Acts 6:8-7:2, 51-60 Dearly beloved,
The church year shows some irony in the way the feasts are arranged. Christmas Day is a day of reticent calm as we ponder the wonderful mystery of God in the flesh. The irony is in what follows. Today is St. Stephen Day. Stephen is the first martyr in the New Testament church. He sheds his blood for Jesus. Then the day following, December 27th is St. John, Evangelist Day, where we see just the opposite picture. John is the only one of the twelve apostles who lives to be an old man, proclaiming the gospel to the end. There is even a historical account that tells us that St. John was carried into church as an elderly bishop. Weak from age, John is carried before the congregation at which point he was able to utter only these words, “my little children....it is enough if you love one another.” Then on December 28th is Holy Innocents Day, where all the male children two and under are killed by Herod because he seeks this King and Lord, Jesus. The irony is in these three days following the high feast, Christmas. Why is the church year arranged in such a way? Jesus says later “think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I cam not to send peace, but a sword”(St. Matthew 10:34). The great wisdom in the church year is multi-dimensional. On the one hand, this arrangement shows us that the birth of Jesus puts the world in a state of commotion. The world was never to be the same, again. In addition, those to whom Jesus gathers are never to be the same, either. Is it possible that Stephen, of his own power, could have stood his ground as stones were being hurled at him to kill him? The other dimension to this beauteous arrangement of the church year is found in the saints themselves. St. Paul speaks of what the life looks like for those whom Jesus has gathered: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”(2 Corinthians 5:17). Having been gathered by this God in the flesh, we are then forgiven and changed. This bears implications on how we live. Hebrews 12 reminds the saints that we the baptized “follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”(Hebrews 12:14). Stephen, by the grace of God, was a man of faith and confession. Jesus was his life and he lived to proclaim this babe in a manger. The light of Jesus comes to you, brothers and sisters in Christ, and you are changed. You live to extend yourselves to others in love and service. You come bearing a message of hope in what you say and in what you do. On the one hand, the church is the place where we are fed, forgiven, and sanctified by Christ through the holy and the precious sacraments. The church is also the place where mission starts and goes forth. St. James, the bishop of Jerusalem and the brother of Jesus says, “Pure religion and holiness before God and the Father is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”(James 1:27). These are all things that happen when the light of Christ comes to people through the gospel. The Christian existence is not one of idleness. The church is not a place for arrogance or conceit. A Christian is a forgiven saint who goes forth in service as he or she is prompted by the Holy Spirit. Yet, how many of us would run if we were put in the same predicament as St. Stephen? How many of us would fall silent when attacked for the gospel? It is significant and intentional that Stephen’s martyrdom has undertones reminiscent of the gospels. For one thing, the people who were listening to Stephen preach react by being cut to the heart, and then gnash their teeth at him. The same thing happened to Jesus, and Jesus on a number of occasions refers to hell as the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those who kill Stephen are children of Satan, rejecting the man God sent to them. While all this is going on, Stephen in the midst of turmoil looks up to heaven and sees the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. In the midst of his death and trauma, Jesus is with him. But the people, maddened to insanity, cast Stephen out of the city just as Jesus was killed outside the city. In Jesus fashion, Stephen, while dying, cries out “Lord hold not this sin against them,” and then he fell asleep, which is to suggest that Stephen entered the eternal rest with Jesus. Not even St. Stephen could have envisioned himself being this strong in such a difficult situation. We too, would never be able to do what Stephen had done on our own. The Holy Spirit strengthened Stephen, showing the church an example of how she is to live. Those whom Jesus gathers are to confess God in the flesh. But more than that, we are to fall on our knees and look up to heaven. Jesus is our peace on earth. This doesn’t mean that the earth will be peaceful. Peace on earth means that Jesus, the true peace, came on the earth to save it. Jesus came to make apostles and preachers to proclaim it. Jesus came to establish His church so that the saints would go forth and show it. St. Paul speaks the gospel beautifully to the church at Corinth: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich”(2 Corinthians 8:9). You are rich with things money cannot buy. Jesus humbled Himself so that you would be exalted. Jesus suffered so that you will find spiritual refreshment. Jesus suffered hell so that you will experience heaven. Jesus was condemned and judged so that you will be forgiven of your sins. The life in Christ is a beautiful spring in the midst of a desert that has a living water, which is the gospel, and it changes everything. We live with wonderful examples such as Stephen, the first martyr. We see the work of Christ in the saints and we are encouraged, for they go before us as examples of what Christ does in the lives of sinners and how there is wondrous beauty in places we might not expect. You are rich with the gift of Christ’s love. You have been given the best thing that could ever be received. So we look at this Christmas season and give thanks for God in the flesh, for we, too, shall see heaven opened for us and the Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father, welcoming us into the inheritance which has been set by this Christ child in the flesh. Amen. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org
