Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, May 4, 2025
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: The manifestation of God’s word continually evolves as God’s people evolve.
At the time of the early church, emerging interpretations of God’s word were continually evolving, most specifically because Jesus had come as the manifestation of God’s word. Jesus’ words and actions, and even his death and then resurrection naturally changed the lens through which the world would see God forever.
Change doesn’t come easily for some, and it seems to have been a point of contention at every turn. Even from the beginning of today’s reading, those in the synagogue who were devoted to their faith did not see the irony in refusing to feed the widows, even as they committed to “prayer and serving the word.” To solve the problem, they appointed a task force to feed the widows so they could continue to pray and fail to serve.
Chief among the appointed was Stephen, who was clearly ready to take up the mantle of helping shape the evolution of God’s word in this new world. Some accused him of blasphemy, and while the reading suggests they were lying, they were in fact spinning the truth. Stephen was indeed proclaiming that Jesus had come to tear down the temple made by human hands in favor of a dwelling place far more enduring. It was truth, but it was too harsh a truth for those who feared change. Even though Stephen started his speech with a history—their own history—of times when the “tent of testimony” had evolved with the people, Stephen’s hearers were having none of it. Again, they could not see the bitter irony of proclaiming Stephen’s word of evolution blasphemy from a temple that had itself been created out of the evolution of its current inhabitants.
We are currently living in a world filled with diametrically opposed ideological viewpoints. Some push for new ways of interpretation of the gospel, while others are threatened by what seems to be blasphemy against scripture. Ironically, both sides believe that they are in the right, and the other is limited in its vision. What if we challenged our own perspective in favor of understanding and open dialog? What if we challenged ourselves to enter into conversations with the other with the goal of discovering where we might learn, rather than simply trying to persuade the other that they are wrong? We can see from Stephen’s story that remaining rigidly opposed can escalate quickly, and even in our own world today we can see how quickly opposition begets violence. Maybe it is time to bend a little. Can we envision a world where opposing viewpoints can live in tension and with healthy dialog, rather than violence and even death.
