Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59
Chapter 6
Stephen Arrested
Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.Some people then came forward, belonging to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia.
They argued with Stephen, but they couldn’t match the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Chapter 7
Death of Stephen
When they heard this reproach, they became furious and gnashed their teeth at Stephen.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes on heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand;
so he declared:
“I see the heavens open and the Son of Man at the right hand of God.”
But they shouted, covered their ears with their hands, and rushed at him.
They took him out of the city and stoned him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, saying:
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Commentaries
Stephen Arrested.
Luke’s depiction of this young Christian, the first martyr of the Church, is compelling: he is filled with the Spirit, passionate and brave, very active in sharing the Gospel, sharp in his accusations, and remarkable in his miracles. He genuinely acts as a prophet. When his opponents, the Jewish authorities, cannot succeed through reasoning and debate, they try to discredit him before the people with smear tactics. They accuse him of blasphemy for speaking against the Law and the temple, which symbolize Jewish identity. For Stephen, the Law and the temple have not been abolished but fulfilled through Jesus, whose coming completes them.
Death of Stephen.
The listeners’ emotional reactions show that they understand the speech and have shifted from accusers to the accused. The climax occurs when Stephen, in a moment of divine inspiration, declares that he sees the glory of God and Jesus at God’s right hand. This is difficult for his accusers to hear. From this point on, everything unfolds quickly: they take him outside, and overwhelmed with hatred, they stone him to death. In his final words, Stephen imitates his Master and dies forgiving (cf. Lk 23:34): “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (60). With two brief strokes, Luke introduces a secondary character who will soon become one of the leading figures. For now, his name is Saul.