Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, June 4, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Yeah, yeah, so Peter heals someone of their disability. But what I want to know is why on earth his life had to be reduced to people dropping him off at the fountain every day in order to beg for his survival. Who were these people dropping him off? Where was the community to support him? Didn’t we just hear yesterday about how the early Christians had all things in common—literally living “communally”?
Then there’s the issue of how the Bible and its attendant culture aggressively marginalizes the differently-abled. Is the only valid way for Peter to help this guy to “cure” him of his disability? I don’t know about you, but I know plenty of folks with physical and cognitive “disabilities” who aren’t about to be “fixed” with prayer.
Ooh! So here’s a thought. I’m just going to midrash a little right up in here, so bear with me (or don’t and come back for tomorrow’s devotion :) :) :)
Maybe Peter’s words to the beggar didn’t physically change him at all. Maybe, just maybe, the love of Jesus entered the guy so completely that his heart and spirit were filled to bursting and he “leapt” for joy through song and praise, especially when he realized the complete, unconditional welcome he received into a community of people who actually cared for one another’s lives and needs rather than just dropping them off somewhere to beg while they went about their business elsewhere. I mean…it could’ve happened that way, couldn’t it?
How might reading the Bible through the lens of Jesus’ radical inclusivity change it for me?
