Acts 7:51-8:1a

Acts 7:51-8:1a

Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes:

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,

you always oppose the Holy Spirit;

you are just like your ancestors.

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.

You received the law as transmitted by angels,

but you did not observe it.”

When they heard this, they were infuriated,

and they ground their teeth at him.

But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,

looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God

and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened

and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

But they cried out in a loud voice,

covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.

They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.

The witnesses laid down their cloaks

at the feet of a young man named Saul. 

As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice,

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them;”

and when he said this, he fell asleep.

Now Saul was consenting to his execution.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I encounter and contemplate today the mystery of suffering and martyrdom. You are the one who brings good out of evil, life out of death, and sacrificial love out of obedient suffering. Bring me into this mystery and help me to ponder what it means in my life today.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Stephen’s Interpretation of the History of Israel: Filled with grace and power, Stephen spoke at his trial and interpreted the history of Israel, beginning with Abraham. His goal was to point out the historical episodes of resistance or opposition to the Holy Spirit and how the temple worship was coming to an end after Jesus’ glorious ascension into heaven. Stephen understood that the story of Abraham revealed that God could act outside Jerusalem and its temple: “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia” (Acts 7:2). The story of Joseph “emphasizes how God used the evil done to Joseph by his brothers to bring salvation from famine for those same brothers. It clearly serves as a foreshadowing of Christ's passion, in which God used the far greater evil done to Jesus to bring a far greater salvation to the very people who killed him” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, 120). God uses the crime of Joseph’s brothers to save his brothers and their families. Stephen also says that Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him during their first visit, implying that the Jewish people did not recognize Jesus during his public ministry. During their second visit, however, Joseph’s brothers recognized him. Likewise, the Jewish people have the opportunity to recognize the presence of Jesus in his disciples (see Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, p. 121). 

2. Stephen’s Interpretation of the Story of Moses: After interpreting the story of Abraham and Joseph, Stephen then turned to the story of Moses. He first reinterpreted Moses’ killing of the Egyptian as Moses assuming the people would understand that God was offering them deliverance through him. Moses was rejected on the following day because the people did not understand, and Moses fled to the land of Midian. Jesus was the prophet-like-Moses who was also rejected by the people and misunderstood by the people (Luke 19:41-44) during his public ministry. Forty years after killing the Egyptian, Moses was called by God to save the people. In the desert, however, Moses was again rejected by the people. This double rejection of Moses prefigures the double rejection of Jesus. Kurz comments: “Like Moses, Jesus took action to save his people a second time after their first rejection of him. Jesus’ second attempt to save his people is through his witnesses, who are empowered by the Holy Spirit after his resurrection” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, 126).

3. Stephen on the New Law and the New Temple: According to Stephen, an angel gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai; but the people did not observe the law (Acts 7:53). What is implied is that Jesus, as the Son of God, has given a new law to the new people of God and that this law is greater than that given by angels through Moses. The stakes in rejecting or not observing this new law are higher. In the last part of his discourse, Stephen refers to the book of the twelve prophets and quotes Amos 5:25-27. This passage reveals that Israel fell into idolatry time and time again. Stephen contrasts the tent of the false god Moloch with the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant in the desert. David’s son, Solomon, will eventually build the temple for God, but Stephen argues that God does not need Solomon’s building: “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). Stephen has argued explicitly that the people have opposed the Holy Spirit just like their ancestors. Implicitly, he is arguing that the law of Moses and the temple of Solomon have been surpassed by Jesus, who gives the new law and whose risen body is the new temple. Stephen’s preaching infuriates the Jews. Only when Stephen speaks to them of his heavenly vision of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, do the people cover their ears so as not to hear the blasphemy and throw Stephen outside the city and stone him. Just as Jesus forgives the people on account of their ignorance and commends his spirit to the Father as he is crucified to death, so does Stephen forgive those who kill him and commend his spirit to the Lord Jesus as he is stoned to death.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I do not reject you. I welcome you today and proclaim you as my Lord and God. You are here with me to guide my footsteps. Teach me to be docile to your guidance. Show me where I am needed, inspire my speech to give witness to you and give glory to God, and fill me with your divine love and Holy Spirit.

Living the Word of God: How can I imitate the deacon Stephen and fearlessly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those around me? What sins do I need to work on overcoming so that my witness is more authentic? What virtues do I need to practice? What study do I need to undertake? Who do I need to serve as Christ would?