The FESTIVAL of ST. STEPHEN, PROTO-MARTYR

St. Stephen, “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5), was one of the Church’s first seven deacons. He was appointed by the leaders of the Church to distribute food and other necessities to the poor in the growing Christian community in Jerusalem, thereby giving the apostles more time for their public ministry of proclamation (Acts 6:2-5). He and the other deacons apparently were expected not only to wait on tables but also to teach and preach. When some of his colleagues became jealous of him, they brought Stephen to the Sanhedrin and falsely charged him with blaspheming against Moses (Acts 6:9-14). Stephen’s confession of faith, along with his rebuke of the members of the Sanhedrin for rejecting their Messiah and being responsible for His death, so infuriated them that they dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death. Stephen is honored as the Church’s first martyr and for his words of commendation and forgiveness as he lay dying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59-60).

 Acts 6: ⁸ And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen… This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴ 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.”

The freedmen, or literally, the liberated ones, were possibly descendants of manumitted slaves.  So maybe for them to hear that they are freely freed  in Jesus Christ would have been galling and going against the ‘freedom’ they had sought in their own synagogue and earned for themselves, but in Christ they were truly and eternally manumitted.   In front of them and the high priest, in his speech, more like a sermon,  (Acts 7) Deacon Stephen went through Israel’s history.  He  pointed out the way the Lord led them in freedom for Israel only to reject the Lord’s Word and finally that happened to the Messiah Jesus and they resisted the Holy Spirit and the prophets who spoke by the Holy Spirit, and did not keep the Law.  The people did not want to hear the truth about themselves any more and they stoned him to death.

Here was a man full of the Holy Spirit who was in love with the One born yesterday Who alone can free, what no law could free.  We could sing today, ‘On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…Himself:  Jesus Christ’.  “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59-60). And the Lord said before He died, “Father, in Thy hands I commend my spirit” and “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”. 

It is recorded that Stephen’s face shined like an angel’s (6: 15).  “Angel” means “messenger”.  Stephen was a messenger of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ. People will misunderstand both the message and the messenger and think by killing the messenger and the message, they will stop the Lord. They can’t. The temple authorities did not want to hear what Stephen had to say, to say the least.  But why?  The Lord will changed them, and that’s what so many do not want and so they resist and close their ears and cry out because they think they are ‘pretty damn good’. Acts 6:⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”--Luke 6: 26).  And in  our homes, “And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” (St. Matthew 10: 36).  After years of education, especially in universities, that there is no authority, save the self and maybe science, the Scripture is at best a suspect authority.  We make up the rules as we go along, and we like sheep have gone astray, everyone goes according to his own way  (cf. Isaiah 53). Since the Church is derided more and more these days, many want to go along with world, destroying marriage by applauding homosexual intercourse to the pablum of too many televangelists to make a buck with their latest book, and the donations given by so many of their idolaters. They are all applauded and their pastors preach peace, peace when there is not peace. As the prophet Jeremiah said of the preachers of his day (“prophet to priest”) in Israel, goes for us as well, as Stephen knew:

“For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.

They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.  Jeremiah 6

And those churches which are finally speaking more of the truth that sets us free, as did Stephen, are not talked about with gratitude, but hatred.  Maybe some are finally doing the right thing.  The call to repentance has been barely heard in this generation, contrary to all the Lord’s Word.  Many are preaching the unvarnished truth and now many are surprised of this hatred.  I know this from first hand experience as I have been surprised by such virulence.  As German Lutheran pastor and professor, Hermann Sasse, who lived through the Nazi years and after the war emigrated to Australia to be a seminary prof:

“The Lutheran Churches are still sunning themselves in the delusion that they have something to expect from the world other than the dear holy cross, which all those must carry who proclaim God’s Law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to mankind. But this delusion will soon disappear. Our American brethren in the faith will also learn this through painful experiences.” (emphasis added)

Even if churches and the State try to stop the message, it has not worked yet, for the Lord, even through the blood of His saints, wants all men to come to the knowledge of Christ and His Name to free all men and women. And please let us remember that St. Stephen was not stoned to death for his good works and serving, but for preaching the Word of God.

The Lord is clear that our response is overcoming evil with good.We pray for more angels radiant with Christ, as St. Stephen, Proto-Martyr.

Hymnody

Jesus! Name of priceless worth

To the fallen of the earth

For the promise that it gave,

“Jesus shall His people save.”

—Jesus! Name of Wondrous Love (LSB 900:3)

Prayer of the Day

Heavenly Father, in the midst of our sufferings for the sake of Christ grant us grace to follow the example of the first martyr, Stephen, that we also may look to the One who suffered and was crucified on our behalf and pray for those who do us wrong; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.