Daily Devotional • December 26
Feast of St. Stephen
A Reading from Acts 6:1-7
1 Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, brothers and sisters, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task,4 while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” 5 What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Meditation
Today, we remember the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, who was stoned to death by an angry mob. Saint Stephen is especially important in our tradition because he was the first martyr — the first disciple killed because of his faith in Jesus.
The story of his death is remarkable. In Acts 7, we read that, before his death, Saint Stephen looked up to see a vision of “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” While the people were stoning him, he asked God to forgive them, and then, mercifully, the text says that “he fell asleep.”
But before he reached this dramatic end, Saint Stephen was just one of the disciples. In today’s reading from Acts 6, we find Stephen among seven men chosen to handle financial matters in the early church because the apostles were too busy preaching to take care of such quotidian matters. We might imagine Stephen as an important, trusted disciple to be given such a task. We also might imagine him as just an ordinary guy, someone reliable and honest who wasn’t needed for the work of evangelizing and was given the job of “ancient near east accountant” instead.
Usually, when we think of martyrs, we think of their holy deaths. Usually, we’re a bit horrified and a bit awed by their witness. Often, we wonder whether we could do anything close if our faith were put to that kind of test. Acts 6 reminds us that before he was a martyr, Saint Stephen was simply a guy who stepped up to meet the immediate needs of the church. Perhaps you are being called to a mundane task in your own community. Perhaps this one small step doesn’t feel like much. But perhaps, it’s the first step in a larger journey towards God’s plan for you, and for his church.
Elizabeth Hamilton’s writing has appeared in the Dallas Museum of Art, Southern Humanities Review, and Texas Monthly. She has an MFA from Seattle Pacific University. Find her work at elizabethannehamilton.com
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Kumi – The Church of the Province of Uganda
Church of the Transfiguration, Vail, Colorado
