Chance or Plan?
Dec 26: Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr
Well, well, well. My first time back after lapses in my writing duties for two weeks, and today’s Gospel is Matthew’s version of the story Luke told on my very first post!
Some people say they don’t believe in coincidences. That’s dumb. Coincidences happen all the time; in fact, it’d be notable if coincidences didn’t happen. But humans are wired to look for patterns and significance in randomness.
On the other hand, miracles do happen. At Lourdes, people have been cured with no scientific explanation. Seriously, they have a guy who’s job it is to debunk claims of miraculous healings.
Big, flashes miracles like those at Lourdes tend to get noticed and remembered, but there’s no reason to think that miracles only come in one size. Just like there are small coincidences every day, there are likely small miracles every day, too. We might mistake one for the other, and vice versa.
So, anyway, as I resume this daily devotional, I’m going to take Jesus’ advice, and not worry about how I am to write or what I am to say.
Reading 1
ACTS 6:8-10; 7:54-59
Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.
When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
If you look at the verse citation, you’ll notice they skip a whoooole lot.1 The crowd didn’t just lose a debate and start stoning Stephen.
After this debate, the losers accuse Stephen of blaspheming against Moses and the law. The Sanhedrin ask him if that’s so. Stephen responds with a long discourse, starting with Abraham, through the patriarchs, to Moses, then the kings, all the time pointing out how the people failed to live up to God’s law.
Stephen concludes with:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”
That’s when they start stoning him. Which isn’t okay, but it at least makes a little more sense than the Reader’s Digest condensed version we heard in mass.
Jesus warns us in today’s Gospel that Christians will be persecuted, even by their own family. Stephen, the first martyr, proves that correct. He even echoes Jesus in quoting the Psalms as he dies, a literary reference that Luke, writer of Acts of the Apostles, definitely doesn’t miss.
Interestingly, we know there was another writer there, too. The “young man named Saul,” if you’re not aware, becomes a persecutor of Christians, until he has a vision of Jesus, and changes his name to Paul. Yeah, the one who wrote 13 letters in the New Testament.
As far as I can ascertain, Paul never wrote about this event, although later on Acts,2 he admits he stood by and held everyone's cloaks.
Think about that. You’re at the park with your friends, you decide to play a pickup football game. You don’t want to get your jacket dirty and sweaty, so you toss them in a pile to that one friend who doesn’t want to play, but will sit back and watch.
Except you’re not throwing footballs. You’re throwing rocks at a saint, and your big concern is not getting blood on your coat.
Although Stephen didn’t know it, the end of his story was the beginning of Paul’s. At the moment of suffering, we often have no idea why it’s happening. It can feel so terribly random.
But perhaps there’s a miracle happening.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 31:3CD-4, 6 AND 8AB, 16BC AND 17
R. (6) Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.
I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your kindness.
R. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
The refrain is what Jesus says with his dying breath,3 and what Stephen says when he’s martyred. It’s a prayer we should all try to remember at the end of our lives, because at that point, there’s not much else left to say.
Alleluia
PS 118:26A, 27A
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD:
the LORD is God and has given us light.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, until they start stoning you.
At least, that’s probably how it feels at the moment. But I can tell you these psalms and readings aren’t random. The Church wants you to think about what being “blessed” can mean. Was Stephen blessed, when he came in the name of the Lord? Yes, I think so.
Gospel
MT 10:17-22
Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.”
It’s worth noting how well-educated Jesus must have been. While a lot of His theology and moral philosophy was original, He also frequently quotes the scriptures. Matthew, being the evangelist most directly addressing the Israelites, makes sure to highlight these for his Jewish readers. The parents-against-children and children-against-parents stuff doesn’t come from nowhere. He’s alluding to the Book of Micah:4 "For the son belittles his father, the daughter rises up against her mother, The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and your enemies are members of your household."
Like all great works of literature, the Bible is consistent and whole, foreshadowing and referring back to itself. It can be easy to miss those things when you’re only listening to excerpts in mass, removed from context.
This whole passage, of course, foreshadows Stephen. He didn’t plan what he was going to say. He just started talking, and got the crowd worked up enough to kill him. And that led Saul on a long path to becoming Paul. All of these things are interconnected, from the beginning to the end, tied together with invisible strings that we may never see in this life.
We just have to trust and hope that they’re there.
58 verses, to be exact.
According to Luke 23:46