Martyrs of the Bible: Stephen

Jesu Juva

Acts 6-7                                                           

March 18, 2026

Midweek Lent 4                                      

Witness with Stephen

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        It’s easy to romanticize and fantasize about life in the early church—especially about the good ol’ days of the church’s infancy, immediately following our Lord’s Ascension and the Day of Pentecost.  Everything was so new, so pure, so fresh.  The church was growing by leaps and bounds.  There were signs and wonders and miracles happening left and right.  The power of preaching and the Holy Spirit seemed unstoppable.

        But tonight we learn that those first days of the faith were actually filled with problems and troubles.  The reality of the early church was quite different from what we might imagine or dream it to be.  It’s all laid out for us in the early chapters of the book of Acts.  And even those early pages are stained a crimson color.  From those pages there can be seen an unmistakable trickle of blood.

        That blood belonged to Stephen, who was an unlikely martyr.  He made for an unlikely martyr because he wasn’t an apostle.  He was a deacon.  He wasn’t on the front lines; he worked behind the scenes.  He went to work for the church precisely because the church (even in her infancy) had problems and conflicts.

        The apostles were delighted to hand over their headaches to Stephen and six others.  These deacons, led by Stephen, were problem-solvers and peacemakers.  They were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. 

Already there was griping and grumbling in those post-Pentecost days.  Certain widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.  Stephen was sent to solve that problem and fix those logistics.  Lesser men might have been overwhelmed with despair and frustration.  Lesser men might have lost heart.  But Stephen went to work for the church precisely because there were problems and conflicts.  And Stephen wanted to be part of the solution. 

        What about you and your life in the church?  Do you want to be part of the solution?  For the church is still beset with challenges, problems, troubles, and crosses.  It’s so easy to say, “That’s not my problem.  That’s not my job.”  It’s so easy to point out the problems.  It’s so easy to complain and grumble about what doesn’t work right.  Against that chorus of complaint came Stephen, singing a different tune, full of grace and the Holy Spirit:  problem-solver, logistics expert, peacemaker.

        Jerusalem’s Jewish Council quickly began to view Stephen as a threat—a threat that needed to be neutralized.  They arrested him and charged him with speaking against the Temple.  And this charge had just enough truth to make it stick.  For Stephen wasn’t just running a meals-on-wheels program.  As he fed those widows and took care of the poor, he was apparently always telling the good news about Jesus.  Stephen declared that the temple in Jerusalem was no longer God’s dwelling place on earth—that since the Word became flesh—since God’s Son, Jesus, became man and dwelt among us—God’s presence was no longer confined to a place, but to a person:  Jesus, the Christ.

        It was this point that got Stephen into trouble—his claim that God’s presence was found in Jesus, and no longer in the temple.  Jesus, too, had spoken of His own body as a temple that would be destroyed and raised again in three days.  Stephen was confessing that the real temple was now wherever Jesus gives Himself to us—and for us.  Jesus once mourned over Jerusalem and laid bare the desire of His heart to gather her people together as beneath the wings of a mother hen.  “But you were not willing,” He said.  “See, your house is left to you desolate.”  And, without Christ, the temple/house of the Jews was indeed desolate.

        This beautiful truth about the presence of Jesus was rejected by the Sanhedrin.  They resisted the Holy Spirit and sought to kill Stephen for the truth he spoke.  Our own sinful natures also work against this truth about the presence of Jesus in our lives.  Your Old Adam works overtime against the Holy Spirit, seeking to substitute other things in place of Jesus:  Human relationships, human pleasures, human pride, human wisdom.  The devil can and does use all of these things to get us to grind our teeth and stiffen our necks to the truth of God’s Word and the gift of His real presence here in His church.

Stephen lived and died believing and trusting that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life—that where two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus is among them.  For Stephen, this meant that, at the moment of His death, he was welcomed into the presence of Jesus for all eternity.  The angry lies were told for only a brief time.  The outrageous accusations were heard for an even shorter time.  The bruising stones rained down on him for just a matter of minutes.  But for Stephen, the presence of Jesus was to be enjoyed forever and ever.

God sent His Son to live and die and rise again so that you, too, might enjoy the presence of Jesus forever—so that this very day in this very temple Jesus Himself can absolve you of your sin, place His promises in your ears and heart, and feed you with heavenly food.  That’s what it meant when Jesus breathed His last on the cross, and the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  It meant that the dividing wall of your sin was done away with by the death of Jesus in your place.  Now there is no division between you and Him.  No separation.  No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

        Jesus Christ has opened the gates of heaven for you, just as they were opened for Stephen.  Through faith in Jesus you can know for certain that, as your eyes close for the final time, you will see it.  You will see what Stephen saw—the Son of Man in human flesh standing at the right hand of God.  Even stone-throwing, teeth-gnashing, stiff-necked sinners like us—cleansed by the blood of the Lamb—even we will see what Stephen saw.

        God grant us daily to unstop our ears for this reason.  God grant us to confess our faith for this reason.  God grant us to forgive our enemies for this reason.  God grant us to fall asleep in Jesus with this confidence.  By His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Christ has opened heaven for you.

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Was Blind but Now I See

Jesu Juva

St. John 9:1-41                                                

March 15, 2026

Lent 4A                            

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        I saw a memorable video last week.  It featured a man who was colorblind.  And he was an old guy—older than me.  And for all those decades he had lived a life that was devoid of color—a bland, black and white existence.  No blue sky.  No yellow daffodils.  No green grass or forest.  In the video he’s given what looks like a pair of sunglasses to put on.  But these glasses actually enable him to see the colors of creation for the very first time.  And when that happens, this gruff old duffer absolutely melts with emotion.  He is speechless as his tear-filled eyes take in color for the very first time.

        Of course, that video made me think of the man cured of blindness in today’s Holy Gospel.  This man had been born not colorblind, but totally blind.  He had lived in literal darkness until the Light of the World opened his eyes to see the wonders of this world in colorful clarity.  But being cured of his blindness—that glorious miracle—that was not the greatest thing that happened to him that day.

        This account begins with our blind man begging by the side of the road.  He sees nothing.  But Jesus—Jesus sees him. Blind beggars were a dime a dozen in those days.  And nobody was easier to ignore.  But in the ministry of Jesus, it’s those least likely to be seen who end up receiving the full attention of Jesus.

The disciples immediately want to diagnose why the man had been born blind.  Who sinned? This man or his parents?  The blindness was obviously payback for somebody’s sin. Sin has consequences; therefore consequences must have sins. Right? Wrong! It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Go figure. His blindness is not a curse for sin.  His blindness is not a punishment.  But rather his blindness will become a canvas on which Jesus will display His glory as the light of the world.

This man born blind represents us. He is you. You too were born blind.  Every disciple of Jesus must make the transition from blindness to light.  You never do see clearly in this life, but only through the eyes of faith.  And that is everything.

Jesus spits on the ground, bends down, and makes some clay with His saliva.  Making clay like this was forbidden on the Sabbath, lest you accidentally create some pottery. But here, the Divine Potter was applying a little fix to Adam’s clay. Here’s mud in your eye. It’s a strange way to cure blindness, don’t you think? Jesus makes him even more blind in a way. Then comes water and the Word:  Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Echoes of Naaman who was sent to wash seven times in the Jordan to be cleansed of leprosy. Water and a promise. Water and the Word.  A baptism.

The man goes, washes, and comes back seeing. Eyes that hadn’t worked since birth now suddenly see with 20/20 clarity. Can you imagine what it must have been like to see for the first time?  Please upload that video to Instagram. 

The man’s neighbors immediately take note.  They ask about his healing; and he tells them about Jesus. “Where is this Jesus?” they asked. “I don’t know,” the man says.  Even if Jesus were standing right next to him, the man would not have known. He’d never laid eyes on Jesus. Jesus put mud in his eyes and sent him away to wash, and when he returned, Jesus was gone. He’s never seen Jesus. And yet, he believes. Just like you.

Well, this causes a stir. Naturally, the Pharisees want to investigate. This happened on a Sabbath day, and the Pharisees were Sabbath day sticklers. They devised 32 kinds of work you couldn’t do on the Sabbath, including making clay. How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? Much arguing ensued.

Others came up with the easy explanation that the blind man had never been blind in the first place. He was just faking it to get on the welfare rolls—probably running a Somalian daycare center on the side. So the Pharisees call in his parents. But they don’t have much to say because this is a kangaroo court. They plead the Fifth.  Anyone who confesses Jesus to be the Christ is kicked out of the synagogue. 

When they finally put the miracle man himself under oath, he says the one thing he knows: I once was blind but now I see. Amazing grace. But amazing grace is no explanation for a legalist. Rules must be kept. God doesn’t listen to sinners; He strikes them blind. The Pharisees have all the answers.

The man confesses his faith—as much as he could—which didn’t go over well. The Pharisees didn’t take kindly to being lectured in matters of religion.  They are the experts. They told the man he had been born in sin. They were correct. The man was born in utter sin. That’s not why he was blind; but he was born in utter sin. So were the Pharisees. So are we. But the thing about a religion based on works is that you can only see the sin in others; you’re blind to the sin in you.  Don’t be blind to your own sin; but confess it.

The man is kicked out of the synagogue—excommunicated. Things aren’t going too well for him. Now that he can see, no one believes him.

Finally, Jesus returns. He’d heard about all this. “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man’s not sure. Who is He that I may believe in Him? And then the revelation: “You have seen Him and He is speaking to you.” Lord, I believe, and in faith, he worships.  That’s what believers do.

The Pharisees, with their 20/20 commandment-keeping are blind, though they think they see quite clearly. And this man, blind from birth, sees Jesus for who He really is and worships Him.  That man born blind is all of us. You and me. We are born blind, beggars steeped in sin. Just as a blind man cannot make his eyes to see, so we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ as Lord or come to Him. He comes to us—He sees us—in our sin and blindness. He washes us in Baptism—by water and the Word. And by that washing we are made to see, and to believe. 

The “seeing” we now do is by faith, and not with the eyes. Like the blind man who believed before he saw Jesus, so we too believe prior to seeing. We will see it all one day, when Jesus raises our earthly clay and fixes our eyes in the resurrection so that we can look on Him who is our Light, our life, and our salvation. But for now, we view the world by faith. We see ourselves as the sinners we are; but more importantly, we see Jesus for who He is, the Savior of sinners.

Like the man born blind, we confess Jesus. We tell everyone what He has done. That confession may cost you. Parents may disown you. Friends may distance themselves.  Neighbors will view you with suspicion. But all you can say is what the blind man said: I once was blind but now I see.

Those words were immortalized by John Newton, a hymn-writer and priest in the Church of England.  Newton renounced the faith as a youth and worked on a slave ship. There his profanity was so extreme as to make the other sailors blush for shame.

This vile, obscene slave trader eventually came to faith in Christ. He got married, taught himself theology, and was ordained at the age of 39. As a preacher, he wasn’t eloquent, but honest. While other preachers seemed to be above the sins of the common man, Newton plead guilty to them all; and composed this memorable hymn text:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost, but now am found.  Was blind but now I see.

God, in the richness of His grace and mercy, in His undeserved kindness to sinners, has washed us in this Siloam pool of Baptism—uniting us with Jesus in His death and resurrection.  Amazing grace to a man born blind that the works of God might be displayed in him.  And amazing grace to you, that the glory of God might also be displayed in you.

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.