May 10, 2020
A Rock of Refuge
- Acts 7:55-60
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
You kind of have to wonder about a preacher who picks the story of the stoning of Stephen to talk about in a sermon. When Julie Shannon and family were asked to do the Time with Children today, and she found out one of the scriptures was about the stoning of Stephen, she immediately replied that she would not be talking to the children about that subject, but would instead concentrate on the Psalm text. We all want to concentrate on the Psalm text today. But sometimes it’s important for us to spend some time dealing with difficult passages of scripture. We are dealing with a lot of difficult things right now, so here is one more to consider.
When I read biblical narratives I tend to place myself in the role of the protagonist. Because as you all know, it’s all about me, so almost without thinking I imagine the only way to learn from the story is if I am at the center of it.
When I hear about the call to Abram I rarely imagine myself as one of those not called. Instead I wonder what I would do if God called me to leave my home and start a whole new life. What can I learn about obedience here? When I read the Jonah story, I am never one of the sinners in Nineveh, I am always stuck in the belly of the whale.
With this week’s reading from Acts I wonder if most of us automatically see ourselves as Stephen. But if we approach the text with a bigger lens, where else in this martyrdom scene might we find ourselves? If we are not Stephen, then who are we?
What would it mean if we were among those who stone him because they were threatened by his sermon earlier in the story? The lectionary reading for today does not include that sermon, but you can go back and read all of chapter 6 and 7 in Acts and get a better idea of who Stephen was and what he believed. But I don’t think the specifics matter that much. Perhaps it is just important to recognize that the faithful always risk being persecuted for bearing witness and speaking truth – in any context, be it cultural, religious, or political, where people do not have the ability to see or discern God. We may not literally kill people, but in what ways do we cause great harm when we react to perspectives that threaten us, or to visions of God with which we do not agree?
A common way of preaching the story of Stephen is to paint him as the perfect martyr of our faith, the one who selflessly accepted his call to serve and was willing to die for his beliefs. And this witness is important. But being faithful to the gospel got Stephen in trouble, so today I am going to spend some time discussing that trouble.
The mob that stones Stephen is made up of the council of religious authorities who are charged with ensuring that people do not say bad things about God. And they believe Stephen is doing this. They believe his witness blasphemes God because they have already decided how God works, and how God reveals God’s self and to whom. There is no room for imagining God in new or different ways. Does the church sometimes have difficulty with imagining God in new ways or doing things in new ways? And if we do, and if we are not Stephen, are we the mob stoning him? Are we guilty of throwing our own stones?
The mob, the people throwing stones, they are religious people. These are not people we might expect to act this way. Just like we do not expect good church going people to kill a black man who is jogging in their neighborhood or care more about getting a haircut than the safety of their neighbors or carry automatic rifles when they are protesting stay at home orders during this pandemic.
The other character in the story is Saul. He doesn’t throw stones, but he watches the coats. He doesn’t get his hands dirty, but he sees what is going on. He doesn’t do the deed, but he approves it.
By doing nothing, Saul gives validity to what the mob is doing. Sometimes I see myself in him. What do you see? Even when we don’t throw stones, we may have known what was happening and known that it was wrong, and yet we stood by and held the coats.
Life is full of decisions big and small; we can’t avoid making them. We can throw stones, or we can stand and do nothing – both of those actions are decisions. And in this time of pandemic, when we see the most vulnerable in our nation struggle for adequate health care, food, shelter, safe working conditions, even Wi-Fi in the home to educate our children remotely, you have to wonder what kind of decisions we have made in the past and what decisions we are making now. We may all be in the same storm right now, but we are not all in the same boat. Stephen’s story can help guide Christians to consider ways in which faithfulness to the gospel may clash with the common assumptions and practices of our modern society.
The story of Stephen shows us that many times the mob and the coat watchers are us. It teaches that we good church folks are the ones who stand in real need of forgiveness and mercy. It also demonstrates something else we might be afraid to discuss in our churches – sometimes the mob wins – at least for the moment.
I can’t help wondering if Stephen silently recited Psalm 31, a psalm asking for deliverance from your enemies. “Rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. Into your hand I commit my spirit…Deliver me from the hand of my enemies…save me in your steadfast love. Don’t you just want to write those words out and put them on your refrigerator door right now? “Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.” Protect me Lord, keep me safe, be a place of safety for me. Save me. I trust in you do this.
But, when deliverance does not come on this side of eternity, the good news is that we can commit our spirit into the hand of the one who has already prepared a place for us – the one who stands with us in the stoning pits of life, the one ready to redeem and forgive us even if we are guilty of throwing stones or watching coats.
We will probably never be asked to die for our faith. But our faith still calls us to measure our priorities, our actions, and our mission as a church. We are called to take a stand and to express our beliefs through action. Stephen’s story is still very much a relevant model of faithfulness and obedience. And sometimes that witness has a personal cost.
Let us sit in the discomfort of that truth for a Sunday, without tidying it up. Sometimes this is a bold act of faith in itself. Amen.
References:
www.christiancentury.org, Living by the Word, Andre E. Johnson, May 6, 2020
www.christiancentury.org, Living by the Word, May 14, Fifth Sunday of Easter, April 26, 2017
www.christiancentury.org, Sunday’s Coming, What if you’re not Stephen?
Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 2, Fifth Sunday of Easter