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Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts.
This Christmas, we celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation.
Finding Fulfillment
So, we first encounter Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles, really, as we hear today, as one who was chosen to wait on tables. If you remember, there was this controversy brewing because there were some ethnic divides among widows, and the Greek widows felt they were being neglected. And they probably were, because the church thinks about the problem and really begins the diaconate.
But it’s interesting because after we hear that that was what Stephen was chosen for, and after the problem of waiting on tables, the only instance we get of Stephen is not waiting on tables, but preaching the Word of God, which was what the Apostles said they didn’t want to neglect to wait on tables.
It’s interesting that these two things always come together, isn’t it? You see, service of others is always first and foremost something that comes from the Word of God. It’s not just us thinking, hey, this would be a good idea, I’ll do this. It’s responding to our baptismal call. It’s responding to what it is that Jesus wants us to do and who it is that Jesus wants us to be.
Now, Stephen encounters a group. Judaism at the time of Jesus and of Stephen was really filled with a lot of diversity of Judaism in the sense that much like today, there were some who tried to make peace with all.
There were some who threw their lot in with the government. There were some who really sought to reform Judaism, Jesus, John the Baptist. And there were those who felt that the absolute solution to authentic Judaism would only happen when the entire world was Jewish. And they believed strongly in the way of life of the Jews. Their interpretation of the law was strict indeed. They didn’t tolerate anything that went against the Jewish law.
And this is the group that Stephen encounters. This is also the group that Paul was associated with. His Judaism was serious, hardcore Judaism. He did not say, well, we can fudge on this or we can fudge on that. Thanks be to God for us, Stephen encounters Jesus and his life changes. Paul encounters Jesus and he finds the fulfillment of everything he has been looking for.
N.T. Wright, the Anglican bishop, says that it’s not so much that Paul was converted, but rather that Paul discovered his fulfillment, that he didn’t consider himself really being some dramatic new standard bearer for a new religion, but as a Jew who found the fulfillment of his covenant. And of course we see here that Stephen’s life was predicted.
I don’t know about you, but I think as I hear these things, and especially at the end of today’s Gospel about being hated by all and all this kind of thing, I think when was the last time really? Now it’s become more common because we’re such a divided country, but when was the last time I really had to stand up for my faith?
People all over the world are standing up for their faith. We live in the age of martyrs, not in the United States, but around the rest of the world. You’ve probably heard the statistic that there were estimated to have been more martyrs in the 20th century than the previous 19 combined.
These are hard days to be a Christian, and so the prediction of Jesus might very well be intended for us. Whatever it is though, the most important thing about Jesus, about Paul, and about Stephen was not the way they began their life, but how they ended. As Stephen is being killed, he prays for those who are killing him. He seeks their forgiveness, just as Jesus did. How tirelessly did Paul work with those who wanted nothing less than to have him killed?
As we celebrate the incarnation of Christ, let us ask the Lord to help us to see more fully and more clearly the ways in which the divine Son of God wants to make us who we were meant to be.
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