The Feast of St. Stephen

Rembrandt's "The Martyrdom of St. Stephen"

There is a commercial that was playing on television here some time back which showed images of people doing some sort of kindness for another and a person observing this act. In the next image, we'd see the observer then do something for another person which also would be observed and passed on in the next vignette and so on and so on. I have no memory of the product being advertised, but I do remember that "pay it forward" chain reaction.

I mention this because today, on the Feast of St. Stephen, we remember one of the first deacons and martyrs of the fledgling Christian church. Stephen was one of the seven tapped by the apostles to "help out" with the widows. His story, contained in Chapters 6 and 7 of the Acts of the Apostles, shows a young man of some zeal and oratory talent. Like with others before him, the "mainstream" found this man threatening, and so they spread rumors that he was teaching that Jesus Christ had come to toss out Moses' law. In his eloquence, Stephen recounted at his trial the history of the Hebrew people, all the while pointing out that the only ones trying to trash Moses and the prophets were the ones still trying to silence prophetic voices... like all of them in the room now putting him on trial who refused to acknowledge the Righteous One! And, like the Christ in whom he had faith, Stephen's words so enraged the assembly that they dragged him out into the street and stoned him to death. As he was dying, the bloodied Stephen cried out:

"Lord, do not hold this sin against them!"

Watching this whole scene was another young man, Saul of Tarsus. There's no accounting of what Saul was doing, other than witnessing this death. Saul was no friend to the followers of Christ. At least not until he took that trip to Damascus and had the experience that would convert him to be the apostle Paul. And then, like Stephen, this man of extraordinary oratory skill would become one of the huge figures in Christianity and his letters to the Churches would be preserved in the canon.

I have wondered how this scene of watching Stephen's death lodged itself in Saul's mind. I watched an execution. I know it affected me deeply, and has been one of the pieces in the puzzle that is my faith journey and coming to see the incredible redemption and love of God for everybody. I wonder how, for the anti-Christian Saul, the witnessing of Stephen's horrific death might have paved the way for that "pay it forward" conversion later in Acts? Obviously, this is stuff we can't know, but can only wonder and marvel at how God moves and nudges us all in ways that are truly mysterious.

It's in the remembering of these early Christians that I find some hope that those things which currently divide people and cause such strife will one day be put aside. Those of us who find ourselves as "others" and outside the "mainstream" can readily identify with a Stephen. And I have hope and trust in God that our prayers are heard, and that God will work on the hearts and minds of those who currently stand by just as Saul did at that time. It just has to be. And I hope that such change can happen.

Blessed be the Lord,
for he has heard the sound of my pleadings.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalm 28:6-7