because they use the name of an aunt or a friend of their dad’s. They discover that the name of that person can open a door. I am not a young person anymore, but I still appreciate it when someone says to me, “If it is ever helpful in this context, feel free to use my name.”
While in our culture we only recognize a dim echo of the power of a name, most of the people in Peter and John’s first century world and many people in non-western countries today know exactly what is going on here. They know that names can carry power, a magical kind of power, an invocation of hidden forces summoning up new possibilities.
And in this story we see how Peter and John who knew Jesus personally through the invocation of the name of Jesus were able to mediate the power and authority of Jesus to bring healing to this man (and this is why in verses 15 and 16 of the text Peter and John make clear that it was not by their power that this paralyzed man was able to walk, but that it was the power of Jesus Christ that made it possible for this man to walk). For us in the modern world, if we know someone we can in a sense invoke their presence through a phone call (use prop). If we know Jesus personally, we can invoke his presence through prayer in his name.
And like Peter and John when we know Jesus Christ personally through the use of his name in prayer we are able to mysteriously mediate the actual authority of the living, risen Christ.
A number of years ago when I was still a fairly new pastor here at Tenth, I was invited by one of the Christian leaders of the region to offer a prayer on behalf of Vancouver and the metro area of Vancouver at a big outdoor rally in a park in Surrey which featured some Christian rock bands. I remember the night before I was supposed to pray for the region, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like this one thousand-pound foot was stepping on my chest. I don’t have asthma. I don’t have any condition which would make it difficult for me to breathe. I just couldn’t breathe. The pressure was immense. It felt like something was clearly trying to harm me and if possible kill me. I remember invoking the name of Jesus and how the pressure lifted. Next day I was able to go to this park out in Surrey where hundreds of people had gathered and to pray for the region.
As a pastor I know that my experience is not unique. There are times when people during the night or during the day can experience a very real sense of spiritual oppression and have found that the name of Jesus can help.
Let me share the story of Pastor Lee, not our Pastor Lee, but a fellow pastor who serves in a different church.
He says:
I had an experience that opened my eyes to the reality of spiritual warfare. While I was sound asleep, I heard the phone ringing (or so I thought). In the darkness, I grabbed blindly for the phone, but I was so groggy that I couldn't really wake up. When I put the phone to my ear, I heard a voice, flat and menacing. He just said, "You thought we'd forgotten you."
On the phone there was just silence, but I was sure he was still there. My mind was racing to think, Who wanted to hurt me? Who wanted me to cower in fear? The man who got angry a few weeks ago when we wouldn't give him money? I was getting very scared. I sensed this was something dark and diabolical.
I couldn't even speak, but somehow I simply blurted out, "Jesus!" And suddenly the fear left my heart and my bedroom. I came wide awake and realized I did not have the phone in my hand; that it was still across the room. Yet I knew that what had happened was more than just a dream. I had felt the presence of real evil—the presence of the Evil One. But now, after calling on Jesus' name, I wasn't frightened. As a matter of fact, I was exhilarated at the power of Jesus' name. I got up, turned on the bathroom light, washed my face, and cleared my head. Then I went back to bed. Surrounded by the presence of Christ, I felt a great peace.
As I was falling back asleep, I heard a melody in my mind. It was beautiful, like a lullaby. I recognized it but couldn't place it. The next morning it came to me: It was a tune from Les Miserables, and the words, which I didn't even fully know then, are "You will keep me safe, and you will keep me close; I'll sleep in your embrace at last." I've always felt that my heavenly Father hummed me to sleep that night—that night when the power of Jesus' name conquered the Evil One.”
Sometimes the name of Jesus helps us invoke the authority of Jesus to overcome a spiritual attack. At other times, as we see here in Acts 3 the name of Jesus enables us to invoke the authority of Jesus in a way that helps someone experience physical healing.
And at other times mediating the presence of Jesus through his name helps us experience spiritual growth.
Sometimes a physical healing leads to spiritual growth as was true of the man here in Acts.
This man who was paralyzed from birth experiences a physical healing and then he experiences a spiritual healing as we see in vs. 8 as he walks, jumps, and praises God.
There is power in the name of Jesus to bring healing – sometimes that healing is physical and sometimes that healing is spiritual and sometimes the physical healing will open the door to a spiritual (or vice versa) healing.
I was recently talking with a young woman here in our community who some of you would know who has given me permission (thank you!) to share part of her story.
She was telling me that when she was in junior high school she was diagnosed with chronic pain, an illness which made it very painful for her to use the joints in her limbs. Up until this time she had swum competitively, and had had hopes of soon achieving provincial times. However, because of her illness she was forced to quit swimming. In addition, because she had to wear bandages, it was externally evident that she was in pain, and people were aware that she was sick.
Before this time she had offered her life to Christ, and upon graduating from high school ended up going to UBC. While she was there she had a number of people faithfully lifting her up in prayer for healing in Jesus’ name. And she was fully healed. Now she enjoys being physically active and swims regularly for fun and exercise at UBC.
I asked her, “What was the impact of this healing for you?” She said, “Well, when I was healed physically, it became a tangible sign that God could actually work in my life, and so I began to trust him to do a spiritual work in me. I began to read the Scriptures more. I began to share my faith more. As I look back, the physical healing was something that helped me trust God to do a spiritual work in me.”
Through the name of Jesus, the person of Jesus, he can bring spiritual healing, as he did for the paralyzed person at the temple gate. He can bring physical healing, and then spiritual healing as he did for this young woman. Sometimes God can bring physical healing into someone else’s life as a sign that Jesus can do something spiritual in our lives as well.
(As I have said before, sometimes the healing isn’t always physical. For some people like Nick Vujicic (pronounced Vooy Cheech) was born with neither arms nor legs, or Joni Erickson a woman who through an accident became a quadriplegic” God seems to be using them in a more powerful way because they have NOT experienced physical healing.)
We become instruments of God’s healing, people who share the presence as Peter and John did, to look at people in the eye and really see them as we recognize the power of Jesus’ name that brings physical and spiritual healing.
Notice where the miracle takes place for Peter and John and for the person begging for money. It takes place outside the temple, outside the church. Yes, they are on their way to the temple, but the miracle takes place outside of the temple.
We know that our ministry here at Tenth takes place in part in the church, but it takes place primarily outside the walls of this church. I love the expression of John Wesley, the great 18th century preacher in England who became the founder of the Methodist Church. He used to say “the world is my parish.”
That phrase is sometimes misunderstood. When he said “the world is my parish,” he was not saying “here I am, some international great guy who is going to go all over the world to proclaim the gospel.” Though, he was an international great person, he was also a modest British person. That was not what he was saying. When he said “the world is my parish,” he meant the world, meaning “the world outside the walls of the church… the community itself is my parish, the place where I will do ministry.” Because he was such a controversial figure in his day as an Anglican, he was barred from of a lot of churches and did much of his ministry speaking in the open air outside of any physical church building.
So it can be for us. Our ministry can take place primarily outside of the walls of this church or any other church for that matter, as was true for Peter and John here in Acts 3.
We can extend God’s care to others beyond the walls of the church. Several years ago my wife Sakiko asked me if I could dig out a certain bush in our backyard. I was digging and digging, finding it very difficult to get the bush out of the earth. The roots went all the way to Japan. This is a tough one.
As I was digging, a neighbour happened to be walking by. He’s very handy…very physically strong..very thick neck. He said, “Hey, Ken, how are you doing? Need some help?” I said, “Fuuny you should ask! Yeah! I could use some help” He grabs the shovel and the pick and starts working real hard…sweating…and he is able to get the bush out.
Afterward, Sakiko said, “What did you do?” “I was praying for him. I also got him some lemonade. I am a delegational leader.”
Sometime thereafter, this person in our neighbourhood confided in me, expressing a lot of stress because he was about to get a biopsy for cancer. He is not a church-going person. I said, “Wow, this must be really hard. Do you mind if I pray for you?” Right in the street I offered a brief prayer for him. He ended up getting treatments, but he is alive and seems to be doing really well.
Let me close with this thought which seems to encapsulate in a modern way right here in Vancouver.
Kathleen Morrissey, who shared earlier in our service this past week, described a time when she embodied what the spirit of Peter and John(have her share):
One day I was walking down Main St and a homeless man
asked me for some money. I’ve been unemployed for months now
so I truly don’t have any spare change. Instead of walking past him
I felt God prompting me to pray for him.
I stepped out of my comfort zone and said “I don’t have any
money but can I pray for you” He said yes so I looked him in the
eyes and I spoke the Fathers blessing over him. I said that I thought
there were times in his life that other people had given up on him
and also times that he had given up on himself but God had not
given up on him and God loved him beyond what he could ever
imagine and his heavenly Father would never give up on him.
When I was done the man’s eyes were as wide as a saucer and his
mouth was open in amazement. His countenance had changed, His
grey, heavy demeanor seemed to have lifted and he seemed
transformed. Almost in a whisper he said ‘thank you’. He gathered
up his shopping cat and I haven’t seen him since.
And the greatest gift we can give someone is not money – giving money can sometimes be a practical and helpful gift – the greatest gift we can give someone like Peter and John, like Kathleen, is Jesus. And we become instruments of Jesus, we share his presence with others as we see them as Jesus would have seen them, as we invoke his presence using the name of Jesus, as we do this not just in the church but in the city of Vancouver in the world.
Prayer: Saint Teresa of Avila said, “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.”
posted by Shigematsu at 2:21 PM
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