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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. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, \u201cLook at us!\u201d So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, \u201cSilver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.\u201d Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man\u2019s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. (Acts 3:2-8)

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Every day, a man who could not walk was carried to the church. Every day he begged the people going to church to worship God to give him money. And so he made his difficult living. We\u2019re not told, but no doubt there were unkind comments, aggressive refusals, and jokes thrown at him from those who quite literally looked down on the man who could not stand.

Begging was not an honourable thing to do. Beggars were not necessarily clean folk to touch. \u201cDeath is better than begging\u201d said some ancient Jewish writers (Sirach 40:28). Beggars were objects. Akin with the gate the beggars sat in\u2014no more humanity to them than the architecture. They were naught but objects of charity for the more privileged, able-bodied folks to demonstrate their piety upon.

Now, this man had been lame from birth. His situation was not of his own making, nor was there anything he could do to change the realities that had placed him in this disparity of health or economic standing. He was simply born that way. Out of his control. Yet it forced unkind, even cruel societal distinctions and labels upon him like \u201clame\u201d and \u201cbeggar\u201d and \u201cobject of charity.\u201d He\u2019s not even dignified with a name.

Yet when Peter and John, the Spirit-filled witnesses of Jesus\u2019 kingdom walk through, they hear him. They are affected by him\u2014and they stop their trip to worship at the sound of this man\u2019s voice. Then they turn to him and they see him. The text almost uncomfortably points out how they \u201clooked straight at him.\u201d And they would not move their gaze until he met it. \u201cLook at us!\u201d Peter said. This was not a cold, passing transaction that one has with an object\u2014this was a real, person-to-person, human encounter.

Peter and John did not only dignify the man\u2019s humanity, though that was an important part of their witness. They also offered him a taste of the kingdom. One that not merely pitied the man or helped him, but one that reached out and was willing to make contact with the man through touch. It was a taste of the kingdom that quite literally raised him up and made him an equal part with them. This taste of Jesus\u2019 kingdom restored his dignity, empowered him, healed him, made well and made right the evils of this world as embodied in his story\u2014evils that once seemed beyond any remedy.

No matter how someone looks, where they were born, the colour of their skin, the tenor of their accent, the ability of their body, or their gender\u2014they are human persons, created in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity. All these distinctions we make are distinctions we make. But their worth in the eyes of God does not change. Jesus came for such as these. The Holy Spirit works among all of these. And as witnesses of the kingdom of God, we are called to join Him.

So: who among the image-bearers of God have you treated as an object, rather than as a person? Who is crying out at the gates that you might need to hear and listen to? Who is longing for restoration that you might be called to see? How can you, in the Name of Jesus, offer to the least of these, a true empowering, restorative, dignifying taste of the kingdom of God?

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