Daily Devotional • June 13
A Reading from Acts 7:17-29
17 “But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied 18 until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt craftily with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 21 and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his kinfolk, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.”
Meditation
Stephen is charged with speaking against the Temple and the law. How does he defend himself? By giving the religious leaders a history lesson.
Here is the point of Stephen’s history lesson today: to remind the Jewish leaders that land is holy if God makes it holy.
Stephen sees a pattern of Israel encountering God’s presence outside of the Promised Land. Starting with Abraham, Stephen says, “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia” (v. 2). While he focuses on God’s promise to give his people the land, Stephen emphasizes that this promise includes 400 years in which his people will not live in the Promised Land, but under oppressive rulers in Egypt. So God raises up Moses, who meets God in a burning bush. Moses hears God’s voice, and it says to him, “the place where you are standing is holy ground” (v. 33). On Mount Sinai, he encounters God again, who gives him instructions for the tabernacle. As Israel travels through the wilderness, the tabernacle is God’s holy place. Mesopotamia, Burning bush, Mount Sinai, tabernacle: all holy places, all outside the Promised Land.
Then, he drives his point home by observing that the Temple was not even constructed until Solomon’s reign (v. 46), and by quoting Isaiah 66:1-2, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool.”
The implication is clear: wherever God is, that place is holy. A holy place may include a geographic location or the construction of a building, but these are not what make it special or sanctified — only God’s presence and favor can do that. One needs to pay attention to the movement of the Spirit, and the Spirit has come down upon the apostles, and the apostles are performing signs and wonders. The ministry of the Temple, and of all holy places, is being manifested among believers in Jesus, built brick by brick in the lives of his followers.
Dr. Jim Watkins is associate dean of academic affairs at Nashotah House Theological Seminary. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his wife, four boys, a dog, a cat, and lots of houseplants.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Nashville, Tennessee
The Diocese of Mundu – Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
