The
Martyrdom of St. Stephen
[Acts
chapter 7, verses 51-60; chapter 8, verses 1-3]
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Last
week when we left off at verse 50 of Acts chapter 7, Stephen was
continuing to give his testimony regarding the phony charges against
him. Stephen had just finished reminding his accusers that God didn't
need their big, fancy temple at Jerusalem, or any of the smaller ones
elsewhere either (see
last week's post here in case you missed it). Today as we close
out chapter 7 of the Book of Acts, Steven makes his concluding
remarks which would soon cost him his life. But it's the way Steven
went about doing this that made him such a remarkable individual. So
let's take up where we stopped last week beginning at verse 51.
“'You
stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just
like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever
a prophet your fathers did not persecute?They even killed those who
predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed
and murdered him – you who have received the Law that was put into
effect through angels but have not obeyed it.' When they heard this,
they were furious and they gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen,
full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of
God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look', he said, 'I
see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
God.' At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of
their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and
began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at
the feet of a young man named Saul.”
(Acts 7, verses 51-58)
Stephen's
calling out of the Sanhedrin, in response to his being called out
first, had now escalated to calling his accusers “stiff-necked
people”. This was not merely out-of-date, old-fashioned 1st-century
name calling; that phrase actually comes from the same Bible the
Sanhedrin claimed as their own. That phrase comes from Exodus 34: 9
in the Old Testament, where Moses called the entire nation of Israel
“a stiff-necked people” who could not or would not obey the God
who had previously led them out of 400 years of slavery in ancient
Egypt. Yet these Pharisees, Sadducee's and teachers of the law
claimed to teach and follow Moses! So Steven is telling the Sanhedrin
they had no right to accuse him when the temple leadership was guilty
of far worse. And they most certainly were, as we all know by now!
“Was
there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed
those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have
betrayed and murdered him....”
“Him”, of course, meant Jesus Christ, who they had nailed to the
cross, together with their Roman accomplices. Steven made them all
guilty by association with the deaths of Christ and the prophets of
old: from Samson to Jeremiah and Isaiah. “When
they heard this, they were furious and they gnashed their teeth at
him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and
saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
'Look', he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at
the right hand of God.'”
This bears some serious consideration on our part. How many of us
have ever been so filled with the Risen Spirit of Christ that we
could visually see Christ in heaven? I have never had any such
experience myself, nor have I ever met anyone who has. This just goes
to show all of us how much further we have to go to get our walk with
Christ up to the level Stephen was operating on. Yes, that includes
myself, as life has long since taught me.
Stephen's
accusation against his own accusers, which was followed by Stephen's
vision of Christ at God's right hand, made them all completely livid.
“'Look', he
said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right
hand of God.' At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top
of their voices, they all rushed at him....”
When Stephen uttered those words, that was the breaking point for the
Sanhedrin. Stephen's stunningly brilliant defense of himself,
basically acting as his own attorney, had frustrated the Sanhedrin's
efforts to prove their case against him, a case that had been bogus
right from the start. By now you can see many parallels between
Stephen being tried before the Sanhedrin and Jesus being tried before
Pilate. Both were falsely accused of blasphemy against the temple and
against God, and both received the death penalty unjustly. Moreover
Stephen, like Christ, went to his death voluntarily and without
complaint, even though any such complaints about mistreatment would
have been true. And then we see Saul enter into the picture for the
first time in verses 59 and 60.
“While
they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.' Then he fell on his knees and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold
this sin against them.' When he had said this, he fell asleep. And
Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great
persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except
for the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly
men buried Stephen, and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to
destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and
women and put them in prison.”
(Acts 7, verses 59-60; Acts 8, verses 1-3)
Just
like Jesus on the cross, who, shortly before taking his last breath,
said, “Forgive them Father, they don't know what they are doing”
(see Luke 23: 34), so it was with Stephen when he said, “Lord,
do not hold this sin against them.”
Forgiveness, you see, is one of the basic tenets of genuine
Christianity. Christ forgave us first when he died on the cross, and
then he erased our sins by rising again on the morning of the third
day. As his followers and aspiring disciples, we emulate Christ by
forgiving one another (“forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us”), with the understanding that our
forgiveness towards each other is followed by God's forgiveness for
all our sins past, present and future. Moreover, we cannot expect God
to forgive us unless we willingly forgive each other first. This can
be extremely difficult in the worst cases. It's hard to forgive the
valet who just burned rubber with your car, for example. But it's
even harder to say, 'Father, forgive them, they don't know what they
are doing”, while you watch 3 carjackers driving your car, which
they just stole right out from under you, down the street at full
throttle. Still more than that if they just shot you in the process!
What's the hardest type of forgiveness? Forgiving those who abused us
as children, and I'm speaking from experience.
“And
Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great
persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except
for the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.”
Stephen's illegal execution was the catalyst for the tremendous
persecution of the early church that followed for many years
afterward. People were fleeing every which way they could to get out
of the way – and out of reach – of the ever-menacing Roman
soldiers and their associates who collaborated with Rome. Saul of
Tarsus is mentioned here for the first time, but we will get to his
story in Acts chapter 10.
“....all
except for the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
Godly men buried Stephen, and mourned deeply for him.”
Plainly many believers and followers of the Word, while quite
sincere, were not as far along in their faith as Steven was. Steven
willingly died, but the rest were scattered out of a sense of
self-preservation, which is perfectly understandable. I don't think
those who fled the persecution were cowards, nor do I think they
sinned when they fled. I strongly suspect that many who fled the
persecution of the early Church had families, and they fled for the
children's sake. But those who stayed behind “mourned deeply” for
his loss. After the apostles, as the apostles came after Christ,
Steven stands tall in the annals of Christendom as well as the
chronicles of the early Church as a case study in maintaining one's
faith even to the point of death. It is entirely possible that many
Christians will die for their faith here in the 21st
century. It's already happening in the Middle East, Russia, China and
North Korea, among other places.
“But
Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he
dragged off men and women and put them in prison.”
This is exactly why people were fleeing. It was like a police SWAT
team, or like the Storm Troopers in Hitler's Germany or the KGB in
Soviet Russia (owing to the fact that they're all very similar).
Either open the door and let them in, or they will knock down the
door and shoot you to death. It was like that, except that swords and
spears were substituted for firearms back then. So now you know that
the Roman Empire was small potatoes compared to the American Empire
of today, and that the threat we face is far greater today than what
the early Christians ever faced back then. Next week we will begin a
verse-by-verse examination of Acts chapter 8. See you then!
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