Scripture reflection on Feast of St.Stephen, Dec. 26

Dear Readers<
I will be visiting my family--an only brother named James--in
Pittsburgh from Dec.26-Dec 30th. Please use this on line address for the
homily reflections during this coming few days:

http:scripmed.blogspot.com

Dec. 26, 2007 Scripture for Feast of St. Stephen: Acts 6:8-10; 7::54-59.
Psalm 31: 6-8,17,21.Matthew 10:17-22. Lectionary # 696

From gradeschool many of us were familiar with the story of the St.
Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian community. What we know of him
is directly taken from St. Luke's Acts of the Apostles. We have the
shortened form of the narrative about his identity and his witness to the
person of Jesus. It is, of course, very dramatic to have this feast so
soon after Christmas day. Only the setting of the Paschal Mysteries in the
Eucharist help us to realize the significance of placing his feast on Dec.
26th. Still it does shock us into the realization that Jesus created quite
a change in this world even at his birth. His mother had been told that a
sword of sorrows would be thrust into her heart because of this child.
Simeon, the person who blesses the child in the Temple in Jerusalem says,
"Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will
pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." (Luke
1:34-35). St. Stephen will be martyred around 30 A.D. because of his
witness to this child. It is Luke who predicts the division of hearts
about Jesus and his message and it is Stephen who confirms this as he dies
by being stoned by his own people with Saul of Tarsus (later St. Paul)
consenting to this violent action of the leaders. It seems it was those
Jews of the Diaspora who brought charges against Stephen that eventually
leads to his being stoned to death (Acts 6:6-9ff). Father McKenzie
describes the charge against what Stephen was preaching in the following:
"The discourse probably represents the earliest preaching of Christian
converts from the Diaspora, which denied any peculiar holiness to the law,
the Temple, the sacrificial ritual, and the Promised Land." (Dictionary of
the Bible, p.846). This was blasphemy according to the law and resulted in
the stoning of Stephen. McKenzie continues, "It is probable that the
differences between Palestinian and Hellenistic Jewish Christians went
deeper than the distribution of goods. No doubt the question was already
raised about the attitude of the Church toward Judaism and its obligations,
not only for Gentiles but also for Hellenistic Jews. The question which it
took a generation to solve and which was a pivotal point in the theology of
Paul and the conception of salvation and the Church is proposed in the
discourse of Stephen, and a solution hardly less radical than that of Paul
is suggested." (Dictionary, pp. 846-847).
The Gospel selection shows that those who were put to the test about their
witness to Jesus should not give in to those who threaten their life. It
is Stephen who is the first to witness such conviction about who Jesus is.
Nevertheless, Stephen is not angry or asking God to destroy those who are
to kill him. He prays as Jesus did when he died on the Cross, "Lord, do
not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died. And Saul
approved of their killing him." Amen.