When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 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, 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. 58 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. 59 As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.'
1 Now Saul was consenting to his execution. On that day, there broke out a severe persecution of the church in Jerusalem, and all were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him. 3 Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the church; entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment.
Stephen was one of the seven chosen by the twelve Apostles from among the community of disciples to supervise the daily administration of the early Christian community (Acts 6:1-6). The Apostles, as did Jesus, observed the whole Jewish Law. Stephen was filled with “grace and power” and worked great signs and wonders in the community (Acts 6:8). He was accused of blasphemy against Moses and God and brought before the Sanhedrin by the Hellenistic Jews (Acts 6:9-12).
Stephen made a speech before the Sanhedrin that infuriated the Jews (v. 54). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Stephen looked up to heaven and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (v. 56). Jesus was no longer sitting at the right hand of God (Lk. 22:69) but standing at God’s right hand. The Glory of God was no longer in the Temple but in Heaven with the risen Christ. At this, the crowd stoned Stephen to death outside the city. The tradition was that the prophets were murdered outside the city of Jerusalem (Lk. 4:29; 13:34). Saul was a consenting witness to his death. As he was dying, Stephen prayed to the Risen Christ for the forgiveness of those who were stoning him including Saul, in the same way that Jesus prayed to the Father for those who put him to death (Lk. 23:34). Jesus’s prayer on the cross led to repentance and conversion of many Jews at Pentecost (Acts 2), and Stephen’s prayer led to Saul’s repentance and conversion (Acts 9:1-9).
General persecution of the church in Jerusalem was begun by the Sanhedrin from that time, and followers of the “Way” were thrown in prison and also killed (Acts 22:4). The persecution scattered the Christian Hellenists, Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion, throughout Judea and Samaria thus fulfilling Jesus’ words about his plan of salvation (Acts 1:8). The Apostles were among the Hebrews, the Aramaic speaking Jews of Palestine, who were not included in the persecution. Saul, a student under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) and a devout Jew who strictly observed the Law, understood that the Christian movement was different from Judaism in its teaching and vigorously pursued the early Christian Church.
Almighty God, your ways are not our ways so grant us the grace to trust in you and everything your Son taught and did. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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