What I have I give you, in the name of Jesus get up and walk
Peter was a poor man. He had neither gold nor silver, the currencies of those days. In other words, he had no cash on him. He had abandoned his trade as a fisherman in order to follow Jesus. He was far away from Galilee his home. Jesus whom he had followed was also a poor man. He had left behind his own home and carpentry in Nazareth in order to dedicate himself to his mission. He had bequeathed his followers no inheritance, no land or property, no bank account. But he had left them his Spirit; himself.
When Peter invited the beggar to look at them, the beggar looked up expecting money. When Peter told him that he had neither silver nor gold, perhaps he felt a wave of disappointment and anger. Money is what he expected. When Peter added that he would give what he had, the beggar might have thought that Peter was about to give him a piece of bread or a piece of cloth. He could never have thought of being made to walk, for he had never walked before. Peter was only at the beginning of his mission; he had not performed miracles for the beggar to see. The beggar received much more than he ever expected or dreamt of. He could now earn his own living with dignity. He jumped around like a calf that has just learnt walking, experiencing that joy we felt as babies when we had learnt how to walk and which we forgot so long ago.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the needs of those who are poor. Sometimes we are over-anxious about how to sustain ourselves and our communities or institutions. It is easy to forget that we have all that we need in Jesus. We have the key to all gifts. The faith that Peter had in the risen Jesus is also available to us for the taking. We may not perform miracles of making the cripple walk as Peter did. Yet we can through introducing people to Jesus by our life and words, make people who are crippled in their way of thinking, or their sins, learn to walk again.
Jesus is available to us in the same way as he was to the men on the way to Emmaus. We are like foolish people so slow to understand the scriptures which we already have. He is ready to explain the scriptures we hear at Mass and to break the bread for us, so that he warms our hearts within us, allows us to recognize him, and inspires us to go out, regardless of how tired we felt before, in order to share the good news with others.
