Word to the Wise
Saturday, December 26, 2009 - St. Stephen, First Martyr
[Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 and Matthew 10:17-22]As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." {Acts} You will be hated by all because of my name. But whoever endures tothe end will be saved.
Birth and death go together in the story of Jesus' birth! This is true not only in the events of that story but is also reinforced by the celebration, on the day after The Nativity, of the martyrdom of St. Stephen. The scriptures for the day [both by the evangelist, Luke] recount the event of his death (with considerable parallels with Jesus' death) and the warning by Jesus that fidelity to the gospel could end in martyrdom. There is even the irony that Saul (St. Paul) in his pre-conversion period is present at the stoning and approves of it, for he, too, would be martyred for the sake of the gospel later on. The design of the "infancy marratives" in Luke and Matthew as "mini-gospels" would require that the death of Jesus be prefigured in some way. In Matthew it is prefigured in the deaths of the "Holy Innocents" at the hands of Herod. In Luke, it is prefigured in the prophecy of Simeon in the temple. As we rejoice in the birth of the Savior, we recall that suffering is all around us and in some places this suffering is directly connected with faith in Jesus. St. Stephen was simply the first of many, to be martyred for his explicit profession of faith. The Holy Innocents died because, like Jesus, they represented a threat to worldly power. All of this is a reminder that while we may be celebrating Jesus' birth, we celebrate his entire life. AMEN
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