St. Stephen, Protodeacon

We celebrate the Feast of St. Stephen today, the first called to carry out what became the ministry of a deacon, and first in the Bible to be martyred for his faith in Christ.

The first reading from Morning Prayer, 2 Chronicles 24:17-22, presents a brief and me somewhat obscure story about the death of Zechariah by stoning. Zechariah was the son of the priest Jehoiada and had been berating the subjects of Judah for once again straying from the commandments of the Lord and serving "the sacred poles and the idols." This story would almost go unnoticed the annals of the Chronicles but for the fact that Luke 11:51 mentions Zechariah again:

⁴⁹Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”, ⁵⁰so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, ⁵¹from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

What do we make of this? Jerome suggests that the meaning is that we, in our own lives, recapitulate in our own relationship with God the dealings that God has had with his people throughout time. Aha. Learn well the patterns of time, for the grooves in which you drag your feet are deep. So like the people of Judah, we will stray from God. Like Zechariah, some who call for reconciliation will be put down. Like Stephen, some will be called to minister to the widows and the poor. And like Stephen again, some will suffer for their faith.