"Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel."
------- Acts 6:8-15, NIV
Before anyone asks, I used my son's image for this post for two reasons:
1) This is one of my favorite pictures of him, and it always reminds me of a time of such innocence. In the picture, he is standing in a butterfly garden that he asked if we could visit when we visited the Western North Carolina Nature Center, when he was a little guy.
2) To avoid copyright violations, I used an image that is 100% created by me, by snapping the shot on a cell phone years ago.
But going back to innocence, that is what the selected Scripture for this post ends with. For those of us who are believers in Jesus, the narrative in the verses should already seem very familiar. Stephen, one of the early followers of Jesus after Christ was crucified, had followed in the footsteps of Christ. He won all debates with the Pharisees because it wasn't him arguing with them, it was the Holy Spirit. Stephen is one of our earliest pictures of how the Christian believer is supposed to stand for his faith. He gives us the example of how we are to react to confrontation. He gives us the example of ultimate self-control, and submission to the Holy Spirit. He gives us the ultimate example - of following the example of Jesus...literally to the end.
But look at how he faced the persecution and attacks. He certainly did not face it the way sinful, raging temperamental Jason might handle such an attack. In my rage, because of the unfairness of it all, and the gall the Freedmen Synagogue Jews had to persecute innocence, I would have had to have been stoned in self-defense, for I would have definitely wanted to crack some skulls! But no - Stephen's face "was like the face of an angel."
If you read further in Acts (the very next chapter), you will find that his story is almost over, but not before he unloads on the angry mob with words from the Holy Spirit Himself. It is the perfect defense of the faith, with no errors, abounding with truth, and hammers home points like home runs in every paragraph - and this is all while he is bound, with angry eyes surrounding him, staring him down and ready to throw large rocks at his head! At the end of Stephen's story, it says that while they were casting the first stones at him, to kill him, he prayed for Jesus to receive his spirit, and to forgive his persecutors. The last line of his story is telling yet underwhelming; "When he had said this, he fell asleep."
And thus, we have the first martyr in Christendom. The reason I wanted the word 'unsung' to be in the title here, is because I truly believe Stephen is one of the real unsung heroes of the Bible. When we think heroes, we think about David slaying Goliath; we think of Gideon and his 300 defeating Midianites; we think of Elijah challenging the priests of the Baals. It is less glamorous to think of someone like Stephen having his head crushed to death in humility. It is less glamorous to picture Jesus Christ hanging on a Roman form of torture, bloody, beaten and torn.
The hardest thing for most people in this world to swallow is that this is how God expects us to handle the ultimate form of persecution and tyranny from the world. I know I have a hard time with it. But if one truly believes (which I do), where do you think Stephen is now? How are he and Jesus doing NOW? The story of Stephen is certainly not appealing in this world's eyes. We want to see the mistreated, unjustly handled victim Stephen have his avenging justice! We want to see Stephen break his bonds, catch the second stone with his free hands, and defeat the whole mob in battle!
But that is not how it works. That was not in God's plan.
Ah, there's the rub - God's plan. It is so easy to forget His plan, is it not? When the chips are down, and we think things can't get worse, I am sure we want to stick to our plans, and somehow win our way back to defeat injustice ourselves. Yet the more I read Scripture, the more I dig into seminary courses and research and writing - the more I discover that Solomon had it right all along in Ecclesiastes:
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of mankind.
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing
whether it is good or evil."
------- Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, NIV
Therefore I want to recognize Stephen, because I envy his humility. God wins. God serves justice, and will serve ultimate justice in the end. God makes evil pay, and will make evil pay. If we keep this in our memory, then it is easy to admire a man such as Stephen. I hope and pray, that when my faith is truly tested by the world, I can act with such humility, no matter what my exact actions may be. God bless, and thank you for reading.
---JEF
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