Today is the Feast of St. Stephen the first Martyr of the Christian faith.
To some it might be an odd thing that the very first thing celebrated after the birth of Christ in the Christmas Season is the slaughter of one of his early followers and one of the first appointed deacons of his Church but it’s an important point in terms of both of why he is killed and how he dies.
When people find themselves unable to assail his arguments for Christ he is accused of blasphemy and when brought forth before the authorities he recounts the history of the Jewish race from God’s call of Abraham to Solomon before finally declaring:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”
And then the words that sent them over the edge
When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
They instantly take him out and stone him to death yet his final words are:
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”
Why because he didn’t tell them the truth to condemn them, he told them the truth in order for them to see themselves in the light of truth. To see things as they really are and act accordingly. That’s why even in death he asks for mercy for them and ironically one of those there Saul would soon become the messenger of the Lord who would spread the word of Christ far beyond the Jewish community.
Steven’s death reminds us that it is our duty to speak the truth but to never hate those who are trying to teach. He in his speech and death incorporates most of the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy:
- Instructing the Ignorant
- Admonishing the Sinner
- Forgiving injuries
- Bearing wrongs patiently
- Praying for the Living and the Dead
It’s an important reminder that the following of Christ is not without cost.
The 2nd reminder has little to do with St. Stephen but a lot to do with Christ.
We have an Islamic Iman in Florida claiming that Christians are pagans while at the same time supporters of the Palestinian Arabs are claiming that Jesus is a Palestinian and Christians in Bethlehem are trying to use their position to politicize the birth of Christ.
Meanwhile while at the same time we have writers denying the Palestinian attempt to re-write history and rightly claiming Christ as a Jew while at the same time denying his place in history by terming the numbering system of years as the “common era” rather than AD as if there is no special event that this system is about. Taking the Christ out of the entire Calendar.
Using Jesus as a political football has been a favorite sport of people for centuries but C. S. Lewis’ favorite Devil Screwtape gives a warning about this trend.
Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours—and the more “religious” (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here.
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