Sermon - Feast of St. Stephen 2021 - Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60

The Martyrdom of St. Stephen, Annibale Carracci, 1604

Merry Christmas! 

Our readings for this second day of Christmas seem out of place at first glance. Reading about the stoning of Zecheriah, the stoning of Stephen, and Jesus prophesying about others being martyred as well doesn’t seem to fit in with little baby Jesus lying in a manger. But wiser Christians than myself long ago saw fit to read about the first Christian martyr on December 26th. In fact, it fits quite well, since the martyrdom of St. Stephen corrects our romanticized and commercialized view of Christmas.

Christmas today has been, like Charlie Brown says, commercialized; even the dog has gone commercial. It’s about family gatherings, presents, concerts, and food. It’s about warm fuzzy feelings in your belly. We also tend to romanticize the first Christmas with pristine nativities and pretty Christmas carols about a baby Jesus who doesn’t cry. We tend to forget that Mary gave birth with the animals not because the hotels were full, (there were no hotels in Bethlehem), but because Joseph’s relatives wouldn’t let them stay with them.

So the joy of Christmas isn’t properly found in a pristine nativity, nor all of the warm fuzzies we get at this time of year. Instead, the true joy of Christmas is found in the faith which gives grace and power to withstand all earthly trials. This true Christmas joy is what we see in Stephen’s martyrdom. For the Christian, Stephen’s martyrdom isn’t something to just feel bad about, but it gives us great courage and hope to see a brother Christian filled with true Christmas joy.

“Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.” When unbelievers argued with him, “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking… And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” Indeed, he not only looked like an angel, but he spoke as an angel, he was a messenger from God! He proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ and called the people to repentance, just like St. Peter had done on Pentecost. 

But at Pentecost the people repented and were baptized. St. Stephen had a different experience. “Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.” They stopped up their ears so that they couldn’t hear him, they cast him out of Jerusalem, and they stoned him.

But how did Stephen react to these things? He cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit.” He doesn’t cry out for vengeance like Zecheriah, he doesn’t ask to be saved while he’s being crushed by rocks, he simply entrusts His soul to God. But how is he able to do this? Like we said in the introit: “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” Stephen, and all Christians filled with true Christmas joy, face death knowing that God has redeemed us! He is faithful and will rescue us from this veil of tears! It’s true! 

Stephen even got a glimpse of the glory awaiting him in paradise, and he shares that vision with us. “Full of the Holy Spirit, [he] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Stephen didn’t see the nativity, with angels coming down from heaven, and baby Jesus lying in a manger. Rather, Stephen saw something better. Instead of an open manger, the heavens were opened to him. Instead of angels descending from heaven, he would ascend to heaven. Instead of a weak baby Jesus, He saw the resurrected Jesus standing in the place of power at God’s right hand.

We don’t all get to see what Stephen saw, we don’t all get that vision of heaven, but that vision of heaven is just as true for us as it is for him. Heaven, all of God’s glory, and our Savior Jesus, are all just as near to us now as they were to Stephen on the day he died. We can’t see it, but heaven is open to us through Jesus and His sacrifice. Jesus is reigning in power over all of this world. 

In spite of what it looks like, with evil surrounding us constantly, God is reigning in power over all things. That’s what Stephen saw and realized right before the people rushed him, threw him out of town, and crushed him with rocks; God is still in power. Whatever you’re facing in life, even if it’s not a bloodcrazed crowd about to kill you, Jesus reigns over it all. Even if you’re suffering under a load of grief, stress, depression, loneliness, a sense of being lost, remember that Jesus reigns in power over this earth and will deliver you from your trials. If it’s cancer or work or children or sickness or money God reigns over all of those things, He will care for you, and at the last He will receive your spirit into glory.

That knowledge that Jesus reigns over all creation and has redeemed you from sin and death and the power of the devil gives you such great faith in God. This faith fills you with hope in the resurrection and Christmas joy both now and in the world to come. This Christmas joy also gives you courage to face all manner of evil without wavering. 

Look at Jesus, who wasn’t just a baby, but true God, who was a Lamb going uncomplaining forth to His crucifixion. Look at the prophet Zechariah; because He had Christmas joy and was filled with faith, he boldly spoke against evil: “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’” They stoned him to death for that, but His hope was in the Lord, and we’ll see Zechariah in paradise.

Look at Stephen, because his heart was filled with Christmas joy, and the knowledge that Jesus had redeemed him from sin and death, he confronted evil without hesitation. “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” For that they killed Stephen outside of Jerusalem, not long after they had crucified Jesus outside of Jerusalem. We’ll see Stephen in paradise.

All of these died knowing that they weren’t really going to die. After Stephen said his final prayer, “he fell asleep.” Christians don’t die! Sure Satan can kill the body, but the soul is carried by the angels to heaven. Stephen didn’t die, he fell asleep. You won’t die, you’ll fall asleep. Just like the little baby Jesus who sleeps in a manger, that’s all you will do when you die. Death looks like the crucifix, but because Jesus died on the cross, our death is really much more like the manger.

This means that we Christians can face all manner of evil in this world without fear or compromise. Because of Christmas and Good Friday and Easter, I’m not going to die, neither will any of you. Therefore, all of us can be like Stephen, full of grace and power because of the faith in our hearts which gives us Christmas joy.

This doesn’t mean we hate our enemies, instead it means we love our enemies and pray for them. Stephen’s final words were very similar to Jesus’ final words: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” God hears the prayer of a righteous man; he definitely heard Stephen’s prayer. Shortly after Saul was responsible for Stephen’s death, God heard Stephen’s prayer and converted Saul to faith, to become the apostle Paul and the most prolific New Testament author.

Even when it appears as if all hope is lost, hold on to that Christmas joy and keep the faith. Jesus reigns in power over all creation, and He very well can change hearts with a prayer. Regardless of the difficulties you’re facing, let your hearts be filled with the Holy Spirit instead of fear. Let us all learn to be bold like Stephen, and follow his example, so that we also may look to the One who was born and suffered and crucified on our behalf and pray for those who do us wrong.

Merry Christmas!