I.
As we turn our attention to this account in Acts, pay attention to the people and the actions.

Take time to get the entire scene in your mind. Visualize the people mentioned, the places named and the interactions between these folks.

II.
Acts 3:1-11 (NRSVue)

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him.

While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s Portico, utterly astonished.

III.
Where are Peter and John headed to? Why are they going there? Where did they come from?

OK, the last question is not referenced in this Scripture, and not explicitly in the preceding sentences (Acts 2:43-47) either, but maybe the preceding passage offers some suggestions.

Did you notice, “… at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon.”

This suggests to me they are going to pray in the Temple at one of the designated “hour(s) of prayer.” If you transferred this to our context, we would probably say Peter and John were on their way to a service of afternoon prayer at “church.”

Who and what stops them on their walk to their Temple prayers?

With those thoughts in mind, return to the passage and read it once again and pay attention for anything new you notice.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}