A Meditation On Stephen(acts 7:60; Rev. 2:10)

by R. Darke, Victoria, B.C., Canada | Category: General | May 1987

"And he kneeled down..." His head and body were bloodied from the incessant shower of stones of all sizes, thrown with relentless fury by his detractors. There was no hope of escape from the massacre, and he would be pinned to the ground by the onslaught. We do not know if he attempted to protect himself; or whether he just remained inert, unprotesting, absorbing the inhuman punishment unrestrainedly imposed upon him. All life seemed to have ebbed away after he had committed his spirit to his heavenly Master.

But wait! the body moves; he brings himself, oh so slowly, to a position that seemed to reflect the daily, perhaps hourly, habit of his life. He struggles painfully, weakly, courageously to his knees, to an attitude of prayer; "then rising on his knees", as Moffatt translates it.

Anguish, paroxysm, must surely have shaken him from head to toe as he prayed his last prayer. For himself? Setting things in order before meeting his Redeemer? No, but an earnest prayer for his tormentors. "Lord", he cried with a loud voice, "lay not this sin to their charge." That prayer was heard in heaven, and by all around him, some of whom were transfixed no doubt, by the incredible sight of a martyr pouring out a wave of love and forgiveness to erase the hatred and brutality inflicted on him.

So Stephen died on his knees in prayer. This is the man of God that Luke describes so vividly in his account of the death of the first Christian martyr. How did Stephen accomplish this final act of reverence, intercession, prayer? It seemed to defy all physical possibilities. The answer must await that glorious day when all mysteries will be solved and all questions answered.

R. Darke, Victoria, B.C., Canada | May 1987
General