The Passion of Stephen II

The story of Stephen’s martyrdom continues in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles for today’s liturgy. As I mentioned yesterday, the story illustrates very convincingly the parallelism between this book and the Gospel written by the same author, St. Luke the Evangelist.

Yesterday, Stephen was dragged before the Sanhedrin and accused of blasphemy just as Jesus was accused before Caiphas.  In the course of the trial, the accusers also spoke of Stephen’s claim that Jesus would destroy the Temple.  

Today we see the parallelism continue.  “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” (Acts 7:59-60).  While the method of execution was different in Stephen’s case, the words which he utters as he is being stoned mirror the words of Jesus while he was hanging on the cross.
Between yesterday’s text and the reading for today, there is a lengthy discourse in which Stephen lays out the history of Israel’s salvation.  He demonstrates in his words the fact that the chief priests have followed in the footsteps of their ancestors in persecuting the prophets.  He also takes them to task for abandoning the precepts of the Law in favor of their own traditions.  While he had been accused of blasphemy and in denigrating Moses and the Sinai covenant, his discourse proves just the opposite.  

The scene of his martyrdom also introduces us to the character of Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul) who, while not participating in the actual stoning of Stephen, approves of the action.  

The Acts of the Apostles has three purposes: to describe the early life of the community, to record the phenomenal growth of the community, and to demonstrate the witness of the Apostles in fulfilling the commission they had been given to teach and preach to all nations.  The chapters that deal with Stephen’s martyrdom obviously fall into the last category.  Like the Pentecost sermon of Peter, Stephen’s discourse is an excellent example of how the early community came to have faith in Jesus and to spread that faith through their words and their deeds.  St. Stephen holds the place of honor of being the first of the disciples to sacrifice his life for the sake of the faith.  We know that many more will follow in his footsteps.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator