Look at Us | Disruptive Presence 13

In which John and David get to chapter 3 of Acts! Peter and John arrive at the temple and encounter someone who needs their help. How has the Holy Spirit impact their lives in such a way that they engage with the needs of others?

Episode 66 of the Two Texts Podcast | Disruptive Presence 13

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Transcript

 Transcript Autogenerated by Descript.com

[00:00:00] David:  
 

[00:00:50] Well, John it's acts chapter three in a momentous moment. We have, we have moved to acts chapter three. 

[00:00:58] John: Come on, come on. Some, I think some people were just, just concerned that we couldn't count beyond the number two. So, the fact that we've got to three is amazing. So we're, we're, I'm excited about that, but yeah, I, I have to say I really enjoyed hanging around chapter two. That was cool. I really, really, I got a lot, I don't know about our listeners, but I got a lot out of that. 

[00:01:16] I learned so much and it crystallized, it's a, a number of really powerful ideas in my. Thinking about it and reflecting on it again. So it was great. Loved it. 

[00:01:25] David: Yeah, I, I think it was interesting how we called one of the episodes kind of familiarly unfamiliar and, and as somebody who's spent a lot of time thinking about act over the course of my, my life, I suppose. It was interesting spending that kind of slow time in act and still finding moments where you're like, oh, wow, look at that. 

[00:01:45] That's going on? So in this very familiar text that even had these unfamiliar moments to it. So I enjoyed that as well. But today we're, we're jumping into this sort of, I always want to call it the fallout from act chapter two. The, the beginning of the church, actually putting some of this stuff continuing to put some of this stuff into practice. 

[00:02:05] So we get this story in acts chapter three, again, quite a famous and, and well known story of, of Peter and John at the temple. So you're going to you're gonna read verses one to 10 for us. 

[00:02:19] John: I am. I am very excited about that. So here we go. Act chapter three, verse one, and it says one day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. 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. 

[00:02:45] When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money and Peter looked straight at him as they, John, then Peter said, look at us. So the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from. Then Peter said silver or gold. I do not have, but what I have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk, taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. 

[00:03:17] He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple. Court's walking and jumping and Pring. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 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 am amazement at what had happened to him. 

[00:03:40] David: I love it. I love it. It's. It's very reminiscent. As I was listening to you read that. I was thinking about the series we did on miracles of Jesus and, and how, again, in very classic Luken form, the way he tells stories about the early church reminds us of how he tells stories about Jesus. 

[00:04:02] John: Absolutely. And, and of course you, you get some of those beautiful references and details about the person on whom the miracle's going to be performed. Lovely little. Things that that are really easy to miss, but I think they are all part of that looking narrative. This man lame from birth, I mean, he just could have said lame, but he says lame from birth, the fact that he is outside the temple as it were, he's not in that inner inner area of worship, that sense of exclusion of this man. 

[00:04:39] And then. Sort of impact of the kingdom of God on his life and the transformation that takes place. And the fact that, one of the first things that happens when the man gets healed is that he enters the temple precinct and you get this beautiful sense of from exclusion to inclusion and from apparent hopelessness to transformation. 

[00:05:01] So it, it is very, if, if you went from the gospel of Luke into the book of acts, this sounds. an extension of the same sort of stories that we've been reading over and over again, especially in the gospel of like, 

[00:05:13] David: It always speaks to me. And this is, the sort of thing that gets heavily debated in certain places, I suppose, around the historicity of the Bible, right? The, the historical reliability, obviously it's, it's often challenged about are these stories true. And I often find a little, the little notes that you get That he was lame from birth. 

[00:05:37] For example, all speak to what the Bible confesses of itself as suppose that this is eyewitness testimony. The, these, these are little details that suggest Luke has talked to people who. Know this story or know this man, even like, this is, this is data you find out afterwards, sort of once the man is healed, he tells the story of who he actually was prior to that. 

[00:06:03] He's just a man at the door. So I, I think that that's really interesting, just these little notes that you see throughout act, actually, that, that speak to what Luke says he's doing, which is talking to people and investigating this sort of thing. But I love that idea of, of the temple and, and the sort of idea of him always being sat outside the gate. 

[00:06:27] And now he gets to enter the gate. And I think of I think of the stories in Luke of, of the. The, the people who were excluded from the company, Jesus, these accusations against the, the synagogue leader who doesn't want to heal on the Sabbath. And there's just the, these little subtle threads that are going there of, of, of inclusion that, that I really, really like, and I think are, are not unintentional from Luke. 

[00:06:55] As he tells the story, Luke, where he was. Look where he is. So, and I I'd love to encourage people to just sit on how often you see that message coming through in the message of acts. 

[00:07:08] John: Absolutely. And, and of course later on we we'll probably spend a little bit of time reflecting on the amazing story of the Ethiopian Munich. The, the, the gospel enters as it were Africa in a recorded sense through this man. But, but the staggering idea is that he will have traveled. All the way from Ethiopia and not being able to enter the temple because of his condition as a Euch, so, so you get this this sense of. In the midst of, of the backdrop with this magnificent place that represents the presence and glory of God. And of course, we're the early church now, Peter John, and the early followers of Jesus followers of the way are very comfortable to locate themselves. 

[00:07:55] They're doing a lot of work in the temple precinct. And if Peter preached his first sermon in the temple precinct, which. May well have been the case. He's certainly preaching a second sermon officially in the temple precinct. And so you get a very, very strong sense that this new community, this new way wants to bring something of this dynamic new inclusion to the one place that maybe maybe has been Can I say guilty, guilty of practicing the sorts of exclusion that certainly Jesus of the gospel of Luke and, and now the book of X is working hard against, and we have another beautiful example of this literally positioned. 

[00:08:38] Outside. And then once he's healed, he is brought inside as a, as a whole person, a person who's able to praise God without the hindrance of his, his disability as it were. So it's an incredible Little moment that we're confronted breath right at the beginning that this outpouring of the holy spirit that we've seen has been inclusive globally. 

[00:09:01] These incredible languages that are being spoken, that that actually allow the glory of God to be proclaimed. And therefore you get this global inclusivity, this right across chapter two of X. Now we get a dynamic demonstration at a physical level of that same inclusion. And and, and, and this kingdom that Jesus is bringing to, to allow the sons and daughters of Abraham to return is, is being carried on by the church. 

[00:09:30] David: I love keeping hold of, of those sort of patterns, almost how this miracle story. Echoes. So many of the things that we set up in chapter two, actually that you're seeing the, the groundwork like from, for me, it's interesting how, how the narrative jumps so quickly from a group of people in chapter one who are. 

[00:09:57] Kind of just hanging around and trying to figure out what to do, right. And the best that they can come up with with knowing what to do is drawing lots and, and hoping they get the right, the right new apostle you, then get you, then get this incredible story of, of chapter two, which is turning. Everything around for 'em. 

[00:10:19] Now, now that they're, these incredible things are happening with the holy spirit, incredible things are happening in the community. I think you're seeing them making sense, that this is that, that that, that Peter talks about. And then this, this intense, this is what always strikes me when I reach chapter three, this intense clarity that Peter and John now seem to have right. 

[00:10:40] About, about what they're able to do and how they're able to do it. So I noticed this in, in verse six, and I think this is really interesting is that, that, he's, Peter's what I don't. What I do have, but then, but then a very clear, at least in my, in my, how I read this, John, a very clear sense that what I do have, it's not actually me. 

[00:11:02] It's Jesus. So, so, so, so Steven. Steven. So, so, so Peter, isn't confused about, oh, have I become some magician? Have I become some powerful person? Actually, I'm still poor. And I still, I'm still essentially a, a, an unemployed fisherman from from, from Galilee, but I have encountered Jesus and, and that's, and, and I love. 

[00:11:34] That reminder for us as to how the holy spirit works is working through us. But Peter seems to see is not owned by us is not necessarily even controlled by us, but, but this is all about Jesus. And, and I think that's just a beautiful little, little moment in this story. 

[00:11:53] John: Yeah, it, I mean, it seems to me that these now early apostles represented by Peter and John have just incredible sense of confidence. They seem to have a confidence in the person of Jesus. They seem to absolutely have an amazing confidence in the word of God. So. Perhaps helped by Jesus himself with all that amazing teaching. 

[00:12:16] He would've given them in that, in that gap period between resurrection and Ascension. But they're able to look into the Hebrew Bible and see Jesus and be able to connect the dots for, for the audience, which again, we'll see in his, his second sermon, but also there is a tremendous confidence in the person and power of the holy. 

[00:12:35] and, and they seem to have this just amazing simple confidence to go for something now and, and reach into that. I love Peter's words. I know we'll get to this probably in the next podcast, but, but Peter's words in his sermon really back up what you've said, verse 16, he says by faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong, it is Jesus'. 

[00:12:58] And the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him as you can all see. So there's almost a double ASIN, the same thing twice. Really within that. And he, and he is distancing himself from, Hey, look, this is not me. This is not us. This is not some magic act. This is not just a brilliance of personality or some sort of supernatural blip. 

[00:13:19] This, what you're seeing now is Jesus at work on us through the power of the sprout, the CMG that you saw do his, his miracles before now he's at work in us and he's at work through us. I, I really do love the confidence. I think when Peter looks at the man and then says to the man, look at me, that's just a, an incredible statement of confidence that when this man then looks at him and John. 

[00:13:47] Then he's going to be looking at them with some expectation. And as the tech says, probably the expectation to get a handout, to get arms, because this was a great time to get the arms. The, the second sacrifice of the day, the hour of prayer, three o'clock in the afternoon, it was traditionally a sacrifice where. 

[00:14:04] Pilgrims would be encouraged to give their arms to the poor. And so it's not a coincidence that he gets positioned there, in that particular hour, he, he, he knows that this is a potentially profitable moment. for him. But when he looks at Peter and John and Peter actually asks him to look at them, it's that sense of authority and confidence that Peter has, which really is a dramatic sort of shift in the tone of the narrative. 

[00:14:33] And we see, we ask, as I look at that, I ask the question, what, what changed in Peter? What's given Peter this confidence and I can only. It is the confidence in the person of Jesus. It is the confidence in the word of God, spoken by Jesus and taught by Jesus. That makes sense of TaNaK and it is the power of the holy spirit. 

[00:14:53] And I think it's the combination of those things that is now setting Peter and John up in this moment of incredible encounter and authority at this, at this gate, as they're about to enter into the temple precinct. 

[00:15:06] David: There's a couple of things. I wonder about whether it's actually sort of going on in the, in this story here at this point. But, but I mean, I'm curious is your take, you've got this, this man he's, he's there by the, the temple. And I think that, I think about how often people engage. 

[00:15:27] People who are injured or begging your attempted to try and ignore them. And I, I love the little nuance of detail about looking in here. Your friend of mine pointed this out to me actually just recently. And when we were talking about act and, and, and this idea that. Peter, the man asks Peter and John for something Peter looked intensely at him. 

[00:15:50] It says in, in some translations, there's a real conscious, I am looking at you, but then the invitation to look back. And, and so I think there's something powerful, just even kind of therapeutically in this of. Of of seeing each other and being seen which again, I think of how often I think of Jesus doing this. 

[00:16:15] And I, I, maybe I'm reading into a bit of silence here. I think there's something beautiful in what's happening here. And I love the almost echo of Peter learning from his rabbi here that, treat people with the dignity and the respect that they are, that, that, that they, as. Carriers of God deserve. 

[00:16:33] And so often it's easy, like I don't have a ministry that involves me going around, healing, people who are, are begging, but I can learn from this. And even when I do help somebody who's in an unfortunate situation, am I looking at them? Am I inviting a look? Am I inviting To be seen really? 

[00:16:53] I, I think, I think there's something potentially quite beautiful in that little engagement 

[00:16:57] John: Oh, totally. And, and I love, I love that connector to the, to the Jesus we've been talking about, I I'm, I'm immediately thinking of a looking in connection. You're thinking of a beautiful story where Jesus heals the woman bent double for 18 years and, and it, and that lovely little. Idea behold, the woman and, and then the text says Jesus saw her. 

[00:17:19] And, and you get the impression from the use of that word that he didn't, in one sense, everybody saw her, but he saw her. And I love the call of the kingdom that we are called to see and, and be seen. This is a, a public. Forum. This is a public format. This is, this is, I know we're going to the temple, but this is a church in the everyday. 

[00:17:43] This is the church in the marketplace. This is, this is not the church meeting in special conferences or conventions or meeting rooms. This is a church out in the everyday world and you get this gorgeous moment where the man sees them. But he gets to see them because they have deliberately in position unintentionally positioned themselves to see. And I love that. And, and of course, if we did want to lean into a conversation around the supernatural and the miraculous, again, the encouragement around that is in order to see the miraculous, we must place ourselves in a position where we need the miraculous, where we, we cannot. Just fix it with our silver and our gold or our skill or our personality type. 

[00:18:31] But actually there's only some things we recognize are going to fix by the supernatural power of God. And. And again, I think this is a, this is a constant theme in the book of acts. I think that the, the sense of being open and hungry to the holy spirit is crucial and essential because you have a sense of community need. 

[00:18:53] You've got this. This community of the church that understands and recognizes. We need the holy spirit. We cannot do this work without the holy spirit. I think there's a whole bunch of stuff we can do without the holy spirit. I think we can, we can organize a lot of stuff without the holy spirit. I think we can run a lot of events without the holy spirit. 

[00:19:14] What we can't do without the holy spread is look at a man at a gate who's been born lame and go. Let me fix you on my own. We need the holy spirit for that. And I think that's where we get a, a tremendous sense of breakthrough and, and, and challenge within that. So I, I think that's sudden really worth leaning into in the text here. 

[00:19:34] And I think this story really illustrates that powerfully. 

[00:19:37] David: That's what I love about this looking notion that, that we're gonna have this. I think it's a scripture wide trajectory that humans. Seek themselves first and then maybe get around to wor worrying about others. 

[00:19:52] The holy spirit seems to have this impact that constantly puts the other first. So think about where X chapter two ended. They had all things in common, right? So, so now. The Peter who's part of this community of all things in common, he's seeing differently. He's looking differently and, and I've not studied this intensely John yet, but, but I wonder if there's not just very subtle little hints to the sense of being seen and seeing being at the core. 

[00:20:26] Of the holy Spirit's work in bringing us all together and having respect for each other. But you know that how, cuz it's interesting that, so Peter says, look at me, the man fix his attention. But of course he's, he's expecting to receive something, but he gets what he doesn't imagine by verse nine of this text, notice this, all the people saw him and they recognized him. 

[00:20:48] So now there's there's and I'm just, I'm just playing around with languages. We love to, at. In two texts. So, but he just, I noticed this same lives now, now everybody sees him. Right. So somehow he's moved from being ignored to being seen. I think that's, I think that's quite significant little grammatical sort of point there. 

[00:21:08] But then I was, I was exploring this a little bit just recently, like I say, this is not a deep study that I've, I've, I've, I've done, but it's interesting. This whole language of seeing in the first few chapters of acts is quite significant. In chapter five, we'll get there eventually you've got an analyze and. 

[00:21:24] Fire. So this a story that follows this one, cuz this, this story about the man being healed, turns into a, a big hole sequence of events. Doesn't it in an I and SFI, we have this couple who are trying to hide What's actually going on in their lives and there's even, even Peter calls Safara to look, he says, look and see what's happened to your husband. 

[00:21:51] But then it interested me that in chapter six, When the 12 are dealing, what's the first problem they start encountering is that widows are being overlooked. Right? So, so the, the reason, so, so the early apostles say, well, we gotta do something. It's not right. That we neglect scripture, but that we overlook these These widows. 

[00:22:14] And again, then that story leads into Steven Steven in his story regarding the court case that eventually gets him killed that whole story hinges on this moment when they all look intently at him and he, but he's looking at God. So I, I. I've not done enough work on this to sort of really build a theory, but I'm just kind of throwing it out there to you. 

[00:22:39] That it's just interesting that you've got looking is how brings about healing in act six. Harm is happening by overlooking an I and SFI are trying to stop people looking let me not try and tie it together. Just let invite you rather. Like, what do you think? What are you seeing you. 

[00:22:56] John: I, I love that. I, I really love that. I hadn't sort of seen that in that way before, and I think that's absolutely beautiful. In fact, even in, in our immediate passage, when the man gets healed and he's jumping around and the people sort of start gathering around Peter and come to Peter, and when he saw this, that's when he preached his sermon. 

[00:23:18] So I, I hadn't seen that before, and it's a really beautiful idea. The. This sort of this is, potentially not just a a, a blip in the story, but now a trend is being created that, that the Lord is looking for a looking community that will see its world and allow itself to be seen. In that world and, and that openness before the holy spirit and that willingness to sort of engage with the heart of God, such a powerful, powerful idea. 

[00:23:48] And, and of course it's, it's uncomfortable idea. It's a difficult idea because the minute we see something that is hard to unsee, the minute we open up our hearts without, without sort of trapping this in a moment, I watched a news article last night about, about Ukraine and, and especially about children that were born with in this context, almost like this context, born with profound disability and sort of then for one reason or another. 

[00:24:17] Put into specialist care that let's just say has been lacking in care. And I found myself, I, I, I was just disturbed the whole night and, and all, I I've now seen something that I can't unsee and, and the problem with seeing it. Is that once you see it, you've now got a decision to make, you've got, do I then live with this? 

[00:24:41] And, people would've passed by this man every day and just lived with him. Being there got used to him being there. He was even used to the fact that he was sort of hidden in plain sight. And as far as they were concerned, it was just a bloke. Beg at the gate and, and the fact that when he gets healed, everybody knows who he is, knows he's well known. 

[00:25:02] I mean, he's, he's, he's clearly a well known person who has a particular position at that gate and, and and begging. Consistently. So he's become hidden and plain inside himself. And it's not until something, God, God does something dramatic in his life that we know that the crowd now sees him. But the only reason the crowd gets to see him is because Peter saw him. 

[00:25:25] And, and, I, I do think that is a challenge to the church in the 21st century that, that we are called to see and be seen and allow our world then to engage with this beautiful message that we're carrying. 

[00:25:41] David: As you were unpacking that I was, I was drawn back to, to Eden and, and of course, what is the human response to sin is to hide, right? Where, where are you says God? Oh, well, I, I head says the human And so there's, there's maybe various layers that you could plum in thinking about are how the impact of sin. 

[00:26:05] And we talked about this, I think, beautifully in, in Joel or other, we saw it beautifully in Joel, that, that, that peace and wholeness is being brought by the holy spirit. Well, one of the first markers we see of brokenness is humans hiding, attempting not to be seen and do humans. Consistently attempt not to be seen. 

[00:26:25] And therefore we also don't see others. It, it could be that just in the subtleties of the way we see scripture, there is something profoundly deep being described just in the way Luke tells us this story. It's it, and, and could, Cause us in this story about a man being healed to ask some deep questions of ourselves about how we are and how we see others. 

[00:26:50] So I, I love how scripture can do that. 

[00:26:52] John: Yeah, a absolutely. And, and I think, I think there could be something really subtle in the way this man was seen by his world, that there may have been a sense in which he was seen and therefore tolerated and put up with because. There were certain assumptions that you are this way because 

[00:27:13] that you have this condition because, and of course we we've explored this before that there were some terrible ideas that were grafted into these sorts of conversations. 

[00:27:27] And some of them even had. Biblical backing in the sense that people would use the biblical text to, to bear out an idea that says, well, you are like this because, and therefore, 

[00:27:38] and, and of course, we, we we've touched on this already. It like the, the contrast in Luke's gospel, where he introduces Elizabeth to us, his parent, which had certain overtones and undertones in her world, but he immediately states, but she was a righteous. 

[00:27:54] So, so you're, you're, he's automatically challenging that idea. And, and of course, sometimes it is, let me say this carefully. Sometimes we see the world as we are not as it is. And, we, we see out of our own lens, we see out of our own belief system and could it be David that people saw this man? 

[00:28:18] And didn't just see a man. Perhaps needed more than silver and gold, but just saw a man as a product of something. Well, you are there because you are like this because, and you are like this because, and therefore, this is how I'm gonna behave towards you. And therefore it took a moment of the holy spirit. 

[00:28:38] You, you talk about the disrupting presence of the spirit. It takes a moment from the holy spirit to disrupt. It takes a moment from the holy spirit to interfere with that and say, no, no. We, we, a moment is going to be going to be created now the cuts across not only that idea, but then dynamically and powerfully brings inclusion and transformation to this man. 

[00:29:00] So I, I think, I think a, a subtle idea underneath this is that hundreds of pilgrims would've walked past this man and saw him, but they would've saw. As they see the world, not as the world was. And Peter is now seeing the world differently because he's seen the world through the lens of the holy spirit and the word of, of the Lord. 

[00:29:21] So I, I, I, I think that's, that's maybe tucked in there as well. 

[00:29:25] David: this all happens outside the temple. And, and. You know, my position, luke is a master storyteller dealing with amazing stories. 

[00:29:35] Right. So, so he's not only is he good at telling stories. He's also got amazing stories to tell, but I also wanna pay attention to things. I notice. The the temple gate called beautiful gets mentioned twice in the story. Right. And there's even a notion there and I'm just playing around here at some point, but the idea of beautiful, the, the Greek word Harari is. 

[00:29:58] He's kind of leaning in towards ideas of timeliness and, and I love stuff that he was there every day, but now, but this gate is the timely gate, but there's also a notion within this idea of beautiful that something is it's about looking again, there's something about being seen and, and being connected. 

[00:30:16] And so, so there's this little narrative going on at various levels about what the holy spirit is. Doing in us, but changing in us, there's this contrast between the, the opportune moment, but let's not forget this guy, like you say, has been there every single day. So this is, this is not new to everybody else. 

[00:30:40] And it's about how the holy spirit is doing multiple things. He's not just, he's not just healing the. He's also bringing in God's kingdom way, which is, he's, he, we're speaking in tongues in acts chapter two, but we're also sharing everything we have. So there's, there's some things we could only do without the holy spirit, but other things that maybe afterwards we sit back and say, well, we always could have shared what we had. 

[00:31:07] Why did we only do it now? We always saw this man, but why did we only see. 

[00:31:14] John: Yes. 
 

[00:31:15] David: and it's this sort of beautiful blend of the holy spirit from the disruption for me of the miraculous, but also the disruption of the mundane. And, and it's maybe that second part, John, that stops us from dismissing the holy spirit, perhaps in a time when we don't see as many miracles, 

[00:31:31] John: Yeah. Yeah, completely. And, and I think there is a beautiful juxtaposition there in, in, in the positioning of this man he's excluded, he's ultimately going to be included and his moment of, or if you like the fact that we're drawn to his poverty is beside what's called the gate. Beautiful. Now there's a bit of a debate around the gate. 

[00:31:53] Beautiful. In that no words. Is that gate referenced in that way in a Jewish context. So, so what does it mean? And, and Josephus helps a, a little bit with this. He, he talks about the fact that the temple of herd had 10 gates as an entry point. Most of the, the gates nine of the gates. Sort of decorated with silver and gold, but one of them was a, a Corinthian bronze, which I'm led to believe was super expensive and much more expensive than the others. 

[00:32:23] It, it had, it are two things. It, it, it meant that gate stood out as, as an outstanding sort of financial thing in terms of its its wealth. But also apparently it was so heavy that it took 20 men, to close. Because of this, the sheer weight of the bronze on it. So you get this incredible idea that, that here's something of breathtaking wealth. And, and the juxtaposition of that breathtaking wealth of a temple and the poverty of this man, which is of deeply uncomfortable paradox sitting there. I mean, that is, that's a deeply, deeply uncomfortable idea. And no matter who you are as a follower of Jesus or where you sit in a religious spectrum, that's gotta, that should be making us uncomfortable. 

[00:33:09] That, that you've got that juxtaposition. But then secondly, the, the gate itself. Is both a moment, a place of exclusion, but it becomes the entry point of inclusion. So, so I think there's something really powerful in the details. Dr. Luke is, is a detailed person. He tells us, the hour of prayer because he wants us to understand it's an arms giving moment. 

[00:33:31] He tells us about the man born lame. He tells us about the positioning of the man he tells about which gate he's at, because these are all powerful factors and contributors to the way we understand the behavior of Peter and John. And the way then this story speaks to us in the 21st century. And continues to speak to us. 

[00:33:50] And, and, and of course there's two levels for me. We wanna be absolutely open to the power of the spirit. And I wanna be a person who's open to the leading of the spirit that when silver and gold isn't gonna fix something that the power of the spirit is the answer to, to a person's problem. So we wanna be open to that. 

[00:34:05] Absolutely. But secondly, there, there are some, some challenging images and pictures around this story, which ultimately the book of. It, it records the church has to grapple with and get control of and get an understanding of so that we, we remain a community that is seen and a community that sees. And the only way we can be seen is to be out there. 

[00:34:31] And the only way can we can see is to be there and we must never ever allow our activity to be either contained or restricted. By the brilliance of a gate or by the beauty of a wall. So, so I, I, I think there's something really, really mixed up all beautifully powerful in this one. One level is a simple story at another level. 

[00:34:56] I think it's a powerful message to the church. 

[00:34:59] David: I, I love this notion that we can stand by a beautiful gate around Harris temple, which is one of the, the great, the great projects of the ancient world, but what it is. That causes us wonder and amazement, as it says in verse 10 is what the holy spirit has done in a person's life. 

[00:35:20] John: be. that's beautiful. That's a great thought. That is a great thought. That's a great, and, and just a little addition to that, David, that, that, that idea of wonder there it is wonder and amazement, but wonder their Thabo. It's only used by Luke. So it's used twice in the gospel of Luke and, and only once in the book of accent, Dr. 

[00:35:40] Luke is the one that use it every time and, and. What, what a gorgeous thought you have. I, I is just a beautiful, beautiful idea that where people would've had wonderment and amazement that a bronze covered gate. Now they've got wonder an amazement at a, at a lay man. Who's now leaping around, healed by the power of Jesus. 

[00:36:01] What a great thought. That's just tremendous.