Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Moments where scales fall from our eyes give us an insight into things we haven't seen before. Perhaps it comes with the downfall of a favorite leader, the unraveling of a deeply held belief, or the ending of a dream. Whatever the case, letting go of what may be a lesser pursuit may be the opening to a greater one.

The Ethiopian eunuch had been to Jerusalem, but he may have actually been denied entrance to the temple. Deut. 23:1 forbids eunuchs from entering, and it's likely that he could have taken his trip there in vain. But he was seeking, and God will not leave those who seek him behind.

What makes a disciple of Jesus? It is not a quality that can be purchased, as Simon discovered. He had come to follow a different path, but he did not want to do the work of transformation before he started being a miracle worker. The Apostles certainly did their time in transformation, and the struggles they had suffered made them ready for the job.

Stephen is definitely stoking a fire. Talking about rebellion among the people, he now turns to the Jewish leaders and says, "you did this too, to Jesus." They respond with violence, the opposite of the message of Jesus. As Martin Luther King said, "The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy."

The story of Moses and the patriarchs is prelude to the story of Jesus, which is why Stephen includes it. Not only was Moses an outcast as Jesus was, but he was also revered, and trying to separate the New and Old Testaments would have lost his Jewish audience. Indeed, the new covenant is a fulfillment of the promises being made through Jewish history.

As the gospel came into conflict with the old system of Law, Stephen becomes the person who works out the differences in public. God was doing a new thing, a continuation of the work that had been going on since creation, and Stephen opens with showing how many twists and turns had happened in that story up to now, when the twist of Jesus came into reality.

The measure of success in the early church was measured by Gamaliel, one of the most revered teachers of the day: "If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." A good reminder that the establishment of the church was. not only a place for people to learn behavior modification, it was also a partnership with the author of life.

Sharing of possessions was necessary in the early church for both practical and spiritual reasons. As people came into this new community of Christ, many were poor, and the gospel was one of loving others. Working that out in life, meeting needs was also living up to promise of the gospel message.

This is a pivotal moment in the history of the Church. Peter and John and standing before the very people who were instrumental in Jesus's death, and they are standing beside a man who has been given back his life. The unveiling of what God is doing could not be more perfectly illustrated than that.

It's a fun comparison between these Old and New Testament passages. Ecclesiastes talks about making investments, and it seems that Peter makes a New Testament-style one: investing in the lame man, giving him back a life. That investment is what Jesus also made in us, giving us the ability to be whole and at one with God.