Why are you so surprised?

So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. – Acts 3.12-13

God was doing some amazing works in the early days of the church. Some of this was to get the world's attention since Jesus was gone and the Bible was not yet done.

We read that when the lame man went leaping and jumping up and down as we came into the Temple the people were surprised – and no wonder. They had seen him every day begging by the roadside.

'Why are you so surprised at this men of Israel? Why do you act like we did this by our own power? God, the God of our fathers has done this. He glorified His Son Jesus, but you delivered Him up to the courts and demanded His death even when Pilate wanted to release Him.'

Following on we read 'But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.'

They didnt have a clue who they were sending to His death, now Peter is telling them that this is the One who healed the lame man.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised that these guys were surprised. They didn't know Jesus or what He could do.

These people remembered Jesus. They knew who He was. They had seen His miracles. They had seen His great works. Did they really think that could stop Him?

On another note, we should never be surprised at what God does when He works. We can never forget that wonder of His mighty works and stand in awe when we are reminded of His goodness. But we should never be surprised at Him. After He is our God and He loves us. We simply ought to be grateful.