St.
Stephen
Sunday,
November 19, 2006
St. Stephen
St.
Stephen stood up in the synagogue and gloriously defended himself. He proved to
them that he didn’t insult Moses but honored him, and
that he respected the law, the tent of witnesses and Solomon’s Temple. But
Stephen made it clear that God doesn’t dwell in houses made with hands.
Stephen
was brave, and described them as stiff-necked people who resisted the Holy
Spirit, like their fathers did before them, and how they persecuted the
prophets then betrayed Jesus Christ and crucified him.
This talk
enraged the Jews, but Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and
saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of his father. His
face became like that of an angel. Then he was cast out of the city, as they
did with the Lord, and they stoned him.
As they
were stoning him, Stephen knelt down and prayed,
setting and example of the most glorious virtues in
Christianity.
He
followed the Lord’s footsteps by saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit”, and,
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” (Acts7: 60)
Saul of
Tarsus was one of those that approved of Stephen’s death. And so Stephen became
the first martyr for the Christian faith.
The
church celebrates the feast of St Stephen every year on the first of Toubah(
9th of January).
"Stephen is a Greek name, which
means, “Crown” or “Wreath of flowers”. He is the first martyr in the
Christian church. St. Stephen was a Hellenist, one of the Greek speaking Jews.
When the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were
neglected in daily distribution (Acts 6:1), the faithful chose seven men of
good repute and Stephen was one of them. Their duty was to look after the
widows and works of charity and appoint deacons. So Stephan was one of the
first deacons in the church who were full of the spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3)
And Stephan, “full of Grace and Power, did great wonders and signs among the
people.”(Acts6:8)He also spoke with “wisdom and Spirit” (Acts 6:8).
Courageous
and strong
St.
Stephen was full of zeal and those who arose and disputed with him couldn’t
withstand the wisdom of the Spirit with which he spoke. So they started
plotting against him and sent men to accuse him of blasphemy against God and
Moses. They set up false witnesses who said that they heard him speaking
against the law and the temple. These complaints were presented to the
Sanhedrin and Stephan was taken to the synagogue.
