Acts 3:11-16

      Well, it's been a few days since I've posted anything, and a few days since I've really looked at anything.  It's been a little tougher as we're in finals week, and I am doing my best to try to focus as much of my attention on my final exams as possible. I may not post very much over this next week, but I still wanted to devote a little time tonight to the reading.  It may not be a lot, but perhaps I will come back to it again at a later time. 

      The reading from Acts 3:11-16 occurs right after Peter and John look intently at the beggar and use the name of Jesus to heal him.  What I find significant here is this word amazement, which (as I mentioned previously) I was slightly obsessed with in our Luke reading. I looked up this word in an old Interlinear Bible that I was given, and found that this word from Acts 3:10 seems to be the same word that is used often in the book of Luke to refer to the reaction of onlookers upon witnessing acts of God, or acts of Jesus (θάμβους)¹.  

     So why is this significant?  What I've noticed in the reading of Luke is that this word seems to be used only when it comes to the reactions of others to the works of God or Jesus.  People are amazed at Jesus, and Jesus lets them be amazed at him, and attention remains with him.  But the moment Peter and John do something that Jesus had previously done and people are amazed, for the first time we see this question asked: "Why do you wonder at this...?" (3:12) That is, I believe we had not previously seen this question asked in Luke.  Because of this, I think this question alone is another one of Luke's ways of drawing distinction to Jesus, and equating the works of Jesus to the works of the Holy Spirit, which are the works of God.  When Peter and John are quick to insist that the attention of the onlookers be turned to Jesus, they are drawing attention away from themselves. They don't want credit for what is done; they don't want the distinction.  They are undeserving of the amazement.  

     This makes me want to be a little more careful in the future of how I use the words "wonder" and "amazement." 

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(1) The Interlinear Bible.  Jay P. Green, Ed. & Trans. Baker (1976): 827.