Monday, August 4, 2014
Acts 6:1-7 (St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr)
Today’s reading focuses on an early dispute within a growing Christian church. A central character mentioned in this section of Acts is Stephen, an individual who we are told was “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” Stephen was ultimately to become known as the first Christian martyr.
The early conflict within the church identified in this passage concerned a rivalry between two groups of early Christians. The first group were native Palestinians and the second were Hellenists; Greek speakers who had been born and raised outside of the Holy Land. The crux of the complaint was that the Hellenist Christians felt they were being discriminated against in the early church. Some Hellenists complained that the church was more supportive of the native Palestinian Christian widows (called the Hebrews) than the Hellenistic widows when it came to distributing food and financial aid to the poor.
To respond to this criticism and heal the rift that was developing in an increasingly diverse church membership the church leaders were reported to have empowered seven Hellenistic members of the church’s leadership to look into and respond to these criticisms. Stephen is the first of the seven members mentioned in this passage who is assigned this challenging task of improving the distribution of food and material support to all members of the Christian church without bias according to their varying social and ethnic background.
Perhaps this early episode in the Christian tradition reminds today’s church that social, ethnic and linguistic differences can complicate the task of inculcating a truly open and accepting attitude towards individuals of different personal backgrounds in a diverse community of faith. Real attempts to legitimately and authentically respond to criticisms can be fraught with challenges as Stephen’s personal example suggests. He was ultimately put to death for his efforts in large measure due to criticism that he received from some other Hellenists within the church who claimed Stephen had blasphemed and was dragged before a council that was responsible for enforcing the laws of Moses. Ultimately, Stephen’s spirited defense of his actions as being consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ, and thus obedient to God’s will, infuriated many which lead to death by stoning.
- Terry Rothwell
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