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Stephen Martyr, Year C, White

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Stephen Deacon, First Martyr

 In the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen is described as one of the seven deacons whose job it is to care for the widows in the early Church in Jerusalem. His eloquent speech before the Sanhedrin, in which he shows the great sweep of Jewish history as leading to the birth of Jesus, the long-expected Messiah, and his impassioned plea that all might hear the good news of Jesus, leads to his inevitable martyrdom by being stoned to death.The description of Stephen in Acts bears direct parallels to that of Christ in Luke’s gospel: for example, the passion; being filled with the Holy Spirit; seeing the Son of Man at the right hand of God, as Jesus promised he would be; commending his spirit to Jesus, as Jesus commended his to the Father; kneeling as Jesus did in Gethsemane and asking forgiveness for his persecutors. Witnessing to Jesus by acting like Jesus in every way is thus seen by Luke as of the essence of the Christian life.

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Gracious Father, who gave the first martyr Stephen grace to pray for those who took up stones against him: grant that in all our sufferings for the truth we may learn to love even our enemies and to seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt, looking up to heaven to him who was crucified for us, Jesus Christ, our mediator and advocate, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

First Reading2 Chronicles 24.20–22

Then the spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, ‘Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.’  But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord.  2King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, ‘May the Lord see and avenge!’ NRSV

Second Reading  Acts 7:51-60

‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’

When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died. NRSV

Gospel Reading Matthew 10:17-22

Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues;18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time;  for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. NRSV

Post Communion Prayer

Merciful Lord, we thank you for the signs of your mercy revealed in birth and death: save us by the coming of your Son, and give us joy in honouring Stephen, first martyr of the new Israel; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

We are enjoying Christmas and yet on December 26 the global church celebrates the feast day of St. Stephen, the first martyr for the Christian faith. Martyr means “witness” and Stephen was the first Christian whose witness to Jesus brought about his death, not on a cross but under a hail of stones and rocks.

Stephen was one of the seven men chosen by the apostles to be a deacon so that they might be able to carry on with their ministry of prayer. The deacons (the Greek word diakonos meaning ‘servant’) were men “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (Acts 6:3) chosen to help serve the material needs of the faithful. St. Stephen, in particular, continues to serve the Church as a model of what it means to follow Christ to the end. 

In the early life of the Christian church all the followers of Jesus attend temple. No doubt the Temple and its sacrificial system became an important part of their understanding of the death of Jesus. They are taught by the twelve Apostles, break bread and pray together. Those who own property and possessions sell what they have and everything is held for the good of all people according to their need. There are difficulties with this idea of sharing, and in Chapter 5 we are told about Ananias and Saphira who pretended to share all their wealth but kept some back and were struck dead for their deception. Its not a very nice story but no doubt it struck fear into the hearts of anybody who thought about not sharing nicely. Another dispute arose over the distribution of food.

There were two groups of Jews in Jerusalem at this time.  The first was the Palestinian Jews. They had been born in Palestine and spoke Aramaic. The second were known as “Hellenists”.  They spoke Greek as their first, or possibly second, language and came from countries surrounding Palestine, in other words they were immigrants. It seems that the Hellenist widows are not being given a fair share of the food when it’s distributed.  Representatives of the Hellenists go to the twelve Apostles and tell them about this so that it could be put right. The Apostles say that they mustn’t be distracted from their work of teaching, preaching and praying. They suggest that the Hellenists appoint from among themselves seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, to sort this out and ensure that food is distributed fairly and equally.

This is when we meet Stephen for the first time.  He and Philip are two of the seven but we don’t hear anything else about the other five except for their names.  And we hear no more about the dispute over the distribution of food. The story in Acts continues with Stephen’s ministry.  We are told he is full of grace and power and performs great signs and wonders. He’s also an evangelist and, unlike the Apostles, travels outside the area of the Temple and Jerusalem. He goes out teaching and preaching in synagogues where the Jews are Greek speaking and speaks with a power and authority that cannot be denied.

The people of these synagogues take against Stephen accusing him of blasphemy. They take him before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and set up false witnesses who claim that Stephen has said that Jesus will destroy the temple and do away with the law of Moses.

Jesus remained silent when charges were brought against him but Stephen launches into a long and powerful speech, not in his defence but, as it turns out, accusing the people of Israel of idolatry and blasphemy. The speech goes on for 53 verses in Acts chapter 7 but it’s well worth reading. The themes of Stephen’s speech, using the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, are:

1. The people of Israel have always been disobedient to God.

2. They have worshipped idols and built shrines to them.

3. They have not kept the law of Moses.

4. They have always rejected and persecuted leaders and prophets who had been chosen by God to save his people.

Stephen concludes by calling them stiff necked, inflexible people who have now done the same as their ancestors did and have killed the Messiah. The speech is inflammatory and it enrages the Sanhedrin and others listening. This is the point at which our reading from Acts began this morning. Stephen looks up and declares that he can see the heavens opened and Jesus, the Son of Man, standing at God’s right hand.  That’s the last straw, all hell breaks out and Stephen is dragged off, probably thrown into a pit, and stoned. A very cruel punishment and a terrible way to die.

Once again Stephen follows in the way of Jesus.  He commends his spirit to his Lord, just as Jesus did:  “Father/Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit” and, remarkably, he forgives his tormenters “Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And he dies.

However something else is born out of this tragedy and the seeds of at least two other stories are about to grow. First of all this triggers a fierce persecution of the followers of Jesus which results in arrests and imprisonment for many.  It also sends the followers of Jesus out of Jerusalem to some far off places where they preach and teach the good news so that the church begins to spread. Secondly, there’s a young man called Saul who guards the coats of the people throwing stones and who approves of this execution.  As we know, Saul becomes a particularly ferocious persecutor of Christians until he travels along the Damascus Road.  He then becomes Paul and takes the Gospel far and wide, preaching not just to Jews but also to Gentiles. Perhaps it was Stephen, his assurance of faith, his words, his vision and his willingness to forgive his enemies, who sparked the faith of Saul. Charles Royden  

 

 

 

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