Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Fat babies. That is what I sometimes think of when I hear the word angel. I think of curly hair, chubby cheeks, big eyes, and feathery wings. I think of cute, adorable, docile creatures. But is this what Luke is asking us to imagine when using the words, “All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at [Stephen] and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” I think not.
I think we are instead being asked to imagine a holy intensity, a luminous sense of conviction, and a radiant purity. This intensity is NOT aggression. This conviction is NOT stubbornness. And this purity is NOT naivete or duplicity. No, those are not evidence of the work of God. I think Stephen’s face revealed one who is bearing the message of God. A message that inspires hope and comfort for those who welcome it, but can stir up fear and animosity in those who wish to have nothing to do with it. Think about it, when an angel appears in Scripture they first say, “Do not be afraid.”
This means this angelic countenance is not meant to convey that Stephen is cute and adorable but that he has become a messenger of God. He is doing the works of God that Jesus mentions in today’s Gospel and they are operative in Stephen. He, as Jesus tells us to, has believed in the one God has sent, and the works of God are manifest through that belief.
When we think of those who inspire us in their commitment to the Gospel, are they Stephen-like? When we consider the Gospel in our own lives and our commitment to the works of God, are we Stephen-like? As we consider Stephen today and witness his martyrdom over the coming days, we should ask these questions regarding our role as witnesses to God and the one God sent.
- Is my intensity overcome by my aggression?
- Do I possess the confidence and courage of conviction, or am I merely stubborn?
- Am I pure of heart? This purity is not exclusively concerned with sexuality, but with honesty, integrity, and the trust that God’s mercy can restore any and all of us.
When we start to see answers that don’t align with the angelic countenance and are not Stephen-like, then we need to return to Jesus’ words in the Gospel. Is our true belief in something or someone other than the one whom God sent? We are messengers for that which we believe in, may it always be the one who came to share our humanity so that we might share his divinity and take on an angelic countenance.
- Spencer Hargadon