Paths
Once we start down the wrong path, it is hard to turn back.
‘Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David, who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling-place for the house of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?” ‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’ When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then 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. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then 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. And Saul approved of their killing him. That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. - Acts 7:44-8:1
Today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles is about the stoning of Stephen, the first deacon. The reading ends with Saul approving the stoning and the subsequent persecution of the church.
What has begun will be hard to stop.
Stephen accused the people of being blind to the Holy Spirit, going against God, but they didn't see it that way. They were purging the community of evil. Voices that spoke against what they believed were to be silenced.
Today, we read this and see that Stephen was being persecuted, but how would we have seen it at the time? Would we have believed that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, or would we have thought him evil, needing to be punished for blasphemy?
This scene sets the stage for Saul's conversion and Paul's rise as a defender of Christ, but that wouldn't have happened without Jesus' intervention. Once we choose our path, we have a hard time seeing it as a possible mistake.
Saul felt totally justified and righteous in his actions, and that is what is so scary about this story. It shows us we can all be like Saul. And we may never know how wrong we are.
More to come...