We are all fairly good at it. When the Salvation Army or the Girl Scouts or some other organization is camped outside Walmart asking for donations or sales and we are not in the mood to donate or buy, we can be distracted with just about anything in order to keep from having to look at the people hoping for our attention. I am ashamed to admit that at times I have even strategically picked which door to walk in so I wouldn't have to walk within eye contact range. We are even better at avoiding eye contact with people who we know are begging in big cities. For some reason, we feel like if we don't acknowledge them, then we can go on with our evening as if we weren't confronted with serious misery and despair.
We can only guess, but I think that is why Luke points to Peter's first actions and words to this beggar at the temple gates. Peter both looked straight at him, and then he invited...instructed the man to look back. If you read the preceding verses, you see that this man was a regular fixture at the temple. His friends brought him every day to beg. If you went into the temple, you passed this man. Most had probably become accustomed and inoculated to his presence and his misery. And he had definitely become accustomed and inoculated to them...to the point that he didn't even look at the people he was begging from. His expectations were very low of people. He certainly was not looking to build any new relationships with the passers-by. He was simply hoping their religious duty and their guilt would twist enough of the worshipers to toss a few coins his way so he could eat.
And then Peter and John came by.
Peter and John who were witnesses to the compassion of Christ.
Peter and John who were witnesses to the glory of the Christ on the Mt. of Transfiguration.
Peter and John who were witnesses of the resurrected Christ.
Peter and John who had the Spirit of the living Christ living in them.
And they really looked at him.
And they invited him to look at them.
If we didn't even finish the story, we could already say that they had given him something of great value. They recognized him as a person and not just a nuisance and a project. They offered him dignity by offering him relationship. Even if it was just the relationship of a look in the eye.
I can't help but think of how many people have lamented never feeling welcomed in churches because of a lack of eye contact. A lack of feeling that anyone viewed them as anything more than just a nuisance or a project. And that is in our Bible classes and our worship assemblies! How much more so the the countless faces who have encountered followers of Christ in restaurants, on streets, and in the checkout line and yet they were never really "looked at" by the Christians nor were they invited to "look at" the Christians in return.
But that's not all Peter and John did for this man. I love the words Peter uses.
"Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you..."
For application purposes, the words that follow really don't matter. Because what they had to offer and what I have to offer and what you have to offer are going to be very different. I may have money to give. You may have time. Someone else may have connections. Another may have the gift of conversation.
What matters is that WHAT WE DO HAVE IS GIVEN IN THE NAME OF CHRIST!!
What do you have to offer someone? If you are not sure you have anything to offer, may I remind you that if you are a baptized follower of Christ, you too have witnessed the compassion, the glory, and the resurrection of Jesus even if you were not one of the original eye witnesses of the first century. And you definitely have the same Spirit of the living Christ living in you. If that is true, then you have something to offer!
May we be a people who really sees other people. May each of us who wear the name of Christ make it our personal duty to ensure that everyone we come into contact with feels his/her significance in the eyes of God by looking into our eyes. And may we be ready and willing to offer whatever it is that we have to offer so that more and more people can run into the temple praising God for what He has done for them through us.
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