This Man Stephen – Acts 7:55-60

A text – Acts 7:55-60 

⁵⁵ 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. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ⁵⁷ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. ⁵⁸ 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. ⁵⁹ While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ 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.

A reflection:

Who is this man, St Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian faith? We meet him early in Acts 6 when the followers and early converts to the faith are growing in numbers so fast they cannot all be fed fairly and their needs met compassionately. The leadership elects seven men, headed by this man Stephen, who is wise and faithful beyond his years. He also does signs and wonders among the people. This makes him a target for jealous religious leaders of his day, who make false accusations against him that he preaches against Moses and that he follows Jesus. Of course, the leadership of the Jewish council are still mad about Jesus, trying to erase him and his influence, so they believe the false charges. They drag him in to testify before the Sanhedrin. One of them asks Stephen, “Are these charges true?” and Stephen, with the “face of an angel,” talks for 53 verses, telling them their national history accurately from Abraham through Joseph through Moses, the Exile, and right up to Jesus; “And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it,” he concludes.

That is where our text for this week picks up, at Stephen’s stoning at the hands of the Sanhedrin, while Saul (later St. Paul) holds their coats. And Stephen, still focused on Jesus and the lights of heaven he is about to see in person, asks the Lord to forgive them, just as Jesus did for his killers as he hung on the cross. Our text from John this week promises it: if we are persecuted, all we have to do is relax and let the Holy Spirit give us the words to say. Stephen embodies this instruction. He is certainly Spirit-filled and confident in his discipleship, even though it costs him his life at the hands of people who had seen his godliness but were also stuck in their envy and pride and willful rejection of God’s messengers.

We are unlikely to be stoned for standing up for our faith. For one thing, people don’t stone folks much anymore. For another, we live our faith so quietly we might not even be discovered to be believers. But when we actually face a moment where we could take action to live out our faith in view of others, let’s do it boldly, like Stephen, and also let’s ask God to not hold others’ ignorance and bad actions against them. How better to be like Jesus – and the disciples – and this man Stephen?

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the early believing community, a glimpse of Stephen. Help us to notice our own chances to live out our faith. Help us to be bold to take those risks and then relax and let the Holy Spirit speak through us. May it be so. Amen.