City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“58 Then they cast him [Stephen] out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul…1And Saul approved of his [Stephen’s] execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” Acts 7:58, 8:1-3

Reflection

The Jews had formal procedures for death by stoning, including a formal condemnation and/or sentence, but Stephen did not have either (Marshall, 1980, p. 158). Stephen had told them Truths they did not want to hear, and they listened to their emotions rather than reason. While dragging Stephen out of town, they “laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul”. At first, it can be thought laying down garments at Saul’s feet is a sign of respect, as Jesus had during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:8), but in this instance it was very different. The witnesses of Stephen’s testimony wore heavy cloaks and needed to discard them to stone Stephen more easily. The cloaks at Saul’s feet weren’t a sign of respect, but he was the designated cloak-watcher (Marshall, 1980, p. 159). Although he wanted to, Saul did not take part in the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr for the Christian church.

On that very day the Jerusalem Christian church suffered great persecution, and many left the city. But the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. They had learned their lesson with Jesus and the Garden of Gethsemane, to not flee during hardship (Mark 14:50). There were several occasions later when God would lead the apostles to escape (Acts 9:23-25, Acts 12), so why not now? This was the first formal persecution of the Christian church. If the apostles, the leaders of the Christian Church, the very ones who followed Jesus Christ in the flesh, abandoned Jerusalem, the entire Church would fall. Their influence inspired some followers to publicly lament Stephen’s murder, which would have revealed them to be fellow believers. This was particularly brave of them considering how Saul had upped the ante.

The word, “ravage” means to cause great and violent damage, to ruin and destroy, which is exactly what Saul did to the followers of The Way. It wasn’t required of his occupation to go to people’s homes to arrest them, not even the Pharisees who persecuted Jesus did that. Nobody was safe from Saul, not even women received mercy. There is no mention of a trial or any other type of hearing, showing Saul just committed them to prison without a chance to speak. Even Jesus got a trial, albeit an unfair one (Mark 14:53-59).

Application

To many followers of The Way, it seemed like the end. The apostles stayed because they knew God’s plans was bigger than their fear. God had bigger and better plans for Saul and His Church (Acts 9:15). Saul was very misguided, but very ambitious. This ambition would serve the Church and future generations very well later.

God’s plans are like a painting. If we look way too close, we can only see a blob of paint, it makes no sense, it looks messy, even gross. If we step way back, we can see the entire painting, and we can admire a masterpiece.  

Prayer

Lord Jesus, despite the problems in my life please help me not focus entirely on them, but please grant me a glimpse of the entire painting. Help me realize my suffering is only temporary compared to the eternal glory You have for me (2 Corinthians 4:17). In Your name I pray, amen.

Reference

Marshall, I. H. (1980). Tyndale New Testament Commentaries–Acts. Williams B. Eerdmans Publish. Pp. 158, 159