Spending Time with Stephen

Acts 7:55-58 & 60

But [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into 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.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. . . . And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone (Part One)

[W]hen it comes to [Stephen’s] own death, he shouts out a prayer at the top of his voice, as rocks are flying at him and his body is being smashed and crushed, asking God not to hold this sin against them. That is every bit as remarkable as the vision of the open heaven and the son of man standing as counsel for the defense. It is the up-ending of a great and noble tradition. If we knew nothing about Christianity except the fact that its martyrs called down blessing and forgiveness, rather than cursing and judgment, on their tortures and executioners, we would have a central, though no doubt puzzling, insight into the whole business.

There is of course only one explanation. They really had learned something from Jesus, who made loving one’s enemies a central, non-negotiable part of his teaching (123-4).

Aaron Orendorff

Because my devotions for the past week or so have been so irregular, the story of Stephen, which should have taken around four days to work through (Acts 6:8—7:60), has instead taken twelve. It’s a very odd story in which to spend nearly two weeks of quite times. Not really a natural pick-me-up. One of the most promising new leaders in the Jerusalem church—“full of grace and power” coupled with “a wisdom and a Spirit” no one was able to withstand—is railroaded by a corrupt court and murdered not as the culmination of wide-spread persecution, but as its trigger. What are we supposed to do with a story like that? Let me point out three lessons.

One, we ought to recognize God’s good sovereignty even in the worst of circumstances. At the end of Stephen’s story, we are introduced to a man named Saul and the Jerusalem church is “scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” (8:2). Both the persecutor and the persecuted alike will serve as vehicles for the gospel.

Two, we ought to recognize that to bear witness to the message of Jesus often means bearing witness with much more than our words. Stephen’s speech and death are both testimonies to the power and nature of the gospel.

Three, it is in the fray and pain of life (and even in the grip of death) that communion with Christ is most keenly and powerfully experienced.