Stephen--Full Life, Good Death

They stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses who testified against him. Things did not look good.

Would you blame Stephen if he was a little worried at this point? I wouldn’t.

The text says that all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (No wonder they looked at him so intently; they expected him to be worried too.)

That his face looked like an angel could mean a lot of things. But I’m pretty sure that one of the things that means is that they saw in Stephen’s face serenity and confidence. What they did not see in Stephen’s face was worry. What they did not see in Stephen’s face was fear.

Stephen answered their charges, not with a defense of himself but with a proclamation of God’s faithfulness throughout the generations. He challenged his opponents to see their own unfaithfulness in the mirror of their ancestors’ recurring unfaithfulness. He spoke the truth with clarity and directness…and no fear.

Around Stephen, anger turned to rage. They dragged him out of the city. They began throwing stones at him. Stephen stood…utterly without fear.

Stephen faced death without fear.

Stephen was prepared to face death without fear because, by the power and grace of God, Stephen learned in life to trust in Christ without fear. Stephen was prepared to face death without fear because Stephen was equipped to live life without fear.

Two… As a follower of Jesus, Stephen faced death with no bitterness in his heart.

Stones fell like hail all around Stephen. The text says that he prayed: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Some of the stones hit their target. The impact forced him to his knees.

If anybody ever had good reason to be angry and bitter, Stephen did. The rage of others was literally killing him, but he did not rage. Instead he prayed: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

By the grace and power of God, Stephen faced death without fear. By the grace and power of God, Stephen decided to forgive his attackers. Wow.

When the shadow of death wanders near, even in the best of us, old wounds long-buried emerge from the shadows. Bitterness long-forgotten surfaces. Bitterness we didn’t even know we had. Bitterness we thought we had put behind us. Bitterness that turns out to have been suppressed, not released.

Bitterness makes a good death impossible. Forgiveness makes a good death beautiful.

The threshold of death is a hard place to learn the art of forgiveness, though. When the muscles of forgiveness are weak from disuse in life, the threshold of death can be a font of bitterness unleashed. On the other hand, if the art of forgiveness has been well-practiced in life, then the threshold of death offers no obstacle to forgiveness and no platform for bitterness.

Stephen faced death with no bitterness in his heart, with a readiness to forgive, because, by the power and grace of God, he practiced in life the art of forgiveness.