Do It Anyway [St. Stephen's Day]

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51c-60

Do it Anyway

I suspect the prophet Jeremiah might take issue with today's collect. The collect for the Feast of St. Stephen, the feast we are observing today, begins: “We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen.” First martyr, huh? First martyr of the Christian Church? Sure. But first martyr? Probably quiet a few of the prophets and sages, from Jeremiah to John the Baptist, who quite literally lost his head, would object to that unqualified first.

Stephen was the first post-resurrection martyr, but he was not the first to suffer for his witness, neither was he the last. Stephen takes his place within the great throng of witnesses – of those who dared speak the word of God, who risked everything for the sake of the Truth. According to the biblical witness,, God has been speaking to and through human beings since the book of Genesis. Also the Bible shows us that those words are rarely well-received. In fact, God's Word became flesh in the person of Jesus, and, you might remember, even he was not terribly well-received.

The Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha, the stories of the early Church, they are all littered with martyr stories, stories of heroic women and men of faith who gave their all for the love of God. And in almost every case, the end of the story escalates to what feels like a huge overreaction. Today's story from Jeremiah is a good example. Now he isn't killed in this story; tradition tells us that he was carried into exile and later killed by his own people, but the crowds do threaten to kill him in this story. Now he is admittedly not a sweet talker. But he is actually trying to save them from disaster. That is a nice thing to do. But they want to kill him because, well, folks don't like to be told that they might be wrong, in need of repentance. The obvious reaction to that, the rational reaction, might be for the crowds to say, “we beg to differ” or just ignore him. But instead they advance on him while shouting “You shall die!” That seems like an extreme reaction.

The reaction to Stephen is, of course, even more shocking. Let's consider what we know about Stephen from the book of Acts – the biblical book that records his ministry. Before today's lesson, we learn that the disciples enlist Stephen and a few others to take care of the widows. So that is Stephen's primary ministry: taking care of widows. In addition to that ministry, Acts tells us that Stephen did great wonders and signs among the people. The only other thing Stephen does in his entire story is talk about Jesus. So that's: takes care of widows (good), signs and wonders (good), talk about Jesus (good). And so, obviously, the story ends with him being dragged out of the city and stoned to death. Again, it does not seem like an appropriate, or sane, reaction.

In that sense Stephen's story is not unique. The Jewish martyrs in 2 Maccabees were slaughtered because they would not eat pork. St. Perpetua was killed for not signing a loyalty pledge. St. Laurence was brutally murdered by the state for claiming that the Church's greatest treasure was her people. Manche Masemola was killed as a teen by her parents for attending pre-baptismal classes at the local Anglican mission. Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot while celebrating the Eucharist because he publicly implored the local authorities to stop killing peasants. Jesus was crucified for spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God, for healing the sick and raising the dead.

Sometimes bad things happen to really good people doing really good things. And it is hard to make sense of it.

What is truly remarkable is that at some point each and every martyr glimpses the cross ahead of them and makes the choice to follow Jesus anyways. Perpetua could have just signed the paper and lived. Manche Masemola could have stopped pursuing Jesus the first time she was beaten by her parents. Oscar Romero could have settled into a quiet, comfortable life as a Church bureaucrat.

And St. Stephen could have stayed home and kept his mouth shut. That is a choice he could have made. But he didn't. The work to which Jesus called him got hard, got dangerous; he did it anyway. Each and every martyr decides at some point that the Truth is worth it.

And that is why we celebrate Stephen and his fellow martyrs. Death is not what makes them special. Everybody dies – the faithful and the unfaithful alike. In fact, the word “martyr” descends from the Greek word simply meaning “witness.” It's just that some martyrs keep on witnessing to the Gospel Truth until they and this world were parted by death.

In the Church we commemorate both those who died because of their faith and those who witnessed to the Gospel until they were peacefully enveloped by eternity. Painful suffering or a martyrs' death is not what makes one a good Christian. A dramatic death is a not a substitute for a godly life. It is one's willingness to lay it all on the line, one's willingness to surrender everything for the sake of the Gospel that puts us on the path that Jesus' trod.

More than a century ago, our fore-bearers adopted St. Stephen as our patron. And by giving us his name, they also placed us firmly within his powerful legacy. It is that very legacy that continues to inform our mission as Episcopal Christians in downtown Colorado Springs so many years later: to bear witness to God's amazing grace in this city, in this nation, in this world. It is not his death that we are called to emulate, but Stephen's life. We are called to love and care for the vulnerable and marginalized, like he did. We are called to go from this place and into our world full of God 's grace and power, the same grace and power that filled him. We are called to be living signs of Christ's reconciling love, like he was. We are called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, to speak hope and love and truth into this world, until the Kingdom comes or until we run out of breath – just like St. Stephen.

Saints never know the final destination; they only know the next step. They live their lives one act of love, one word of truth, one healing touch, one prayer for peace at a time. Not for the promise of popularity or the assurance of reward, but because Christ has claimed us: heart and soul, mind and body. And the who claims us in baptism also calls us, gives us our mission. And the Gospel mission demands our best, our all. There is nothing more important.

Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, gave her life to the work of the Gospel. She did not die a martyrs' death, but she gave her life in the service of Christ nonetheless. Day in and day out, she walked in the way of Christ – one act of love, one word of truth, one healing touch, one prayer for peace, one step at a time. Jesus called her to seek and serve Christ in, in her words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." She cradled orphans and touched the untouchables. Not for the promise of popularity or the assurance of reward, but because she belonged to Christ and Christ gave her a mission. It wasn't easy, but she gave her life to it. It wasn't easy, but she did it anyway.

On the wall of one of her orphanages, she hung this poem:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered,
LOVE THEM ANYWAY
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives,
DO GOOD ANYWAY
If you are successful,
you win false friends and true enemies,
SUCCEED ANYWAY
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow,
DO GOOD ANYWAY
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable,
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight,
BUILD ANYWAY
People really need help but may attack you if you help them,
HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY
Give the world the best you have
And you'll get kicked in the teeth,
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU'VE GOT ANYWAY.¹

Saints never know the final destination, but they keep following Jesus anyway. The journey of faith is walked one step at a time: one act of love, one word of truth, one healing touch, one prayer for peace at a time. And not every good deed or every kind word will be met with applause. Sometimes your love will be met with anger. Sometimes the Truth will invite hostility.

St. Stephen did not know where his ministry would take him. Jesus called and he simply followed – faithful even when the stones started flying.

We can't control the results or dictate the reception, we can only answer the call. We are St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. We are called to bear witness to God's amazing grace in this city, in this nation, in this world. And if the work gets tough, and it might, and if the road gets rocky, and it might, you know what we're gonna do. We're gonna do it anyway.

1http://www.kentmkeith.com/mother_teresa.html