SUNDAY APRIL 14 2024 - OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE
April 14, 2024
Deborah Laforet
Outside the Temple
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by
your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
How many of you have lived in a small, rural town? It’s a very different experience from
living in a large, urban centre. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but it’s probably
most difficult for those who are used to one and move to another. Twice in my life, I
experienced moving into a small, rural town. The first time was when I was eight years old. I
moved into a very small farming community in mid-Michigan. I don’t think small towns try to
be insular, but it’s like being the one who marries into a family. You’re coming into established
relationships, and you might feel like an the outsider for a long time, as you learn the stories, the
dynamics, and what to say or do or what to avoid.
I have always been shy, introverted, and frankly, socially awkward, and at eight years old,
having moved to a small town after the death of my dad, I was also a bit traumatized. It was
difficult to make friends and it was impossible for me to fit in and belong. My first real
friendship started when I was twelve. For many years, I was very lonely. Although there were
many things I loved about high school and that small town, I eagerly left it after high school for a
university just outside of Detroit.
The second time I moved into a small town was through the church settlement program.
In 2012, the church was near the end of a practice of placing new ministers in locations that
found it difficult to attract ministers. I was settled in a very small town in south-eastern
Saskatchewan, and again, I was moving into a town where people had lived for their whole lives,
and knew every person in town, and the skeletons in their closets. This time, it wasn’t me who
was the shy and awkward one. Well, actually yes, I will always be the shy and awkward one, but
this time, I had a son who just did not fit in to this small town full of farm boys and hockey
players. He struggled. He was bullied, even by his teachers. Our final year there, we
homeschooled him, because we didn’t feel the school was a safe environment for him.
I’m not trying to demonize small towns. There are many wonderful aspects of living in a
small town, but for some, they can be places of exclusion. If you’re the only non-white person,
you’ll stick out. If you’re openly gay, you become an easy target. If you have a disability,
accessibility can be inaccessible. AND, this does not only happen in small towns. When people
attempt to join any small community, whether that be a school, the workplace, a neighbourhood,
a church, they may hit these same obstacles.
I think each one of us has probably experienced being left out, for a variety of reasons. In
our story today, we have a man, lame from birth, who was being carried to one of the gates of the
Temple. We read that, “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.” Was he not allowed into the
temple? Was he not welcome and possibly bullied within the walls of the temple? Like other
characters we’ve seen in these gospel stories, being lame did seem to be an obstacle to being a
part of society. Jesus healed many who had been declared unclean and who lived on the margins.
People with disabilities were seen as a burden because they couldn’t be productive, they were
seen as a nuisance because they couldn’t conform, and sometimes they were even hidden and
pushed away so they couldn’t even be seen. And much of this has not changed in 2000 years.
So there this man was, trying to be productive by gathering alms, maybe to feed himself,
and maybe to support a family. We are not told who the people are who carried him to the
temple each day. Did they receive a portion of what he earned at the end of the day? Was this a
way to make him productive? We don’t know, but there he sat, begging people for mercy,
hoping people would be generous and compassionate to give him a few coins.
Up walk Peter and John. Peter and John, apostles of Jesus, have, of course, not
abandoned their Jewish practices. They believe in Jesus, as resurrected Messiah, but they are
still Jewish. They are heading into the temple at the hour of prayer and this man begs for alms
from them. We are told that, “Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’”
How many of us truly look into the eyes of someone sitting on the curb asking for
money? How many of us truly engage with that person? For that matter, when we see someone
who is in a wheelchair or is missing a limb, or is developmentally delayed, how many of us stop
and truly see the person and not just their disability? Peter looks intently at this man and tells the
man to also look at him and John.
Peter tells him that he has no gold or silver coin but what he can give, he gives in the
name of Jesus of Nazareth. He commands the man born lame to get up and walk. Peter and
John help him to stand. His legs and ankles are made strong and he walks and he leaps through
those gates and into the temple, praising God. The healing of this man moves him from outside
of the temple to inside of the temple, from someone not able to participate in the worshipping
community to being a part of the worshipping community.
Now we may not have the power Peter had to heal the physical disability of a person, but
we do have the power to reach out and bring a different kind of healing, the healing that comes
from being included, the healing that comes from finding a place of belonging. Contrary to our
story, hopefully we aren’t expecting anyone to change before they are given that access to enter
the doors. Hopefully those beautiful gates to the beloved community are open and accessible,
with no stairs, no locks, no gatekeepers, and an extra wide entrance. I imagine that not only
those previously excluded would experience healing but those who had excluded and missed the
opportunity to know and love those kept on the outside would also experience a kind of healing.
We are all different. Some of our differences are more obvious than others. Some are
more complex, but according to the God in whom we profess to believe, all are a part of God’s
wonderful creation and all are loved, wholly and completely, just as they are.
Just before this healing story, we have the story of Pentecost, which we’ll hear in a few
weeks. In this story, Peter preaches to people of all different nations and we are told the disciples
baptize 3000 people in one day. My guess is that they did not ask these people to prove
themselves, did not ask them to provide credentials, and did not make sure everyone fit into a
certain way of life or standard of living before they would allow them to be baptized. After all,
Jesus broke bread with outsiders and hung out with people others would not. If they were
following the example of Jesus, all would have been welcome, all that wanted to be baptized and
included in this new things, would have been washed in those waters and invited to join this new
community.
We seek to create this kind of community here and today, where all are welcome, where
all are given a place at the table, where all can come as they are and find a place of safety,
belonging, and love. It’s why we fly our rainbow flag. It’s why we announce that our
communion table is open to all. It’s why all are invited to participate. And it’s never easy, but
it’s so worth it. Thanks be to God. Amen.
(Introduce yourself.)
Today we continue to explore the Acts of the Apostles. Today’s story follows the
ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, the day we
call Pentecost. I am reading from the third chapter, the first ten verses.
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three
o’clock in the afternoon. 2 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. 3 When he saw Peter and John
about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. 4 Peter looked intently at him,
as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them,
expecting to receive something from them. 6 Peter said, “I have no silver or gold,
but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and
walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately
his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 Jumping up, he stood and began to walk,
and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 All
the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and they recognized him as the
one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they
were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him.
May the Spirit grant us understanding of this text. Amen.