Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Scripture for the Day
Stephen knew he was about to die. There was little he could do in the tumultuous time after Jesus’ death to save his own life. False witnesses had testified against him libeling him a blasphemer. The verses from today’s passage are part of his defense. The chief priest asks for an explanation so Stephen launches into this lecture. He points out when the people of Israel got it wrong – Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, Moses committed murder, the freed Israelites worshipped the golden calf and the exiles persecuted the prophets. Stephen’s final point reverberates, “You are the ones that received the law… and yet you have not kept it.”
The people are riled by Stephen’s words, but they’ve missed the point of his history lesson. He emphasizes their mistakes not to rip the fabric further, but to point to God’s mending of things. The people may have messed up many times, but God set things right again and again. In Stephen’s tapestry of time, Joseph the slave becomes Joseph the savior of the nation. Moses in-the-wind becomes Moses at the bush that burned him back to Egypt. The people who worshipped idols become the people who tabernacled with God. And the people who persecuted the Righteous One, well, God raised Him on the third day.
The moral of the story? Don’t get caught up in the mess ups. Weave your words like Stephen. God’s story is good news.
