Acts 7 marks a sudden shift in the story of the New Testament Church. The first six chapters contain rapid growth, healings, signs, and wonders. Sure, there was some time in prison for preaching the Name of Jesus, but the Apostles found their way out and carried on. That wave crashes down around the body of Stephen.
Chosen to serve in the practical needs of the church, Stephen was a man "full of grace and power" (Acts 6:8). While performing signs and wonders, a crowd is stirred up against him by the twisting of his words. Dragged before the Sanhedrin, Stephen delivers an impassioned sermon/history lesson on the way the prophets had been persecuted by the crowd's ancestors.
At the sound of this truth they can not dispute, "they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him." (Acts 7:54) This is a particularly interesting piece of the picture, seeing that in Luke 13 we hear that hell is a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" where the lost will see "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God."
But Stephen is unshakable. "Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God's glory with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
That tops it all! Not only will he not shut up, now he's claiming this Jesus was next to God! They scream at the top of their lungs, cover their ears, and begin to rush him. They throw him out of the city and begin to stone him, but not before leaving their robes with a young man named Saul.
The phrasing of this next verse cannot be overlooked. "They were stoning Stephen AS HE CALLED OUT: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin!' And saying this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:59-60)
The man lay dying. Blood no doubt poured from his eyes, ears, and mouth as every vessel in his body was put under stress. His ribs fractured, his face swollen, and yet while he is being murdered, he cries out for their mercy.
I don't actually think Stephen prayed that at all. I think it was the Holy Spirit in him who pressed that prayer through.
Stephen had heaven's attention. Jesus Himself stood watching. In that moment, his final seconds, he could have prayed anything with absolute confidence his prayers would be heard. He could have easily prayed for earthly resurrection or that someone step in like Gamaliel had done for the Apostles.
He could have prayed for his persecutors to drop dead. He could have prayed for his body to cause the rocks to bounce back and kill the murderers surrounding him.
Do you know why he didn't? Because of me and, if you are a Gentile, then because of you, too.
Had he prayed revenge on the mob, that would've included Saul. Saul, instead, becomes the recipient of the answer to Stephen's prayer, obtaining the mercy this "chief sinner" did not deserve.
When Jesus prophesied that His Followers would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world, it didn't make sense. Sure, those first two were no problem, but Jews would never choose to go to Samaria...except now in Acts 8, they didn't have a choice. The persecution would drive them where they would have never gone on their own. And that young man who was the recipient of Stephen's final prayer? He would become Paul, the man chosen to carry the message to the Jews AND the Gentiles...the one who opened the doors to the "ends of the world."
Augustine said, "if Stephen had not prayed, the church would not have had Paul."
See, Stephen saw Jesus, but Jesus saw us. The "fairy tale" had to end because though great things were happening in Jerusalem, the Savior didn't just come for the people there. There was a bigger picture than even Stephen could have understood...but having seen Jesus, he was submitted to whatever his role would be in pressing the Gospel forward.
And so it is with us. When we see the real Jesus, we will be sold out completely. The same Jesus who watched Stephen take his final breath is watching what we do with ours now. The same Jesus who stood to welcome the first martyr will be there to welcome us when it's our time to go home. In my last moments before I meet Him face to face I want to know that I was a good steward of this Gospel that has been handed down through the generations to me. I want to know that I passed the torch on as well. I want to know that my prayers weren't just for me, but for everyone, including my enemies.
Being Kingdom minded forces us to think beyond ourselves, it takes our right to victimhood and pettiness away, because someone is depending on us keeping our eyes on Jesus no matter what. Maybe that's why we pray for our enemies-because perhaps, they will run the next leg of the marathon and we just can't see it yet.
