What Christmas is All About: God’s Eternal Word of Love

Happy Saint Stephen’s Day! This is a feast day on the liturgical calendar to honor the first martyr to Christianity. I like the historical background of Feast Days because they create an opportunity to connect my faith walk to my daily life, they provide timely reminders to pause & to praise God, & they help me learn about those Saints who preserved our faith. Depending on the denomination there are 12-200 Feast Days each year. Let’s take a closer look at our friend, Stephen.

Aside: I have an elderly Catholic friend who prays to saints for specific needs & interventions. For example, he prays to Saint Francis of Assisi for peace & patience, to Saint Christopher for safe travels, & for his podiatry issues, like problems with his arches, he prays to Saint Louis.

Stephen appears in chapters 6 & 7 of Acts. He is among the first deacons of the church. (Deacons cared for the widows & helped with food distribution, allowing the Apostles to focus on developing believers.) He is described as being full of faith & the Holy Spirit. He performed great signs & wonders. He boldly preached that Jesus was the Messiah.

Stephen is arrested & falsely accused of blasphemy. He is placed on trial before the Sanhedrin. He then delivers one of the 5 longest speeches recorded in the Bible.

Aside: I like the preacher story of a speaker droning on & on, until there is only 1 person still seated in the audience. The janitor comes up behind him & whispers, “I know I have to stay, but why are you still here?” The man glumly responds, “I’m the next speaker.”

Interestingly, Stephen’s speech lays out a mini-theological lecture that echoes today’s beautifully succinct passage as John helps the reader link Jesus to the origin story of all Creation. Stephen’s monologue retells Israel’s history to emphasize that God’s presence was never meant to be confined by geography, like the Temple, & that God’s people have repeatedly resisted God’s messengers, which culminated in the rejection of Jesus.

Stephen then has a revelation of Jesus standing by the throne of God & he prays as he is being stoned, “Do not hold this sin against them.” Witnesses note that Stephen looked almost angelic as he passes.

So, what might Stephen’s life & ministry mean to us 2,000 years later?

• I would submit that Stephen’s scene in Acts is a watershed moment of Christianity. The movement pivots from a temple-focused, Jewish oriented faith based in Jerusalem solely under Peter’s leadership to a religion that becomes global under the collaborative leadership of Peter & Paul.
• Some scholars contend that the word martyr is technically another word for witness. I love this idea, that even as we take our last breath, we can still be a powerful witness for Christ.
• The stoning of Stephen was supposed to extinguish the Jesus movement. Instead, his death ignited a worldwide phenomenon that has persevered through the centuries.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to celebrate Boxing Day. This is a United Kingdom holiday where on the 26^th of December gifts are given to those in need. Of course, in modern America it has a different meaning & is commemorated by going to the garage & breaking down all of the Amazon boxes for the recycle bin.