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St Stephen's Feast Day
He appears in the book of Acts as one of the first deacons of the church, one of the 7 chosen to attend to the needs of the widows. Stephen was a committed and charismatic Christian. In Acts 6:5, he is identified as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” Stephen was outspoken and evangelical and eventually the Jewish authorities arrested him and laid charges him for speaking against the Temple and the Law. In his trial speech which is found in Acts 7:2 – 52 he hardly addresses these charges. Rather he points out that throughout their history the Jewish people have had a pattern of being disobedient to God’s law and then goes on to criticise the Jewish rejection of the Gospel of Jesus. His speech is followed inevitably by his death. He is stoned to death outside the city of Jerusalem. He models his death on Jesus just as he modelled his life on Jesus’ teachings. As he dies Stephen kneels down like Jesus in Gethsemane and prays for the forgiveness of his persecutors. He also commits his spirit to Jesus just as Jesus had commended his life to the Father. He believed so implicitly in Jesus’ way that he went courageously to his death speaking out for Jesus. He died for his faith, his beliefs, his religion and is regarded as the first Christian Martyr. From Stephen flows a long line of martyrs: St Agnes, William Tyndale, Edith Stein; Oscar Romero to name a few people who were prepared to die for their faith. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word mártys, which means "witness." I am humbled by these people, that they would die rather than recant their beliefs and that they had in every sense of the word, the courage of their convictions. Author Timothy Keller, makes the point in one of his books that A Faith system or Religion is not just a temporary strategy that helps us adapt to our environment. Rather it is a permanent and central aspect of the human condition. He states that robust religious beliefs (such as Stephen had) have always dominated the world of humans. Thus there is no reason to expect our world to be any different today. The question for us then is not so much whether religion is necessary to the human condition, as which of the religions on offer is the true one, the one worth dying for? Put differently, in choosing Jesus’ Way, was Stephen choosing the right religion to die for? Does it even matter which religion you choose? There was a song in the 60’s called Melting Pot, sung by the band Blue Mink.
One of the verses went like this: Let’s be realistic here. Living in New Zealand, not many of us will be called upon to die for our faith. However, those of us who are Christ followers today clearly are responding to the call to live for our faith! Well, it really doesn't matter what religion you choose. When statements like this are made, there are often underlying assumptions behind them. One might be that there isn’t a God at all. Religion is a human invention and part of our social development. It is just a collection of human notions and speculations about the sacred, spiritual or divine. Wishful thinking perhaps? The French philosopher, Voltaire, was implying this when he said:“If God didn’t exist we would find it necessary to create him”. Now if that were true and if religion is just a human invention, then it wouldn’t really matter which religion you chose or what you believed in. You could just as easily worship Father Christmas or the Easter Bunny! Another assumption might be that there is a god or gods but they are indifferent to the human condition and couldn’t care less what people believed about them or what humankind did or didn’t do. They have no ethical stance, no moral interest and make no evaluation of the behaviour, attitudes or actions of men and women like you and me. Another common belief these days, is that everyone is on their own journey and we will all eventually end up at the same destination. So as all paths lead to the same destination and it doesn’t matter which path you choose as long as you are on one. However, this position assumes that all paths are true and ignores the possibility that they could all be false. I think those that take this position need to take the time to look seriously at other religions and examine the fundamental differences between them, · concerning the nature of God, · if or how people can have a relationship with God and · what is wrong with this world, if anything at all Also popular today is a personalised patchwork religion where one picks and chooses and one takes elements of various religions that are found to be appealing and then to fuse them into an personalised belief system. This strategy however could only work if there is no god or if the gods involved were totally indifferent to your meddling. You end up as the final authority on ethics and morals. Indeed everything is subject to your interpretation of reality. You in fact are in the place of god. To answer the question ‘Which religion?’ we must first ask ‘what is religion?’ Keller calls religion ‘a set of beliefs that explains what life is all about, who we are and the most important things that human beings should spend their time doing.’ The reason he uses such a broad definition is because the various religions are broad. As your priest and spiritual leader, I would encourage you to examine other religions and not accept Christianity just because you have been brought up with it. Examine what each religion teaches about the divine, the human, the past, the present and the future. Is it logical? Is it consistent? Is it relevant? How does it impact your life? But most of all, as far as you can tell, is it true? For myself I find many reasons to embrace Christianity. · The first being the radical uniqueness of Jesus Christ. · I find his life and testimony very compelling. I also find it hard to swallow the claim of the universe being a 13 – 14 billion year old accident and that everything came from no one or nothing. · The enormity and complexity of the universe convinces me that there is a power and a mind behind life. · The biblical view of the fallenness of this world fits the world in which I live and strive and will ultimately die. · I believe that pain and suffering are not an illusion but a reflection of the reality I see and that life here is not the way it is supposed to be, but deeply broken at every level. · Lastly the remedy the Bible gives me is not self- help ( pull yourself up by your own boot straps, but a rescue mission from a loving graceful power from the outside of my life; the One who created also comes to redeem rescue and repair in the form of the Messiah, Immanuel, God with us. I think it does matter what religion you choose. It matters profoundly and it is definitely worth your time and energy investigating the options, for it may at some point come to a matter of death as was the case with St Stephen, but almost more importantly it will profoundly influence how you live your life, what you give up your life for. |
