Originally published on Patheos, December 2021, and updated today, on the Feast Day of St. Stephen, 2024.
Today, Thursday, December 26, is the Feast Day of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. I first came to truly admire St. Stephen when I was a teenager, growing up in The Salvation Army. Two of the church’s top leaders — General John Gowans and General John Larsson were like the Rodgers & Hammerstein of The Salvation Army. They wrote dozens of musicals. One of them, Spirit, was about the Acts of the Apostles, and it included a scene with the choosing of Stephen to be an apostle, and his martyrdom.
Just before his martyrdom, the young actor playing Stephen sang one of the musicals most enduring and anointed songs — now spread far beyond The Salvation Army — “To Be Like Jesus.” I never forgot it. It didn’t hurt that the actor was easy on the eyes to a teenaged girl! (“his face was like the face of an angel”)
Quite a few years later it dawned on me that in the song “Good King Wenceslas,” the “Feast of Stephen” on which the ancient Bohemian King looked out was not a dinner held by someone named Stephen. It was the Saint’s Day of the Biblical martyr! Go easy on me! I didn’t grow up in a liturgical church! So now I can honor St. Stephen in more complete manner, while thoroughly enjoying the less traditional version of the carol, as covered by Reliant K!
Below is a collect for St. Stephen’s Day:
Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of your truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and being filled with the Holy Spirit, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of your first martyr Stephen, who prayed for his murderers as did his Lord and Savior; who now sits at the right hand of God to intercede for all who suffer in his Name, and who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
Even more striking is to read the account of Stephen’s martyrdom in the Book of Acts. You know the story. Stephen was stoned to death after enraging the religious leaders. He asked the Lord to receive his spirit. He forgave his killers, asking God not to hold their sin against them. And he “fell asleep.”
And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. . .. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” (Seriously!? Read chapter 7, Stephen’s sermon before the council to see his great honoring and reverence for Moses and goes without saying for God!) . . . And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (Acts 6: 8, 11, & 15)
At the end of his sermon, Stephen told the people they were “stiff-necked” “uncircumcised in heart and ears,” that they resisted the Holy Spirit, and that their fathers persecuted the prophets.
Not surprisingly, “when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. “But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.” (Acts 7: 51-52; 54-57)
Did you get that? In the space of two verses, Jesus is described as “standing at the right hand of God.” Dozens of Scripture verses describe Jesus as “seated at the right hand of the Father.” Seated. A few examples:
- Luke 22: 69 “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
- Hebrews 12: 2 “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
- Revelation 3: 21 “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
- Psalm 110: 1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” But notice that God says “sit . . . until.”
And then things change. Jesus stands in judgment. The account of Stephen’s martyrdom describes Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and then Stephen himself exclaims that he sees the heavens open and the Son of Man standing. Jesus as the “Son of Man” connects to Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 7 that describes both “the Ancient of Days” and the “Son of Man” as bringing judgment.
Stephen, the prophet and martyr, had a vision of the Messiah rising in judgment on those who not only resisted the Holy Spirit but had brought false charges against him. But there could be other purposes in Jesus’ standing as well.
Some theologians dispute the idea that Jesus could have been standing on Stephen’s behalf, as well as in judgement. But it sounds like Jesus to me! St. Paul said, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Stephen’s torment and agony don’t seem “brief and momentary,” but Jesus is the North Star, guiding him Home.
In addition, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus was standing out of honor of the first martyr. Jesus knows what it is like to be a human and experience painful death. Did He say to the angels, “That’s My son, Stephen! He’ll be here soon!” I think so.
Jesus told His disciples that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels over one sinner repenting. Surely there is also standing in hushed reverence over one martyr’s death. That’s what Stephen saw before he died. But I believe that was not the end. I believe that this reverent reception has continued through the ages as the cloud of faithful witnesses and martyrs from every tribe and tongue and nation has grown. The Son of Man stands to welcome them Home and gives them the Crown of Life promised to the martyrs, which, in turn, they cast at His feet in adoration and love. (By the way, the Greek word translated “crown” is actually Stephanos!
Starting with Stephen, whom we honor today, and on throughout the centuries, the Church has been filled with martyrs who died with Jesus’ name on their lips and the heavens opening before them. The Church is accountable, not only to honor those millions of martyrs, but to stand with those who face martyrdom today. For some we must be their voice to the world, for some we must take care of the widows or widowers and orphans who are left behind, and for others we must listen to God’s call to fight for their lives.