Beautiful Gate

I remember the summer of 2010, my wife and I were youth counselors at our church and we were sitting with the students on a Wednesday night. My dear friend and brother, Matt Wyenandt, was teaching the book of Acts with them, and he had just jumped into chapter 3. The record here is of a lame beggar who sat at the gate called Beautiful every day and begged for alms. He couldn't get there himself; someone had to put him there, according to verse 2. According to chapter 4 verse 22, this man was above forty years old when he was healed. That means that he had spent years upon years sitting at this gate which must have been near the temple, because the temple goers were his target people according to 3:2. As Matt taught on this passage my mind began to travel deeper into the plight of this man. If Jesus was thirty-three when he died, and this man was over forty years old when he was healed, and if he sat at the gate near the temple daily, than surely Jesus would have passed this man. Surely this beggar would have known there was a healer who could make him walk, and surely Jesus knew who this man was. It's possible that this man had been sitting at the gate even from Jesus' youth. Perhaps Jesus' parents gave him alms from time to time. But why didn't Jesus ever heal this man? Was it something he did, or something he said? Or was he just simply so far down the chain of outcasts from society that Jesus didn't have time for him? Of course these things can't be true, they defy the very nature of our Savior. But I do believe there is a reason why Jesus allowed this man to go unhealed until after his death and resurrection. I believe that Jesus allowed this man to stay where he lay because he already knew when and where he would be healed. I believe that he already knew Peter and John would be there, just at the right time, with the right audience, to glorify His Father. He refrained from healing this man because he wanted Peter and John to do it by faith in His name, again proving His resurrection and life to be true. This, of course, is my speculation, but it makes complete sense to think that Jesus places hurting people in our pathways every single day who are waiting for the moment where they can hear the words, rise up, and walk. So the call goes out, Mark and remember the lame broken beggar. There may be one sitting by your gate. There is a more pressing issue behind this song, and that is the matter of the beggar himself. There are people everywhere in pain, who feel crippled because of things past, present, or even future. The next line of the song which cries out come find your favor in the arms of the Savior that he met at the Beautiful Gate is really the heart of the message. It proclaims that no matter what the plight, no matter what the ache or pain, in the name of Jesus you can rise up and walk. You can give your life to Him today, and dance before the Beautiful Gate.