They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit… (Acts 6:5)

Stephen was among the founding members of the church in the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ ascension.  His name is Greek, Στέφανος (Stephanos) and it means ‘crown’.

Stephen was one of seven ‘deacons’ (from διακονέω diakoneó to serve ‘waiting tables’) chosen to oversee a dispute arising from perceived inequity in dispensing alms to the widows within the church.  We need to remember that at this early juncture the church bar a very few exceptions (such as the author of Acts) was Jewish, but Luke’s text shows that there were two types of Christian Jew, those who had kept the Law of Moses, and others who had adopted the ways of the prevailing culture and become ‘Greek’, these Luke refers to as Hellénistés, or Hellenists.

Stephen had a Greek name but he was himself was Hellenist rather than a Gentile.  This can be safely assumed because alongside him is named one Nicolaus of Antioch, and Luke makes mention that he was a proselyte, prosélutos, that is a Gentile who converts to Judaism.

Presumably it was because of this heritage that the twelve apostles thought Stephen and six others (all like Nicolaus and Stephen had Greek names) qualified them to make sure fair distribution of food between Hellenist and Hebrew widows, adding:

‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables …’ (ibid 6:2)

It seems that the apostles had forgotten the enacted parable of Jesus washing their feet at the Last Supper.  Taking the menial role of the lowliest servant, usually a slave, Jesus demonstrated that service was the mark of his disciple.   While Scripture is silent on whether the ministry of the deacons was blessed, at least regarding Stephen, we see that far from being ‘demoted’, God propelled him centre stage.  While previously the apostles had been arrested and had confronted the Sanhedrin, it fell to Stephen to deliver the conclusive and terrible condemnation for their collective unbelief and rebellion.

Obeying the will of his Heavenly Father and to fulfil prophesy, Jesus had acquiescenced when he was brought before of the Greater Sanhedrin, the ruling council with overarching authority over all Jews, not just Jerusalemites.

But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, ‘do you not hear how many things they testify against you?’ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.  (Matthew 27:12-14)

Jesus offered no defence and submits to earthly judgment; however faulty and unjust.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgement he was taken away… (Isaiah 53:7-8a)

Yet Stephen ‘filled with Holy Spirit’ is chosen as God’s messenger to deliver a judgment on the Sanhedrin.  And there are deliberate parallels with Jesus’ (in)judicial process of his trial and death.

First, Stephen comes to the notice of the Sanhedrin, as he, ‘full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people’ (ibid 6:8).  A plot was then hatched against him because ‘they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking’ (ibid 6:10) and false charges were laid specifically accusing Stephen.

This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. (Ibid 16:13-14)

Jesus was, of course, arraigned on similar charges:

At last, two came forward and said, ‘this man (Jesus) said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.”’  (Matthew 26:61)

Jesus does not answer that charge but Stephen, is not restrained and while it suited divine purposes for the Son of God to submit to a sham trial, the Spirit of God empowers and inspires the deacon to lay charges in turn against those who ‘who sit on Moses’ seat’ (Matthew 23:2).

In the same vein as the re-telling of Genesis and Exodus at the Passover Meal, Stephen gives a potted history of the Jews, beginning with founding patriarchs, the Egyptian bondage to their emancipation by Moses, to Joshua and the promised land up to the establishment of the Temple by Solomon.  

Woven into this abridged narrative is commentary in answer to accusation concerning the Temple and the Law.

To the Temple he employs the words given first to Isaiah:

Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
Did not my hand make all these things?  (Acts 7:49)

Taken from sixty-sixth and final chapter, this is an indictment of human arrogance; and to the Sanhedrin, the Temple had become the symbol of national and racial pride.  As God Incarnate, Jesus transcended time and place.  Could not God ‘be’ wherever and ‘appear’ whenever he chose?’  Was He restricted to the dwell in the Holy of Holies and be accessible on the Day of Atonement?  As Stephen declared in verse 33, God make holy the ground around the burning bush and needed no elaborate building or festal tradition to speak with Moses.

Similarly, the Law of Moses is God’s and only entrusted to nation of Israel to be abided by, not amended or put aside.

However, the major burden of the testimony, is judgment and condemnation.  The Holy Spirit convicts the Sanhedrin on their rebellion, saying it is not only akin to, but flows from that same rebellious spirit that cause the forging of the Golden Calf – as we read as Stephen introduces the words of Amos

But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’  (Acts 7:42-43)

In quoting Amos, Stephen, now prophesies exile of a different nature, that having rejected Jesus as the Messiah, Israel would be lost in worldly exile until the Messiah’s return. Once more the Temple would be destroyed (in 70AD) and the Jews cast out of the land promised them (the consequence of the Roman-Jewish Wars.)

Stephen, in verse 37, also reminds the Elders that Moses had predicted a prophet – and yet what was the fate of that man and all prophets (including Stephen’s pending fate?)

‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.’  (ibid 7:51-53)

The Holy Spirit now lays the murder of the Messiah at their door.  

Stephen’s summation is dreadful to hear, so much they had to stop their ears – and note the reception; when Peter brought the conviction of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost it engendered mass repentance; while the response to Stephen is the rage of self-righteousness.  In a final travesty, they stone Stephen under auspices of the Law of Moses, and against the edicts of Roman Law. 

Thus, far from being a menial deacon, waiting at the tables of lowly widows, Stephen was elevated to prophet and then blessed as the first martyr to die for Christ.

What of the Sanhedrin? Individual members may have been spared.  We know of the repentance of Nicodemus and also Saul/Paul – who being assigned the care of sacred priestly garments (verse 58) was providentially prevented from participating in extra-judicial execution – but collectively the Sanhedrin is henceforth rejected by God.  He will now work through a different council of Jews, who will be headed by James, the half-brother of Jesus, and the apostles.

In a final parallel with Jesus’s death, Stephen’s last words are ones of forgiveness, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ (ibid 7:60) and he dies at peace with God, as if falling asleep, in stark contrast to swirl of bitterness, anger and lawlessness about him.

Jesus speaks of overcoming persecution, including martyrdom in his name and the reward that follows.  To the church of Smyrna, he says this:

Do not fear what you are about to suffer…be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

James speaks universally of the same:

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.  (James 1:12)

How apt that Stephen is given a name meaning ‘crown’, as he receives the crown of life, for offering his mortal life for testifying to his faith in Jesus as Lord and God.