Daily Worship

Making a stand

Robert Allan May 10, 2020 0 2
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Acts 7: 54-60 (GNT)

54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”

57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.

Such a barbaric end for Stephen, but it was also a barbaric end for Jesus. No matter how much we remember that stoning and crucifixion were “normal” punishments they are still horrific. And in the case of Stephen and Jesus, for what? Their crimes were to talk about God in a new way, and those set in the old way could not bear it – with almost childish instinct the “Council members covered their ears with their hands” and rushed to silence Stephen. In remarkable similarity to Jesus, Stephen prays to the Lord that his murderers are to be released from this sin they are committing. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is our encouragement still.


Three things stand out for me here. 1) the courage of Stephen in the face of opposition and danger. Sometimes people today say, “I don’t know where my strength came from”, but Stephen knew and you and I know that when life brings suffering God gives us the strength we need. 2) Stephen could not stop speaking about the Good News of Jesus, no matter how much it upset the establishment. Even today, if we question the Church, its traditions and its ways, we are frowned upon. For different reasons, some in the Church and many in society put their hands over their ears, they don’t want to hear about another way. And 3), as Paul held the coats, we know there is always someone looking on, unwilling to intervene or stand up and be counted. Let that not be us.

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, as we greet each new day, the most help we often need is to open our eyes to the wonders of your creation around us and the glimpses of you at work in people’s lives. But when the days come when we really need courage to face them, be there for us with your strength when ours alone is not enough. May we find the right words to witness for you in the everyday world we live in and to do the right thing, making a stand for love and justice. Do not let us turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, near and far, but keep them in our thoughts and before you in prayer. By your Spirit, may you fall afresh upon your Church that we may see beyond all that holds us back and become a light to the nations. Amen.