Today’s readings have always struck me as oddly placed only one day after Christmas. It is the story of the protomartyr of the Christian faith – St. Stephen. While I know that the feast day is mentioned in the Christmas carol classic “Good King Wenceslas,” it does seem to put a bit of a damper on the Christmas spirit. Of course, two days from now the Feast of the Holy Innocents remembers the infant boys slaughtered by King Herod.
That Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew seems likely given his name and unlike Nicholas of Antioch, who was noted as being a convert to Judaism, there was no mention of Stephen converting. This seems further supported in that the setting of his martyrdom was the Synagogue of Freedmen which consisted of Hellenistic Jews. In any case, Acts 7 makes clear that Stephen understood the flow and story of the Old Testament. Stephen points out that the whole history of the ancestors and patriarchs is one of ignoring the movement of the Holy Spirit to draw the people to holiness.
Stephens sums up his soliloquy: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.” (Acts 7:51-53)
In our gospel today, Jesus warns the disciples that this might be the consequences of their witness. It is not a singular warning. The same basic message appears in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and John 15. It is as Jesus said it would be.
Maybe that the consequences of the work of the Holy Spirit drawing us to holiness. Holiness to have the courage to give reason for the Hope we have within us as recommended by 1 Peter 3:15. For most of us that will not have the same consequences it did for St. Stephen. But I hope for all of us it will have some consequences because we did not remain silent when the Spirit urged us to speak.
Image credit: “a Lapidation de saint Etienne” (Stoning of St. Stephen), by Rembrandt, 1625 | Museum of Fine Art, Lyon France, PD-US
Note: Why December 26th? In 415 AD, a priest named Lucian purportedly had a dream that revealed the location of Stephen’s remains. The relics of the protomartyr were taken to the Church of Hagia Sion on December 26 of that same year, making the day after Christmas as the date for the feast of Saint Stephen. The Church of Hagia Sion was a Byzantine basilica that was destroyed in the 614 AD sack of Jerusalem. Today the spot is occupied by the Abbey of the Dormition, the traditional place where the Virgin Mary passed from this earthly existence.