The Push and Pull of the Apostle’s Healing Ministry

Argentine Mennonite Church

Returning to our journey through Acts, this weeks passage you may have noticed is not a narrative of dramatic events. This week’s passage is instead a summary statement of the early church. We saw another summary statement previously at the end of chapter 4. That statement talked about how much unity there was in that church and also how much they shared their possessions to take care of each others needs. In contrast, this summary statement focuses on the healing ministry of the early church. Just recently in Acts chapter 3 you will remember, we witnessed a dramatic healing story of the man who was born lame and begged in front of the temple gate called beautiful. In our passage today, we are told that there were many such stories. In in verse 15 and 16 it says, “As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil[a] spirits, and they were all healed.”