The First Martyr

The First Martyr

The day after Christmas, the church remembers Stephen, the first Christian martyr. The placement is deliberate: the joy of the Incarnation is immediately followed by the cost of following the Incarnate One. Stephen's death mirrors Christ's death in its generosity: 'do not hold this sin against them' echoes 'Father, forgive them' from the cross. And among those watching the stones fly was a young man named Saul, who was 'giving approval to his death' (Acts 8:1). The death of Stephen planted a seed in Saul that would eventually become Paul. Stephen's prayer for his persecutors was answered in the conversion of the man who was responsible for his execution.

Acts 7:59-60 describes the most gracious death in the New Testament. Stephen, 'full of the Holy Spirit' (verse 55), looked up and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God — standing, not sitting (the usual posture of reigning). Some have suggested Jesus stood to welcome the first martyr home. Stephen's final words were both personal surrender ('receive my spirit') and radical intercession ('do not hold this sin against them'). The pattern of his death was precisely the pattern of Christ's death. The Christmas gift produces exactly this kind of life and exactly this kind of death. The One who was born to die invites us to live by dying.