In the weeks following Easter we follow a series  of readings from the Acts of The Apostles, watching the life of the new church living out the experience of the resurrection.  This week is no different, and our readings are Acts 3.12-19 and  Luke 24.36b-48.

We get only a hint of the context of Peter's speech in the Acts reading, in his question 'why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk'.  He's referring to a miracle that's just been performed.   If you read the opening verses of this chapter you find a paralysed man begging for alms, and instead receiving healing in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Unsurprisingly the people who witnessed it were 'filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened', and 'utterly astonished'.  Well, I say 'unsurprisingly' - but it turns out this reaction was surprising to Peter - it's precisely the context for his opening words in the reading as we encounter it, 'You Israelites, why do you wonder at this?'

What a question!  Why might they wonder?  Well, perhaps because a paralysed man is wandering around - which doesn't happen everyday!  Perhaps because it's been accomplished in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom maybe they have heard of as that rebel executed by the Romans a short while ago.  Perhaps because those words of healing were uttered in a Galilean accent, here, in the middle of Jerusalem, and can anything good come from there?  

No, I don't wonder why they wondered; but I am filled with wonder at Peter's wondering.  Here is a man transformed.  Here is a man who until very recently was hiding out, fearing for his life, and denying he even knew Jesus, now walking through the streets of Jerusalem in broad daylight bringing healing in his name, and speaking boldly and eloquently of the God he has come to know, and the Christ he has experienced.  Here is a rude fisherman from the beyonds, lecturing the folk of the city and about to go toe to toe with the priests, and teachers of the law.  (Who, incidentally, share my amazement at all this - chapter 4, verse 4, 'when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed')

But more than all this incredibly unlikely reversal of courage, character, and clarity, I am filled with wonder at how Peter now so completely and utterly believes, how fully he is now envisaged with the Kingdom, and the power of Christ, that he can utter amazement that others aren't.  It's as obvious to him that Jesus can heal, and will, as it is that the sun will shine and give heat - surely everyone can see that?  

I don't want to suggest that we all need to believe with that level of certainty (though we may aspire to it), just that we might take time to wonder at, and be encouraged by, the Peters that there have been, and are:  those people who through history have so caught the vision of the Kingdom to come that they shine with the difference it can make in the here and now.  If we deliberately, for a time, stand beside them and look at the view, and be reminded of the glory that lies ahead, maybe we too can be gifted the courage to be change, learn to hold more lightly our expectations of the now, and allow it too to be transformed into and by the not yet.

Be bold in believing, take heart from the faith of those around you, and be filled with wonder!