STEPHEN: FAITHFUL TO DEATH AND CROWN OF LIFE.
In the name + of Jesus.
On Christmas Day, we sang, “Joy to the World,”
and for good reason. God has become one
of us to save all of us. Jesus Christ is
our joy, granting us hope, new life, and salvation. You probably also found joy in family
gatherings, gift-giving, festive meals, and other seasonal attractions. Not everyone has those, though. Some go through Christmas alone, poor,
hungry, or depressed. If Christmas is
only joyful because of the frills, many people have had a joyless holiday. But if Christmas is about Jesus, then there
is joy that cannot be disrupted by anything—not even death.
Hollywood and Madison Avenue know how to sell
Christmas. It is beautiful, magical, and
perfect. I doubt if anyone’s Christmas
ever lives up to what they depict. So,
it is fitting that we honor a series of minor festivals immediately after
Christmas which remind us of the harshness of life. December 28 commemorates the innocents in
Bethlehem who were slaughtered by Herod the Great who had hoped to kill the
baby Jesus. December 27 commemorates the
Apostle John who was banished to the island of Patmos for his faithful
preaching about Jesus. Today
commemorates the first known martyr in the Christian Church, St. Stephen. These festivals force us to recognize that
sadness, oppression, and suffering are part of life even in the midst of a joyful
season.
In the early church, the apostles were
striving to be faithful witnesses of Jesus, but they were getting pulled in too
many directions. They were overseeing
the distribution of food to the widows, and that was taking them away from
preaching and teaching. To enable them
to devote their full attention to the word of God and prayer, they called seven
deacons to care for the poor and needy.
Stephen was one of those deacons.
Stephen was not an apostle, but he was a
confessor of the faith. Stephen’s testimony
about Jesus was bold, faithful, and undeniable true. The events Stephen confessed were still
etched in the minds of people who had interacted with Jesus. They had heard Jesus preach. They had witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. Though many denied Jesus’ resurrection from
the dead, they could not explain Jesus’ empty tomb or how his disciples continued
to do the miraculous signs Jesus had done.
Even Stephen “was doing
great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8).
Stephen’s faithful confession was met with
opposition. “But,” St. Luke noted, “they could not withstand the
wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). Stephen showed what Moses and the Prophets had
foretold about the Christ. Then he proved
that Jesus of Nazareth had done exactly what the prophets had foretold. Stephen could also refer to the teachings of
Jesus himself. The Pharisees had heard
Jesus say that he would rise from the dead on the third day. Well, either he did or he didn’t. You can’t fake a death and resurrection. So, either Jesus is a fraud or he is exactly
who he said he was, and whom Moses and the Prophets foretold. Stephen’s arguments were so sound that no one
could refute him. They could not deny
what Moses and the Prophets foretold.
They could not deny the claims Jesus made. And they could not explain away the witnesses
of the resurrection. So, they lied.
St. Luke recorded the tactics used against
Stephen—tactics which were also used against Jesus. “They secretly instigated men who said, ‘We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses and God.’
And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they
came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and
they set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never ceases to speak
words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that
this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and
will change the customs that Moses delivered to us’” (Acts
6:11-14).
Satan still uses these tactics against God’s truth and against God’s
people. He makes claims that have an
element of truth in them but twists the facts to make his lies believable. Perhaps you have heard some of the claims—like
Jesus never said a word against abortion or never said he was God or the Bible never
uses the word Trinity. Some Christians,
when they are first confronted by these claims, become unsettled. They don’t know how to answer. Some may think that, since they don’t have an
answer to these claims, there is no answer to these claims. They fear they have been lied to.
This is
one of the reasons we gather together around God’s word. We get to ask how to respond to such claims. We look at the word of God to find
answers. The arguments that might be new
to us are not new to the Church. We come
to hear his truth so that we are not deceived by lies. God speaks in his word to reveal his salvation. The Lord desires you to have forgiveness,
peace, and eternal life. Those who
oppose, however, Christ want to rip salvation away from you. Beware.
The Lord reveals his word to you so that
you can be confident in his promises. We
continue to grow in that word so that we gain a firmer faith, find greater comfort
in times of difficulties, and recognize the lies of all who oppose us. We also learn how to respond to false claims
so that other Christians will not be deceived.
We learn how to give an answer to people who spread lies but have probably
never heard God’s truth. For, those who
make the false claims against the Bible have rarely investigated their own
claims and have rarely heard what God’s word actually says. God does not lie to us. So, when
we can say, “This is what the Lord says,” we stand firm on it. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and you
will receive the crown of life. That is precisely
what Stephen did.
As we noted before, those who refused to believe God’s word “could
not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which (Stephen) was speaking”
(Acts 6:10). Stephen did not agree
to disagree with those who were disputing with him. Either Jesus is God in human flesh or he is
not. Either Jesus rose from the dead or
he did not. Either Jesus brings us salvation
and forgiveness or he does not. Either
these things are true and Jesus has saved you, or they are untrue and there is
no Savior. There is no middle ground on
this. If people reject these teachings,
we dare not look for ways to find common ground with them. We must not apologize for confessing the
truth or accommodate the truth to appeal to those who reject it.
Stephen boldly proclaimed the word of the Lord. Sadly, it was not well received. When sinners stubbornly reject the word of God,
they plug their ears to it. They may
ignore what God says. They may pretend
it does not matter. They may insist that
it does not apply. In the case of Stephen,
“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” (Acts 7:57-58). Rather than bend to the word of the Lord, they silenced the
one who confessed it. Of course,
silencing the word of the Lord does not rob it of its truth. And rejecting the word of the Lord does not excuse
one from being accountable to it.
Stephen was faithful, even to the point of
death. His martyrdom ought to embolden
us to be faithful to Christ and to confess his word. Stephen’s compassion for his enemies serves
as a model for us, too. As frustrated as
Stephen was that these men stubbornly rejected God’s truth, he did not hate
them or curse them. Even as they were
stoning him in rage, Stephen prayed and “cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord,
do not hold this sin against them’” (Acts 7:60). We do not pray for the death of those who
hate us, but that God would enlighten them to see the truth of his word. We especially pray that God will keep us
faithful, even in the face of oppression, hostility, or death.
There is always a temptation for us to try
to make peace with the enemies of Christ.
We have the idea, “If we were not so rigid in our beliefs, they will
like us better. If we bend on the 6th
Commandment, maybe they will honor the 1st Commandment. If we are more open to other ideas, we will
gain more for the Church.” These are all
lies. What do we gain by denying
portions of God’s truth? What portions
of God’s truth do we deem expendable?
How much are we ready to flirt with losing the crown of life? Yes, we could try to find peace at all costs—but
what is the cost?
If the enemies of Jesus rage against us, if
they attack us, if they lie, slander, or even kill us, we need not fear. Consider the case of Stephen. The rage against Stephen did
not change Jesus’ grace to him. The murder
of Stephen did not affect his eternal life.
The gory death of Stephen did not alter the glory he has now. Stephen’s name means crown. What he was named, he finally received. Just as God made him a Christian and kept him
faithful to death, so also God gave him a crown. Stephen boldly confessed Christ rather than be
silent. Christ joyfully confessed Stephen
as his own and gave him the crown of life.
When Jesus was an infant, the aged Simeon
rejoiced at seeing Jesus and sang, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according
to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:29-30). He rejoiced that
he would have a blessed death thanks to the Savior who had come for him, whom
he got to see with his own eyes. St.
Stephen, before he departed this earth, was granted the sight of the glorified
Jesus with his own eyes. Though he died
at the hands of those who hated him, he departed at peace with God and had a blessed
death.
You and I also pray for a blessed death. We see the glory of the Lord who comes to us in the holy sacrament to bless and to save. No matter how we leave this world—like elderly Simeon at home in his bed or like young Stephen by a brutal murder—we get to depart in peace. Jesus has secured that for us by living, dying, and rising for us. We have an incontrovertible word from Jesus which saves us. He will keep us faithful to him through that word and the sacraments. He will grant us a blessed death, for he has conquered death for us. Through Jesus, we will depart in peace. We shall see his glory. And we shall receive the crown of life.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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