This morning, we are going to walk with Stephen, who has a short experience as a Greek leader in the early Jerusalem church. Some of you may know the story of Stephen because spoiler alert, he is one of the first martyrs (beyond Jesus) of the church – not killed by outside forces but inside folks upset with his prophetic, healing ministry.
Now how did Stephen come to be a leader? It all 
started with some serious differences. Hear these words from Acts 6:1-7. I’m reading from The Message, a paraphrase of the Bible.
During this time, as the disciples were increasing in numbers by leaps and bounds, hard feelings developed among the Greek-speaking believers—“Hellenists”—toward the Hebrew-speaking believers because their widows were being discriminated against in the daily food lines. So the Twelve called a meeting of the disciples.
They said, “It wouldn’t be right for us to abandon our responsibilities for preaching and teaching the Word of God to help with the care of the poor. So, friends, choose seven men from among you whom everyone trusts, men full of the Holy Spirit and good sense, and we’ll assign them this task. Meanwhile, we’ll stick to our assigned tasks of prayer and speaking God’s Word.”
The congregation thought this was a great idea. They went ahead and chose—Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a convert from Antioch. Then they presented them to the apostles. Praying, the apostles laid on hands and commissioned them for their task. The Word of God prospered. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased dramatically. Not least, a great many priests submitted themselves to the faith.
Stephen is brought in to help a congregation with a pretty serious form of justice indifference. The Greek believers feel their widows were being discriminated against by the Hebrew believers – women are going hungry. Aren’t we supposed to be all one body committed to caring for the widows (a major concern of the prophets).
Why is this difference being made? Why is one set of widows being marginalized? We don’t learn why but the result of this intervention by Stephen and others is striking – Discipleship increases dramatically and many commit to a life of faith. I suspect honest conversation, the hearing out of each set of believers and the reminder of what God calls us to had something to do with all of that.
I wonder too, could a lesson for us be that as Paul will later point out especially in Galatians 3:28 this: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We are meant to understand that we are equal in the eyes of Jesus and meant to serve one another, not marginalize any group. We are meant to be a church called to that understanding – are we ready? Stephen was.
Let’s pick up the story in Acts 6:8-10: Stephen, brimming with God’s grace and energy, was doing wonderful things among the people, unmistakable signs that God was among them. But then some men from the meeting place whose membership was made up of freed slaves, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and some others from Cilicia and Asia, went up against him trying to argue him down. But they were no match for his wisdom and spirit when he spoke.
Hmmm – what is Stephen doing that causes these folks to go up against him? What wonderful work and unmistakable signs that God is among them are visible? We get a clue when we read more of the story but suffice it for now to say that Stephen is doing justice work rooted in the prophetic call and ministry of the Hebrew ancestors while also acknowledging the newness of practicing an Easter, post-resurrection faith. Jesus defeated death and resurrection changed the game. The Bible Dictionary says this about Stephen’s post-resurrection belief: …the religion of the temple had outlived its usefulness and the Mosaic law should now be seen in a new and different light.[1]
Hmm – a different way to understand and live out faith – seems there have been many times in 2,000+ years where differing interpretations of what is “right” doctrine and “right” practice come into conflict with one another. If Stephen isn’t corrected, then religious practice of the Temple could be compromised and that is a terrible thing in the minds of these folks.
It’s important to remember that in these early church days, there were many conflicts regarding how to rightly practice the way of following Jesus. Did one have to be circumcised? Did practices that Jesus followed as a Jewish man have to be followed by believers who were not Jewish? Could a Jesus follower community co-exist in the Temple or synagogue? We see this throughout Acts and throughout Paul’s ministry. We see it in the Gospels as the authors were writing to mixed communities. Where would you come down in this situation?
What is the real issue here – let’s read on in Chapter 6: So in secret they bribed men to lie: “We heard him cursing Moses and God.” That stirred up the people, the religious leaders, and religion scholars. They grabbed Stephen and took him before the High Council. They put forward their bribed witnesses to testify:
“This man talks nonstop against this Holy Place and God’s Law. We even heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth would tear this place down and throw out all the customs Moses gave us.” As all those who sat on the High Council looked at Stephen, they found they couldn’t take their eyes off him—his face was like the face of an angel!
Well, we see how the folks back in Stephen’s time reacted. It seems keeping in place traditional religious practices in the buildings designed for those practices and for worshiping God in a particular way will stay more important than religious practice and belief built on a new post-resurrection way of understanding God.
A way that Jesus emphasized was all about love, justice, compassion, mercy, peace. A practicing faith where no one was otherized or marginalized but loved and cared for. Where justice work was more important than ritual. Where believers are empowered to address the needs in their communities without fear.
But, once again we see religious leaders and those who hold to a rigid viewpoint of what “Christian faith” should be take exception to someone leading and speaking in new and unexpected ways though frankly, Stephen is echoing Jesus.
Stephen then launches into a very long speech assailing these rigid leaders and believers for the way in which they were doing the very same thing their ancestors did: forgetting about their covenant with God to love and serve God only and to care for each other; and then, harming those who were doing the prophetic work of the Holy Spirit by calling them to account. Here this from Stephen’s speech as found in Acts 7:44-53:
“And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it. “Yet that doesn’t mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote,
“Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?” says God. “Where I can get away and relax? It’s already built, and I built it.”
“And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!”
Whew! Quite a speech and boy does it set the crowd off. Would it have set you off? And, then, Stephen proclaims that he can see Jesus and God standing at each other’s side. That really enrages the crowd: they make a beeline for him, drive him outside the city and stone him to death, while Saul aka Paul watch
What does all this mean to us today? What does it say about our readiness to be the Called Church. The church called by God to love and serve in new and unexpected ways as gifted by the Holy Spirit. The church where new and unexpected leadership might arise. Where we don’t contain God to a building or to “right” religious practices or rituals, but expand our understanding by staying faithful to the hard work God calls us to.
The hard justice work that demands we hear and live out prophetic messages. Stephen stayed faithful to that work until the end and it cost him his life – the life he willingly gave up. Are we as faithful as Stephen? Do we make space for all people to join in the work in the ways they are led? Or, are we the crowd enraged by a new understanding of what it means to live a post-resurrection faith?
These are important questions as we continue to discern the future of this community of faith. But this is the work we are called to: Are We Ready?! I hope so because God has indeed called us to be this community of faith. Let us stay faithful to the work and to the call.
[1] Powell, M. A., Bandstra, B. L., Boadt, L., Kaminsky, J. S., Levine, A.-J., Meyers, E. M., Reed, J. L., & Thompson, M. M. (2011). HarperCollins Bible Dictionary. HarperOne, page 992.