Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
April 20, 2021
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Acts 7:51-8:1a
Now Stephen presents a long discourse not used in the Lectionary reciting Israel’s stubborn resistance to God in the various stages of its history. He concludes by accusing the present members of the Sanhedrin of being as unfaithful to God as their ancestors had been.
The Sanhedrin members cry out in rage, but Stephen receives a vision of the Lord validating what he had said. This enrages the Jewish leaders still more and they begin to stone him. Stephen prays in the words of Jesus on the cross: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Stephen’s faithfulness to Jesus cost him his life. Our discipleship too, will have a cost that’s connected with our faithfulness to the Lord.
