“Whatever drew the crowd to Solomon’s Portico and to Peter and John that day, the chances are good what they received when they got there was not at all what they expected. They came to Solomon’s Porch wide eyed and astonished, lured by the mystery of healing, and what they got in return was … a sermon. They came drawn like moths to the ultraviolet glow of miracle, and what they got was the clear, steady light of a homily. In fact, the way the story is told, the author of Acts makes it clear that the main event here is not the healing, but the preaching. …..The healing was powerful, but its true meaning was hidden until the sermon was preached….they misunderstood the source of the healing and assumed that it came from Peter and John….“You’ve got it wrong,” Peter declares in the sermon. “Do you really think that it was our power, our spirituality, our piety, our clever wisdom that healed this man? This is not about us. This is about God.”
[Bartlett, David L. and Taylor, Barbara Brown (2011-05-31). Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 2, Lent through Eastertide: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (Kindle Locations 14386-14388). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.]
After momentous events (both good and bad) we know that many people are drawn to churches, temples and mosques. Consider a time when this happened for you. What lured you there? What were you seeking? What did you expect the message to be? What surprised you? We are wondering this week about the ways in which we bring our expectations to worship or to a certain passage of scripture, only to learn that those words may hold an entirely new message for us. When was a time this happened for you and how has your life changed because of it?