Stephen’s call and response

After the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, the apostles realized that they were now the leaders of the followers of Jesus. What this meant to them was not immediately clear, but gradually, through experience, they realized that they could not do everything.

Prayer and preaching the word of God had to come first. Actions, such as serving at the table–important acts of charity that they were, could be done by others. So the apostles called together the community of disciples and urged them to choose from among their numbers “seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

They chose Stephen and six others. Thus, the Apostles were set free to concentrate on their primary duties of prayer and preaching the Word.

Of those chosen to do acts of charity in the church, Stephen appears as a leader.  He was “filled with grace and power” and worked “great wonders and signs among the people.” This aroused antagonism toward him among those who were not followers of Jesus. However, “they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.”

They instigated some men to say that they had “heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” This angered the people so much that Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, and false witnesses were brought in who claimed that he “never stops saying things against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him claim that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy the place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

But, throughout all of these false statements, “those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the fact of an angel.” Given the opportunity to respond, Stephen gave a speech in which he delivered a discourse on the whole of salvation history up to his time.
This, of course, was supposedly the basis of the spiritual life of his listeners, but Stephen’s insights told him that they were not living by it. He said, “You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”

This aroused anger in his listeners and “they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him.” Stephen, however, was not affected by this and continued to tell them,  “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”

This was the last straw for his audience; “They cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.

“As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ and when he said this, he fell asleep.”

Thus the Church received her first martyred saint. It is worthy of special note that even as his enemies were stoning him to death, Stephen was praying that they would be forgiven this horrendous sin. Let us all reflect on how we too are called to forgive those who hurt us and to pray for them.