I have never preached on this story from Acts (or at least I do not recall preaching on it!). Very powerful story. Given the mass shooting at Allen, Texas on Saturday, I contemplated pulling the illustration about the school shooting in PA. I thought it might be too raw. But, Sunday morning as I preached the sermon with the illustration in it, I decided it would not be a negative.
“Easter Possibilities: Forgiving” May 7, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp; Acts 7: 55-60
54When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. 55But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56“Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
Introduction: What a story!
You remember Stephen? Remember, Stephen was one of the seven picked to take care of the widows and the orphans, to do pastoral care.
He apparently does more than that as evidenced by the speech he has just given. YOu can go back and read it, but here is Frederick Buechner’s description of Stephen’s speech:
Stephen made them a long speech, the gist of which was that from year one the Jews had always been an ornery lot, "stiff-necked," he said, and circumcised as all get-out in one department, but as cussed and mean as everybody else in all the others (Acts 7:51). They'd given Moses a hard time in the wilderness, he said, and there hadn't been a saint or prophet since whom they hadn't had it in for. The way they'd treated Jesus was the last and worst example of how they were always not just missing the boat, but doing their damnedest to sink it. The authorities were naturally enraged and illustrated the accuracy of Stephen's analysis of them by taking him out and stoning him to death. (https://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2018/11/11/stephen?rq=stephen)
A brutal story - stoning; literally raining stones down upon Stephen until he dies.
The pile of coats give evident to the physical nature of a stoning. Hot and sweaty, so they had to remove their coats and it also allowed them to not be restricted in their throwing motion.
it was hard work to stone a person to death.
A lot of suffering and horrific death for the person being stoned.
A Powerful story that ties back to Jesus on the cross - like Christ on the cross, Stephen is unjustly killed.
Like Christ on the cross, Stephen asks God the forgive those who are killing him.
Story with Easter possibilities - can you imagine forgiveness like Stephen extends to those who are stoning him?
Only possible because Stephen lives in a world transformed by the God of resurrection.
Move 1: We awaken today to news of another mass shooting. This time just down the road in Allen. Seemingly a weekly, if not daily occurrence.
This week, I was reflecting on a similar tragedy that unfolded in October 2006 at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[1][2][3] It was in the same region where I served my previous church, so we heard quite a bit about it.
Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse.
It would have made the news for its senseless tragedy, but it also made news for the response of the Amish community.
they chose to follow the path of forgiveness.
On the day of the shooting, the grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls was heard warning some young relatives not to hate the killer,
Those in the Amish community chose to care for the families whose children had been killed, but also to reach out to the family of the shooter.
an Amish neighbor comforted the shooter’s family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.[17] Amish community members visited and comforted Roberts' widow, parents, and parents-in-law. One Amish man held Roberts' sobbing father in his arms, reportedly for as long as an hour, to comfort him.[18]
About 30 members of the Amish community attended Roberts' funeral.
Marie Roberts, the mother of the shooter, wrote an open letter to her Amish neighbors thanking them for their forgiveness, grace, and mercy. She wrote, "Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world...."[20]
as you might guess, Some commentators criticized the quick and complete forgiveness with which the Amish responded, arguing that forgiveness is inappropriate when no remorse has been expressed, and that such an attitude runs the risk of denying the existence of evil,[22][23][24]
Others were supportive and pointed to the forgiveness Jesus offered to those who crucified him.
They explained that the Amish willingness to forgo vengeance does not undo the tragedy or pardon the wrong, but rather constitutes a first step toward a future that is more hopeful.[27][28] life? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_school_shooting)
in the aftermath of the shooting, they razed the one-room school house.
They built a new school nearby; one of the goals was to make the new school look very different than the old one where the tragedy had taken place.
Moving into the future transforming the world as they saw it.
Moving into the future, transformed by forgiveness.
Easter possibilities from the God of resurrection.
Move 2: On this communion Sunday, when we come to our Lord’s Table, I am reminded a story my supervisor liked to tell years ago when I served with him.
It has stuck with me all these years.
HIs first pastorate was in a small town in MN. he told a story about the Lutheran church in town.
It had two two Swede brothers in a Lutheran church in Minnesota get into an argument. They do not reconcile for two years. they still worship in the same sanctuary every week, but sit on opposite sides of the church and do not talk or make eye contact.
Everyone in town knows about the ongoing issue between the two brothers.
One Sunday as the congregation begins to process forward for communion, the minister announces that he won’t serve communion to the brothers until they are reconciled.
The congregation is stunned. The brothers embrace and fall on the floor crying.
then, they stand up and come to the communion table together.
Easter possibilities from the God of resurrection.
Move 3: A final thought - as Stephen forgives those who are stoning him to death, Saul is there.
Saul is a professed persecutor of Christians.
Saul is watching over the coats of those who were doing the stoning.
He is there to participate in the persecution of Stephen.
While he is there, he receives Stephen’s gracious forgiveness.
Saul will become Paul, his life transformed on the road to Damascus.
We know he remembers being there and being forgiven by Stephen because he talks about it later.
I suspect he thinks about it often.
He knows what it is like to be forgiven in a way made possible only by the power of the resurrection.
He knows what is to have his life transformed by the power of the God of resurrection.
Conclusion: Easter possibilities from the God of resurrection.
God calls us to live into them.
No comments:
Post a Comment