2 Chronicles 24:17-24; Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51-60; St Matthew 23:34-39
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
So much for the white Christmas you were dreaming of. Not only have we not had any snow, but the Church has already set aside her white paraments more quickly than the world takes down its evergreens. Within a day of the Lord’s holy Nativity His chancel is stained red with the blood of His martyrs, anticipating the blood-stained banner of His own Holy Cross.
So it is that on this day, the 26th of December, the Second Day of Christmas, we remember with thanksgiving our Lord’s faithful servant, the deacon St Stephen, who was martyred for his faith and confession, put to death as a witness to the Gospel of your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Stephen was one of the seven deacons selected to serve the Greek members of the early Church in Jerusalem. He was an assistant pastor of sorts to the Apostles; chosen and appointed. He was a man of faith and great wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit. And he did what he was called and ordained to do: preach the Gospel and administer the Holy Sacraments of Christ.
The Church remembers St Stephen today not so much for a job well done “once upon a time,” but because of the Word of Christ which he continues to proclaim by his preaching and example recorded in the Holy Scriptures. For the saints in Christ are not dead, but live. And Stephan is part of that great cloud of witnesses with whom you are surrounded even now.
So when St Stephen preaches the Law, forcibly, in all sternness and severity, he preaches to you. Take it seriously, it is a warning against your own idolatry and hardness of heart. Heed what he says as a call to repentance and to the new life which is yours in Christ Jesus.
Don’t try to hide behind your church membership or good attendance. Though these things are meet, right and salutary for the Christian faith and life, don’t try to cover yourself with such good works when you make excuses for your absence from the household of God in Christ or for failing to love those of this house, your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Nor do we claim or cling to the Holy Sacraments as works of man! The mere fact of going through the motions does not rescue or redeem your life from the judgment.
Rather, in repentance and faith you receive and benefit from the Holy Sacraments as the works of God and the gifts of His grace. These are how He delivers you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. It may seem minuscule, but that difference in perspective makes all the difference in this world and the next. For it is not by any works or any self-righteousness that we are saved, but only by Christ Jesus, the Righteous One, who was crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification.
Take it to heart, dear Christians, trust and believe St Stephen’s beautiful proclamation of the Gospel, especially in his example of mercy for those who were stoning him to death. Our Lord Jesus prayed that His Father would forgive those who nailed Him to the Cross. So does St Stephen pray that God would not hold the sin of his persecutors against them. Thus are you given to do for those who sin against you.
But such a word of grace is only possible through the working of the Word and Spirit of God, which St Stephen not only preached, but firstly received. He is an example of one who has received the Lord’s mercy and help. He lives by fear, love, and trust in God and faith in His Gospel. He preaches as he does not out of some clinical objectivity or academic interest, but as a man who has himself been called to repentance and faith by the preaching of the Word of Christ.
It is no different for you, beloved. The One who was crucified for his sins and raised from the dead as Stephen’s crown of righteousness, is the same One crucified for your sins and raised from the dead as your crown of righteousness. He has entered into the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens for your salvation. There He abides for you, as He did for St Stephen, in the presence of His God and Father. He is your Anchor behind the Veil, which you have stretched out to you now in His Church on earth in the preaching and ministry of His Holy Gospel. His Body is your Home, already now by faith and eternally in love.
This is because the heavens have been opened to you, as surely as they were to St Stephen, by the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, by His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross, by the shedding of His Blood, by His Resurrection from the dead, and by His glorious Ascension as your own High Priest.
Knowing all of this, you are able to hear the preached Word of His Law and not shut your ears as though it painfully convicts you. It is not for your condemnation or the hardening of your heart, but for the preparation and purpose of serving His Gospel of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. Because, like St Stephen, you receive and find your entire life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you boldly carry out your vocation and serve in your stations in this body and life knowing with certainty that there is nothing anyone can do to rob you of the life that is yours in Christ.
Yes, there are those who may hurt or even kill your mortal body. Many others are even more likely to hurt your feeling and to make your present circumstances difficult and hard to bear. The stones that cut into Stephen’s body and spilled his blood, which shattered his bones and bruised his muscles, there weren’t painless or pleasant. But they didn’t rob him of his life with God in Christ, which is immortal, imperishable and glorious as Christ Himself now reigns in glory forever. So too you are preserved in safety, peace, and Sabbath rest within the Body of Christ Jesus, no matter what may happen to you here and now.
For even as your mortal body of flesh and blood is fed with His Body and Blood, so shall your body be raised in glory, no matter how it may be punished and pummeled and put to death in this brief span of time.
Do not be deceived, the Christian faith is always persecuted. The Church always lives in exile. But you have this boldness and confidence to live your life, to face trials and suffering, even your death on account of the Lord who comforts and strengthens you with Word and Spirit in His Gospel. Everyone else may, but He does not condemn you. Your Father who art in heaven forgives you because Christ has given Himself for you. You have your Immanuel, God with you, in this life and for the life to come. There is nothing and no one in heaven or on earth who shall ever be able to take you away from Him.
That you may continue steadfast in this faith and confession, the crucified, risen and ascended Lord Christ whom St Stephen beheld continues to call and ordain men, like Stephen, to care for His Bride, the Church. These men He endows with His Spirit and His Wisdom, according to their Office, to serve the Tables of His Church on earth with the Word of His Gospel and with His Body and Blood, given and poured out for the many, for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.
For He gathers you together as He longed to gather Jerusalem under the care and protection of His wing, here in His House as His own beloved Brood. In truth you see Him even as you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” You behold heaven opened and the crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Lord Christ who comes to you by the Right Hand of the Father, that is, in the Holy Supper. You find your refuge in Him and are not put to shame. He does not hold your sins against you for He has redeemed you, your Lord and faithful God.
By these means is how He bestows and preserves your life and salvation with Him, together with His God and Father + and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory now in the Church and unto the ages. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
So much for the white Christmas you were dreaming of. Not only have we not had any snow, but the Church has already set aside her white paraments more quickly than the world takes down its evergreens. Within a day of the Lord’s holy Nativity His chancel is stained red with the blood of His martyrs, anticipating the blood-stained banner of His own Holy Cross.
So it is that on this day, the 26th of December, the Second Day of Christmas, we remember with thanksgiving our Lord’s faithful servant, the deacon St Stephen, who was martyred for his faith and confession, put to death as a witness to the Gospel of your Savior, Jesus Christ.
Stephen was one of the seven deacons selected to serve the Greek members of the early Church in Jerusalem. He was an assistant pastor of sorts to the Apostles; chosen and appointed. He was a man of faith and great wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit. And he did what he was called and ordained to do: preach the Gospel and administer the Holy Sacraments of Christ.
The Church remembers St Stephen today not so much for a job well done “once upon a time,” but because of the Word of Christ which he continues to proclaim by his preaching and example recorded in the Holy Scriptures. For the saints in Christ are not dead, but live. And Stephan is part of that great cloud of witnesses with whom you are surrounded even now.
So when St Stephen preaches the Law, forcibly, in all sternness and severity, he preaches to you. Take it seriously, it is a warning against your own idolatry and hardness of heart. Heed what he says as a call to repentance and to the new life which is yours in Christ Jesus.
Don’t try to hide behind your church membership or good attendance. Though these things are meet, right and salutary for the Christian faith and life, don’t try to cover yourself with such good works when you make excuses for your absence from the household of God in Christ or for failing to love those of this house, your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Nor do we claim or cling to the Holy Sacraments as works of man! The mere fact of going through the motions does not rescue or redeem your life from the judgment.
Rather, in repentance and faith you receive and benefit from the Holy Sacraments as the works of God and the gifts of His grace. These are how He delivers you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. It may seem minuscule, but that difference in perspective makes all the difference in this world and the next. For it is not by any works or any self-righteousness that we are saved, but only by Christ Jesus, the Righteous One, who was crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification.
Take it to heart, dear Christians, trust and believe St Stephen’s beautiful proclamation of the Gospel, especially in his example of mercy for those who were stoning him to death. Our Lord Jesus prayed that His Father would forgive those who nailed Him to the Cross. So does St Stephen pray that God would not hold the sin of his persecutors against them. Thus are you given to do for those who sin against you.
But such a word of grace is only possible through the working of the Word and Spirit of God, which St Stephen not only preached, but firstly received. He is an example of one who has received the Lord’s mercy and help. He lives by fear, love, and trust in God and faith in His Gospel. He preaches as he does not out of some clinical objectivity or academic interest, but as a man who has himself been called to repentance and faith by the preaching of the Word of Christ.
It is no different for you, beloved. The One who was crucified for his sins and raised from the dead as Stephen’s crown of righteousness, is the same One crucified for your sins and raised from the dead as your crown of righteousness. He has entered into the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens for your salvation. There He abides for you, as He did for St Stephen, in the presence of His God and Father. He is your Anchor behind the Veil, which you have stretched out to you now in His Church on earth in the preaching and ministry of His Holy Gospel. His Body is your Home, already now by faith and eternally in love.
This is because the heavens have been opened to you, as surely as they were to St Stephen, by the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan River, by His innocent suffering and death upon the Cross, by the shedding of His Blood, by His Resurrection from the dead, and by His glorious Ascension as your own High Priest.
Knowing all of this, you are able to hear the preached Word of His Law and not shut your ears as though it painfully convicts you. It is not for your condemnation or the hardening of your heart, but for the preparation and purpose of serving His Gospel of the full and free forgiveness of all your sins. Because, like St Stephen, you receive and find your entire life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you boldly carry out your vocation and serve in your stations in this body and life knowing with certainty that there is nothing anyone can do to rob you of the life that is yours in Christ.
Yes, there are those who may hurt or even kill your mortal body. Many others are even more likely to hurt your feeling and to make your present circumstances difficult and hard to bear. The stones that cut into Stephen’s body and spilled his blood, which shattered his bones and bruised his muscles, there weren’t painless or pleasant. But they didn’t rob him of his life with God in Christ, which is immortal, imperishable and glorious as Christ Himself now reigns in glory forever. So too you are preserved in safety, peace, and Sabbath rest within the Body of Christ Jesus, no matter what may happen to you here and now.
For even as your mortal body of flesh and blood is fed with His Body and Blood, so shall your body be raised in glory, no matter how it may be punished and pummeled and put to death in this brief span of time.
Do not be deceived, the Christian faith is always persecuted. The Church always lives in exile. But you have this boldness and confidence to live your life, to face trials and suffering, even your death on account of the Lord who comforts and strengthens you with Word and Spirit in His Gospel. Everyone else may, but He does not condemn you. Your Father who art in heaven forgives you because Christ has given Himself for you. You have your Immanuel, God with you, in this life and for the life to come. There is nothing and no one in heaven or on earth who shall ever be able to take you away from Him.
That you may continue steadfast in this faith and confession, the crucified, risen and ascended Lord Christ whom St Stephen beheld continues to call and ordain men, like Stephen, to care for His Bride, the Church. These men He endows with His Spirit and His Wisdom, according to their Office, to serve the Tables of His Church on earth with the Word of His Gospel and with His Body and Blood, given and poured out for the many, for the forgiveness of sins in His Name.
For He gathers you together as He longed to gather Jerusalem under the care and protection of His wing, here in His House as His own beloved Brood. In truth you see Him even as you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” You behold heaven opened and the crucified, risen, ascended and glorified Lord Christ who comes to you by the Right Hand of the Father, that is, in the Holy Supper. You find your refuge in Him and are not put to shame. He does not hold your sins against you for He has redeemed you, your Lord and faithful God.
By these means is how He bestows and preserves your life and salvation with Him, together with His God and Father + and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory now in the Church and unto the ages. Amen.
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