Receiving the Unexpected
“He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
Peter said, ‘I have neither silver nor gold,
but what I do have I give you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.’”Acts 3:5-6
When Peter and John saw the crippled man who was begging for money by the gate of the Temple, they approached him. Although they had no money to give to him they went to him. The crippled man fully expected to receive something from them, at least a few small coins, but they gave him no money. What the two Apostles offered to that crippled man was something greater, not silver or gold, but rather an invitation to encounter the Risen Lord.
The two Apostles implored the name of Jesus Christ and told the crippled man (who has been so from birth) to rise and walk. With the help of Peter’s hand, the man slowly got up with strength restored to his legs, and he went off to praise and worship God in the Temple. While the man hoped for alms, the Apostles offered him something that would actually help him; not enough to just feed him for a day, but something that would transform his life and change the trajectory of all his days. Jesus, through the Apostles, wished to feed not just the man’s stomach but also his soul. He knew the man needed something more. It was not only his crippled condition that caused this man to be downcast. There was also a crippling of the heart and soul, and Jesus wanted to breathe life back into those areas.
Oftentimes we may ask for something because we really think we need them. But in life we have probably come to experience that we do not always get what we want or even what we think we need, but whatever it is that we received was exactly what we needed at that moment. Although we may not have been able to see it then, when looking back, it becomes more evident. When asking the Lord, we will always receive the unexpected. We will always receive that which we really desire, deep down in our hearts and souls. When we ask, and if we are open, God will always fulfill our deepest desires and needs. What are those crippled parts of our bodies and hearts? Let us invite the Lord to breathe life into them. May we come to encounter the Risen Lord who knows all that we need so that in knowing Him, we may come to receive that which really is most unexpected — a share in the life of God and the status of sons and daughters of such a loving God.
The Gospel reading for today is the beautiful passage on the Two Disciples on the Road to Emmaus. For a reflection on this, see last year’s entry on this, “Obstacles to the Heart.”
