Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
These 50 days of Easter feature Acts of the Apostles. Luke's sequel to his Gospel, Acts has been called “the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.” Indeed the ascending Jesus left us two things: the Spirit & the Church, both at the heart of Acts. Today is the setting just prior to the stoning of Stephen.
In my 33 years teaching the boys of St. Xavier H.S. students would sometimes inadvertently call me back when I'd start to take myself too seriously. These were moments of grace found in innocent off the cuff comments from the boys such as, “Mr. Cronin you are a lot smarter than you let on,” or “How's your class these days, Mr. Cronin? Any better?”
But the kicker was back in the '80s when I showed the TV series “AD” based on Acts of the Apostles. At the stoning of Stephen scene the victim was thrown to the bottom of a huge pit surrounded by a throng of men holding large rocks, ready to hurl at him. A freshman boy looked up at me and said, “Why doesn't he just start throwing them back?”
In the words of a very wise colleague, “Aim low. They're riding Shetlands.” .
Stephen, of course, is our first (proto) martyr. His feast day is December 26, the day after Christmas Day. Church vesture abruptly changes from celebratory white to blood red. It's a reminder, as we move through the Twelve Days, that Christian life, however glorious, must involve the cross.
Luke weaves throughout Acts the truth that what happened to Jesus happens to the Church. He purposefully depicts Stephen's trial and martyrdom as parallel to the trial and martyrdom of Christ. Both were tried by the Sanhedrin, both were unjustly charged, both faced false testimony, both were filled with the Holy Spirit, both spoke boldly, both referenced prophesy from Daniel, both prayed for and forgave their enemies, and both were brutally executed despite their innocence.
A young rabbi named Saul Paul of Tarsus held the garments of the men who stoned Stephen--- so they wouldn't be encumbered, allowing them bludgeoned pinpoint aim at the condemned man. Stephen, like the Lucan Christ, forgives with the words, “Do not hold this sin against them.” St. Augustine astutely observed, “The Church owes Paul to Stephen's prayer.”
Luke's narrative isn't history pure and simple, it's something far greater---rich theological truth. Allegorically what happened to Jesus will happen to the Church.
This still holds true. The early centuries were not the bloodiest for Christians. The 20th century was bloodiest with the 21st quickly catching up.
“Why doesn't he start throwing them back?” This question of that fourteen year old boy was more astute than it may appear. Stephen could have cursed his persecutors and asked God to damn rather than forgive them. Stephen could have been filled with the spirit of revenge rather than filled with the Holy Spirit. Stephen could have prayed that God hold this sin against them and make them pay.
Stephen could have started “throwing them back.” But he didn't. Just the opposite. He modeled the protomartyr of all protomartyrs, Christ Jesus.
Christians are to be martyrs in the true sense of the word---in Greek martyr means witness. We may not face rocks of the mineral kind, but like Stephen, we will face false accusations and humiliations in life. Like Stephen we must not “start throwing them back.” Like him, we must do what Jesus did. We must live as he did, even if the world sees only the limp broken body at the bottom of a pit. By God's grace of courage and faith may we, too, persevere. Witnesses all, hurling them back is never an option for us.
Timothy J. Cronin