God made it clear that all peoples who accepted Jesus as their Savior were to be included in the Body of Christ. Nevertheless, Christians from the Greek community felt they weren’t being given as much as Jewish Christians, so they complained to the Apostles in Jerusalem.
Wisely, the Apostles advised the Hellenist Christians to select seven Spirit-filled men with good reputations to be in charge of food distributions and other acts of service. Stephen, one of the seven, had so much wisdom and power that he caught much attention, including negative attention that jealousy brings. With false witnesses ready to speak against him, Stephen was seized, charged falsely, and called before the High Priest to defend himself, even though his name and position indicate he came from the Hellenists.
Regardless, Stephen knew the Torah well. Beginning with Abraham, whom he called his father in the faith, Stephen proceeded to show how the Law and the Prophets pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. He did not stop there, however, but went on to accuse his accusers of killing “the Righteous One.”
This did not go over too well! When the council heard these words, they became enraged:
And, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, saw into Heaven.
He saw the Glory of God.
He saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And he said, Behold!
I see Heaven opened!
I see the Son of Man
standing
at the right hand of God.
And the men cried out with a loud voice
and they stopped up their ears
and they rushed toward Stephen
as one,
and they cast him out of the city,
and they cast their coats and their cloaks
toward a young man named Saul,
and they stoned Stephen to death,
but before he died,
Stephen cried out:
“LORD Jesus, receive my spirit!”
And Stephen fell to his knees
and, in a loud voice, said:
“Oh, LORD, please
do not hold this sin against them.”
And that day,
Saul approved
of the way Stephen was treated.
And that day,
persecution began
to sway the people one way or another,
scattering all – but the Apostles –
in Judea and Samaria
like seeds sown,
like new seeds sown.
©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler prayer-a-phrased today’s Daily Bible Reading in Acts 7:54:60-8:1.
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Religious persecution. Such a powerful statement. Only God can be the true judge of our faith, and yet I can only imagine what turmoil must have existed at a time of the beginning of the Church. This story gives me shivers every time I hear it, because I do not know that I would have the courage that Stephen possessed to face the angry mob and impending death. I pray for that kind of strength to persevere in the face of every adversity that challenges my faith.
ReplyDeleteThank God for keeping us from challenges we cannot withstand! I suspect, though, that seeing Jesus - not just sitting by the right hand of God but standing as people do when they jump up to watch their team score - must have gotten Stephen's attention with such strength and focus, he might not have felt anything else after that.
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