Acts 3:2-6;7-8 As they approached the Temple, they saw a man lame from birth carried along the street and laid beside the Temple gate—the one called The Beautiful Gate, as was his custom every day. As Peter and John were passing by, he asked them for some money. They looked at him intently, and then Peter said, “Look here!” The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting a gift. But Peter said, “We don’t have any money for you! But I’ll give you something else! ….Then Peter took the lame man by the hand and pulled him to his feet. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankle-bones were healed and strengthened so that he came up with a leap, stood there a moment and began walking! Then, walking, leaping, and praising GOD, he went into the Temple with them.
DISCUSSION
The Gospel of Luke, the third gospel regarding the life and ministry of JESUS is ascribed to have been written by “the beloved physician” (see Colossians 4:14) Luke. Luke wrote the Gospel According to Luke and the very next book after the gospels, the book of Acts. In fact, the very first verse in Acts makes it clear that Acts is a continuation of “the story” or explanation of what this new church/temple movement is all about. See Acts 1:1
The continuation of the story is an important lesson in itself. If the death and resurrection of JESUS were “the end of the story,” Luke could have just stopped at the angel’s announcement: “HE is not here, but is risen,” (Luke 24:6). But that was not the end of the story.
Luke goes on in Chapter 24 to describe the fact that when the women went to the apostles to repeat what they were told, the others didn’t believe the women. Luke describes how JESUS appeared to the doubting disciples and even Peter, who had denied him three times, showing how JESUS reached out to them. And Jesus is willing to reach out to all of us, even in our “brokenness” and “troubled states.”
Other gospel writers also do not end with just the resurrection but even describe how “these very human” disciples faltered in other ways. John describes how a group of these disciples, led by Peter, may have started thinking about returning to their “former lives” as fishermen because Peter convinced a group of them all of a sudden go fishing for fish. See John 21. Perhaps Peter forgot this was what “he left” to follow JESUS, when JESUS promised to make Peter and his brother Andrew, “fishers of men.” Perhaps this post-resurrection story was an important reminder that it is important to keep our eyes on what GOD wants us to do and not what we used to do—or to reinforce the importance of “feeding the sheep” or helping the least among us, rather than going on “fishing expeditions for our own gain.”
Luke’s writing the book of Acts and describing the actions of the apostles, after they received the HOLY SPIRIT, is additional evidence that the resurrection was not the end of the story. The interaction between Peter and the lame man described in Acts 3 is evidence that Peter “was listening” and acted on JESUS’ instructions to “fish for men.” The man who was laid by the temple gate was literally “outside” the church/temple. Others temple members probably passed him by every day on their way to the house of GOD. No one was interested in “connecting” with this man, praying with this man, fellowshipping with this man, or bringing him into the “church” fold. Some may have even seen him as an “eyesore” marring the beauty of their temple gate. Likewise, the man wasn’t thinking about entering the temple either. The man seemingly just saw the people coming and going as a way to make money to live. All of that changed when the man met Peter and John.
The actions of Peter and John are instructive. One of the first things that Peter and John did was to not treat the man as if he were “invisible.” They looked intently at the man and “saw him.” It is easier than most of us think to ignore the suffering of those around us—the “invisible poor,” or other we “don’t see,” such as those in jails, in detention facilities, in juvenile facilities, those in mental facilities or children and seniors who go without meals. Just look indifferently. Just look swiftly. Or, just look away, or just focus on oneself.
However, when Peter and John looked intently, they saw a man who needed to be in “the fold.” Then Peter took action: Peter talked to the man, went to GOD on behalf of the man, offered the man another way, reached out to the man, gave him a helping hand, and then entered the temple with him, as their equal. These were the acts of these apostles. This is how these disciples became “fisher of men.” This is part of their post-resurrection story. This is why Luke had to tell the rest of the story and wrote Acts.
DOING NOTHING IS NOT HEALTHY
Although people tend to think that exercise is enough, it turns out that exercise and sitting are entirely separate factors and that each one should be taken into consideration separately for good health. For example, walking has generally been found to be good for all ages. According to Dr. James Levine:
"Getting out there and taking a walk is what it's all about," says James Levine, M.D., Ph.D., and a Mayo Clinic expert on obesity. "You don't have to join a gym; you don't have to check your pulse. You just have to switch off the TV, get off the sofa and go for a walk."
See, “When It Comes To Walking, It’s All Good, Mayo Clinic Research,” at www.mayoclinic.com.
On the other hand, prolonged sitting is generally not good for a healthy lifestyle:
"Sitting is bad for cholesterol, it's bad for your back and muscles," Dr. Levine says. "It's such a terrible thing for our bodies to do and the less of it you do, the better.
Id. In an article entitled, “Why Your Desk Job is Slowly Killing You,” Maria Masters, Men’s Health, quotes Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., a physiologist and professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, notes that whether a person exercises or whether he/she is a “couch potato” may be two separate things. According to Masters:
Hamilton's take, which is supported by a growing body of research, is that the amount of time you exercise and the amount of time you spend on your butt are completely separate factors for heart-disease risk. New evidence suggests, in fact, that the more hours a day you sit, the greater your likelihood of dying an earlier death regardless of how much you exercise or how lean you are. That's right: Even a sculpted six-pack can't protect you from your chair.
But it's not just your heart that's at risk from too much sitting; your hips, spine, and shoulders could also suffer. In fact, it's not a leap to say that a chair-potato lifestyle can ruin you from head to toe.
[Emphasis added.] “Why Your Desk Job is Slowly Killing You,” Maria Masters, Men’s Heath. Masters further notes that:
- A 2010 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that when healthy men limited their number of footsteps by 85 percent for 2 weeks, they experienced a 17 percent decrease in insulin sensitivity, raising their diabetes risk;
- According to Peter Katzmarzyk, Ph.D., Hamilton’s colleague at Pennington, the nation’s leading obesity research center, a person can hit the gym every day, but if he’s sitting a good deal of the rest of the time, he’s probably not leading an overall active life.
- A “standing” worker—say, a sales clerk at a Banana Republic store---burns about 1,500 calories while on the job and a person behind a desk might expend roughly 1000 calories. That goes a long way in explaining why people gain 16 pounds, on average, within 8 months of starting sedentary office work, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington;
- In 2009, Katzmarzyk studied the lifestyle habits of more than 17,000 men and women and found that the people who sat for almost the entire day were 54 percent more likely to end up clutching their chests than those who sat almost none of the time. “The evidence that sitting is associated with heart disease is very strong.”
- “Humans sit too much, so you have to treat the problem specifically,” says Hamilton. “The cure for too much sitting isn’t more exercise. Exercise is good, of course, but the average person could never do enough to counteract the effects of hours and hours of chair time.”
- “Your body adapts to what you do most often,” says Bill Hartman, PT, C.S.C.S., a Men’s Health advisor. “So if you sit in a chair all day, you’ll essentially become better adapted to sitting in a chair.” “Older folks have a harder time moving around than younger people do,” says Hartman. “That’s not simply because of age; it’s because what you do consistently from day to day manifests itself over time, for both good and bad.” If you sit all day at a desk, you’re courting muscle stiffness, poor balance and mobility, lower-back, neck and hip pain.”
- Hamilton suggests standing more rather than sitting, and
- Continue to exercise.
See, “Why Your Desk Job is Slowly Killing You,” Maria Masters, Men’s Heath.
One Mayo Clinic researcher has called sitting, “the New Smoking,” suggesting that sitting like smoking is that harmful to your health.
WHAT IS GOD’s ACTION PLAN FOR YOU?
Celebrating Easter/Resurrection Sunday/Passover is and was a wonderful thing! But the story should not end there.
But we don’t celebrate one of two days out of the year only to wait another year for the next celebration. After hearing the resurrection story and given the “Great Commission” instructions, we don’t have the option of just returning to just things we want to do. We don’t have the option of letting the story end on resurrection Sunday. Sitting or doing nothing is not an option.
Look around. See anyone outside the folds of GOD’s house? If not, look intently around? Look under most city bridges, look in some of the parked cars where some sleep or look in some of the homeless tent cities, where many are living. What do you think GOD is calling you or others to do? Pray about it! Pray for a post-resurrection Sunday story for your life and where you worship!
Pray for a Post-Resurrection physical and spiritual action plan and BE BLESSED!
