It’s really mind-boggling to watch the way God works things out. The scene with Stephen is obvious: he stands up for Jesus, preaching a sermon for the ages. He uses Jewish history to appeal to Jewish leaders, and indeed it was an appeal. But among those leaders is a young man named Saul, mentioned as an afterthought at the end. Stephen’s passing of the Spirit will come powerfully in another few verses, but you have to wonder how the young Saul might have processed his message as he held the coats of Stephen’s murderers and then set out to end the work of the Church.