The very carefully written story of Stephen”s martyrdom takes up a great deal of space in the Acts of the Apostles. The death of the first martyr, shedding his blood to witness to Christ, was an extremely important event in the early Church; thus, it deserved to be set down at length and in detail. It”s worth the trouble to read this story from its beginning, or at least to be aware of it. (Stephen”s activity is summarized in a significant way: “Now Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people.” (Acts 6:8) The elders of the synagogue, scandalized by this “foreigner” and unable to argue effectively with him, bribe witnesses to accuse him of having uttered blasphemy against Moses, against God, and against the Temple saying that Jesus would destroy the Temple and alter the laws given by Moses. (6:9-15) Brought before the Sanhedrin, Stephen embarks on a long accusatory speech: “You always oppose the Holy Spirit…… 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.” (7:1-50) Finally we come to todays reading).
The way Luke presents this part of Acts betrays his intent, i.e. to offer his readers the perfect model of a disciple. Particularly significant is the end of the story (Acts 7:55-60).
At Stephen”s trial, the judges are struck by the look on his face, which is like that of an angel. At the end of his speech, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” he looks “to heaven” and sees “the glory of God,” and Jesus — the Son of Man — “standing at God”s right hand.”
We are reminded of Daniel”s vision: “As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like the son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him.” (Dan 7:13) Likewise, with a verse from one of the messianic psalms: “The Lord said to my Lord, “sit on my right hand”” But where as the psalm says that the Messiah was “seated” and Daniel saw the Son of Man coming toward God, Stephen sees Jesus “standing” at the right hand of God. When one realizes how precise Luke”s vocabulary is, it is obvious that such a change means something. The fact that Jesus “stands” in God”s presence indicates his relationship with the believer. He is “standing” like a lawyer for the accused before his judges. Jesus had promised: “Remember, you are not to prepare your defence beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all of your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” (Luke 21:14-15) Now, Stephen proves the truth of that promise. His accusers “could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.” The judges themselves are unable to answer him. They can only cover their ears and shout at him. One might imagine the Son of Man is“standing” ready to come “in a cloud with power and great glory.” Luke, like the other evangelists, proclaims this judgement. But he indicates that something is to happen first, namely the announcement of the Gospel to the nations.; and this will also be a time of persecutions: “Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead you to giving testimony.”
The early Christians were profoundly affected by the Lord”s words and their experience of the cost involved in being his witnesses. The martyrs were esteemed as “true disciples” of Christ, following him, by grace in laying down their lives. “Then I will be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world sees my body no longer,” writes Ignatius of Antioch in a letter composed on his way to martyrdom in Rome. And again: “Now I begin to be a disciple.” To be “a true disciple”: This longing is a constant theme in his letters. The veneration the Church has given to martyrs has been the cause of their liturgical cult, ever since the end of the second century. Commemoration is made of the day of their death (The anniversary day of their birth in heaven). The first non-martyrs to be so venerated were in the East, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria from 328 to 373, and in the West, Martin, bishop of Tours from 372 to 397.
The identification of Stephen”s martyrdom with Christ”s Passover is emphasized in today”s story. Like Jesus, he is accused by bribed witnesses, and for the same pretended cause: speaking against the Law and the Temple. The indignation of the Sanhedrin appears in their shouts after Stephen”s speech, as it did in the tear of their garments during Jesus” trial. Stephen is dragged “out of the city” to be stoned, as Jesus was to be crucified. Both pray that God might forgive their executioners. At the end, Stephen hands over his spirit to the Lord Jesus in a loud cry, as Christ had handed over his spirit to his Father. On the cross Jesus bowed his head: Stephen falls to his knees in an act of adoration. The comparison is uncanny, but we should not be surprised, Stephen is of course only following Christ”s example.
Among the witnesses, Luke mentions “a young man named Saul.” The executioners lay their cloaks at his feet. This scene must have had a profound impact on the man who, sometime later, on the road to Damascus, would hear the Lord say to him: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” These words must have brought Stephen”s martyrdom, of which he had approved, before his eyes often. Later to become the great apostle Paul, might not this memory be behind Paul”s doctrine of the mystical body, of which Christ is the head and we are the members?
The story of Stephen”s martyrdom is not merely a re-telling of an edifying episode in the Church”s early years. It is a proclamation of the Gospel lived out to the point of supreme sacrifice by a witness of Christ. It invites us to look toward heaven as Stephen did, and to proclaim the glory of the Lord “standing at the right hand of God.”
In today”s Gospel we are told how the world will hate Jesus” followers, and how he pleaded with his Father before his Passover to grant them his protection from the evil one. In this last part of the great prayer of thanksgiving and intercession that Jesus addressed to his Father in the upper room, when the time had come for him to leave the world we see how he had watched over them and cared for them. Now that he is to return to the Father, Jesus places into his Father”s hands the work he has accomplished, for which he was sent into the world. This is a memorial of what he has done, an offering of thanksgiving and prayer so that his mission might come to maturity. The same is true today with our Eucharistic Prayer, which follows the same pattern: “In memory of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Father, this life giving bread, this saving cup. We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you. May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit.”
Christ gives the Father thanks for having made his name known to those who welcomed his messenger. Both Matthew (11:25-26) and Luke (10:21-22) report a similar prayer of Jesus” during his ministry. “I give you praise Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and anyone the Son chooses to reveal him.” The Lord”s thanksgiving is not merely his own; even more must we make it our own. The faith that has been given to us to allow us to recognise Jesus as the One sent by God. As children of God through baptism, we may properly address him as the Lord taught us, saying: “Our Father who art in heaven…” The Spirit that has been poured forth into our hearts, while leading us to an even deeper knowledge of God, draws us towards the day when “we shall see him as he really is.” Then, with the whole of creation, we will say nothing else than in thanksgiving which is perfectly in accord with that of the glorified Son. We were promised a share in his glory, being “one” as the Father and the Son are “one” : ”I living in them, you living in me,” Jesus said.
This union will be fully realized when all the saved will be assembled around Christ in heaven. But it must also work here and now, made perfect, so that the world might believe that Jesus has been sent by the Father and that the Father loves all people as he loves his own Son. Every blow to this unity is thus a blow to God and his Christ, to their credibility. In order to really understand this, one must remember that all of Christ”s work and the fulfilment of the Father”s will is at stake here. “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross [through him] ,whether those on earth or those in heaven.” The Lord Jesus died to reconcile the whole world with God, and to gather all people in peace to, “create in himself one new person.” The mission of the Church and of all Christians is to preach this reconciliation and work for it. All those who bear the name Christian profess this faith.
And so, we are celebrating the liturgy this Sunday with eyes turned toward Christ in glory, standing at the right hand of God, just as Stephen saw him. He watches over his own while waiting for the time when he will bring them into the city, through whose gates he was first to pass. That day will not be slow in coming. The Church at prayer cries out its hope and desire to see the rising of the “bright morning star….Come Lord Jesus.”
