David Bahn – Reflections

Acts 7:1-10ff

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. ’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place. ’ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before…

There are times when we are tempted to say, “I know all that…” dismissing the information as old news or no news at all. We all know that George Washington went to Valley Forge and prayed with his troops, that he crossed the Potomac River, and that he was the first president of the United States of America. That knowledge becomes important not just in a game of Trivial Pursuit, or on a history exam, but in times where leadership, the importance of sacrifice, and the significance of compassion on the part of leaders comes into play. More important, however, is that these facts are more important and significant that the mere fact that they happened. They shaped our nation and help us discern greatness.

History is more than a recitation of facts. History as a chain of dates and facts is not only boring; it is not really history. History is best understood as “His Story” – God’s story. It has a beginning, middle, climax and will have an end. So when Stephen begins his speech before the council and begins to recount the history of Israel, many of the people there realized that he was doing more than stating facts. He was leading somewhere. And that place was to a stinging word of judgment and condemnation:

“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.”
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

There is always a point to history. In the case of Stephen’s recounting of Israel’s history, the point was that God had acted in behalf of the Jewish people  again and again, yet they had rejected him again and again. The ultimate rejection was of Jesus, the Righteous One whom they rejected and murdered.

Sounds very much like us today. We don’t need a lesson in Jewish failure and rejection of Jesus; we need a lesson in our own rejection and disbelief in God’s salvation and the way of life. Next time someone begins to tell you a story, listen carefully: it may be about you. God may be wanting to call you back to himself in repentance and faith. Sadly the response of the Jews was significantly different. They killed the messenger. Will we do the same – literally or figuratively?