Sermon St Eustachius 9.45 26 December 2021 Christmas 1 Year C Stephen martyr
2 Chronicles 24v20-22 (Psalm 119v161-168) Acts 7v51-60 Matthew 10v17-22 Let us Pray:
Well, I guess we have all survived. Christmas really has come and now almost gone yet again? And what have we actually achieved? Yes, an extra inch around the waist, some precious time with family and special friends, and for those of us who make up the household of God, a wonderful remembrance of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
But what next? The time for new year resolutions perhaps, but that will have to wait a few more days.
So, as we wait, I wonder what common points you found in our readings this morning?
Maybe what struck you was the significant difference in the ending of our reading from 2 Chronicles, about the death of Zechariah, and the last words of Saint Stephen as he was being martyred?
Zachariah, as he was being martyred said what? ‘May the Lord see, and avenge’. Although we know that God said very clearly, ‘Vengeance is mine’, (Deut 32v35), Zachariah’s words starkly contrast with the final words of Stephen, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’.
But do those words of Stephen remind you of anything else? What did our Lord pray as he was dying upon Calvary’s cross? ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23v34).
Such an amazing contrast, and we need to ask ourselves what made that contrast possible?
I am sure we have all heard stories after some deadly assault or murder, of such contrasting responses as, ‘I can never forgive that person’, and yet others can say despite their pain and much trauma, ‘I forgive them’. I pray that we shall never be put in such a position, but how would we respond?
Saint Paul addresses this question when writing to the Christians in Rome (Rom 12v19) where has says that as Christians we are to ‘overcome evil with good’. Does that seem possible to you? Many will say, easier said than done, true, for without the help and presence of God’s Holy Spirit that may well be the case.
But did you notice that there was a second common factor running through our readings. Zachariah, as an Old Testament saint had experienced the Spirit of God with him, but we read that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, and of course that was supremely true of our Lord Jesus.
So is there a lesson from Stephens experience for us Christians this morning? A lesson of how to live out our lives to the full as God intended for each one us? How may we have the great hope of the gospel resonating in our hearts? Clearly, we need to be like Stephen, to be full of God’s Holy Spirit.
And that is so necessary for our persecuted brothers and sisters to survive amidst all the hostility that they so often have to experience and endure.
In our reading from Matthew this morning, that hostility was something Jesus had to prepare the early disciples for telling them that, ‘they will hand you over to councils and flog you’, and sadly that has been something which has not diminished down through the ages for true believers, for true followers of our Lord. Stephen may have been the first of our fellow believers to be martyred, but sadly it did not stop with him. The presence and witness to the truth that we Christians have always been called to declare makes us prime targets for attack in an ‘anti God’ society. It was true, and that is still especially true, in many communist and other repressive regimes today, and does not seem to be diminishing.
Saint John in his Revelation issued a call for ‘the endurance of the saints’ (Rev 14v12), and John saw under the altar of God in heaven, the souls of those who had been killed for the word of God and for the witness they had borne (Rev 6v9). In heaven those faithful believers no doubt see our Lord Jesus standing at Gods right hand, just as Stephen saw in his dying vision. They now wait in expectation of that day when they, together with us, shall all be like our Lord Jesus as we share in his glory. Can we yet even begin to grasp the magnitude of that promise? I wonder, is that your hope and expectation as another new year begins?
Joy and I have been reading a most challenging book, and if you start reading it, you will not be able to put it down. It contains the testimonies of women who risk all for their faith in our Lord Jesus in antagonistic middle eastern countries. Yet despite enormous risks, and possible death, these women have become firm followers of the Lord, living on the very edge they seek to spread the good news of the gospel.
Let us pray for strength and faithfulness, that like them we may live to declare the hope and joy that Jesus came to bring to all humankind through his birth in that little town of Bethlehem some two thousand years ago.
Let us Pray: A prayer written at the conclusion of psalm 97 in daily prayer
Most high and holy God, enthroned in fire and light, burn away the dross of our lives and kindle in us the fire of your love, that our lives may reveal to all around the light and life we find only in your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.