Children of Acts- The Lame Man's Son

CHILDREN OF ACTS

THE LAME MAN’S SON

By Robert Allen

A monolog for a young boy.

“Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s 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 3:7-8

               

            I have always hated my job.  I know that sound terrible especially when you learn what my job is.  But it is true.  I hate my job.  That’s why I am so excited to be done with it.   But I am getting ahead of myself.

            My job for the last five years has been the same.  Every morning I get up really early, place my father in a small cart and push him over to the temple.  That’s right, I push my father to the temple.  You see, he can’t walk.  Mother knew that when she married him because he has been lame since he was born.  But she loves him, and so do I. 

            That part of the job isn’t hard and that’s not what I hate about my job.  What I hate is sitting there next to him all day while he begs.  I know it is the only way he can get money to feed us and clothe us, but I still hate it.  Some of the people are really nice and I can tell that they care.  But most of them?   They laugh at him on their way down the street toward us and they put money in his begging cup only to look good in the eyes of their friends.  Sometimes I walk away from father just to avoid their condescending looks, but then it gets even worse.  When I walk away I hear what they say about him on their way into the temple.

            “I wonder what he did to deserve such punishment from God?”

            “Who knows.  But he must be a great sinner.” 

            “For sure.  But then, maybe it was his parents.  After all, he was born that way.”

            “They probably blasphemed Jehovah.”

            “Maybe God knew he would not honor his parents and punished him in advance.”

            “He must have broken all of the commandments to end up a beggar.”

            These were the same people who had just given him alms and were now going into the temple to worship.  It was almost enough to make a person hate the God they claimed to worship.  After five years of that I was ready to blaspheme God myself for what He had done to my father.  Until today.

            The day began just like any other.  We arrived at the temple early and I helped father take his usual place by the Gate Beautiful.  We hadn’t been there very long when two men walked down the street in our direction. 

            “Alms?”  said father, just the way he always did.  “Could you give a man some alms to provide for his family?”

            The two men stopped and actually looked at us.  I could tell something was different about them, but I had no idea how different.  They just seemed to care.  It had nothing to do with money for them.  In fact one of them said right away that they didn’t have any money to give.  But that didn’t matter when I saw what they did next.  The larger of the two men grabbed father by the wrist and lifted him off the ground.  I jumped to my feet ready to catch him when he fell back down onto the street, but he didn’t fall.  My father, who had never stood up or walked his entire life, stood up and walked.

            “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” I heard the men say, “rise up and walk.”

            Rise up and walk.  That’s what they said and that’s what he did.  But he didn’t stop there.  Father started jumping up and down.  He ran around the courtyard in a big circle.  He shouted and cried and hugged the two men.  He said “thank you” probably a dozen times.  And then he jumped again and grabbed my hands and made me jump with him.  All of the time he was running and jumping he was also praising God.

            We both followed the men into the temple and all those who had seen what happened to my father followed them as well.  So Peter and John, that’s what they were named, started telling all of us about this Jesus of Nazareth who they said healed my father.  It was a wonderful story full of love and sacrifice and salvation.  That’s right, salvation.  I lost my old job that day, but I gained a new one.  And it’s a job I love.  I’m going to spend the rest of my life telling people about Jesus.  Jesus, the man who not only healed my father but who also saved my soul.