Well that escalated quickly: Homily for Thursday, December 26, 2024

That escalated quickly

Well, that escalated quickly. Yesterday, we were celebrating this really kind of emotionally fulfilling manger scene that we’ve become so familiar with that, in fact, engenders oftentimes the emotional memories of Christmas as a child and so forth.

But today, we celebrate the real cost of the arrival of Jesus for the world. Personally, of course, there’s the cost of Jesus when he died on the cross for our sins. A far cry from the little baby in the manger.

But today, we get an example of the fulfillment, in many ways, of another promise of God, one that is not so pleasant and, quite frankly, outlines the cost of discipleship. There are going to be times when people don’t like us. There are going to be times when people challenge us to the point of view, or to our point of view, rather, of just so angry, even to the point of death.

It is said that this century, excuse me, the last century we lived in, the 20th century, there were more martyrs in the church than all of the previous 19 centuries combined. It’s a dangerous time to be a Christian. The most dangerous place in the world for Christians is Nigeria. There are an insane number of people being killed for their faith.

But we don’t need to look very far to see that we live in a time where we don’t tolerate people’s beliefs very well. Now, why do we get Stephen on this first day of Christmas? So Jesus outlines the cost of a disciple. In a way, Stephen is kind of a Jesus figure. We really don’t know much about him except this encounter we get in the Acts of the Apostles.

But what we do get gives us an important look at what a disciple should be. Stephen, like Jesus, is filled with grace and power. Stephen, like Jesus, works great wonders and signs among the people. Stephen, like Jesus, forgives his persecutors at the moment of his death.

And I think what Luke is outlining for us in this Acts of the Apostles is that this is really what it means to follow Jesus. Now, that does not mean we go out looking for trouble. That’s not the appropriate stance of a disciple. In fact, Stephen was just defending the faith. He embarrassed these members of the so-called synagogue of freedmen, and they just got so angry at it, they couldn’t stand it.

What about us? What is it that God is calling us to do? In what ways is God calling us to stand up for our faith? In what ways are we willing to undergo some persecution for the right, for the right, the true, and the beautiful? We know, as Jesus tells us, it’s only possible in one way, when we not only are filled with grace, but we act on that grace to do God’s will.

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