Lord Have Mercy

The Stoning of Stephen

But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

- Acts 7: 57-58

At the church I attend, one of the members is a university professor and historian, and he periodically teaches Sunday School. He points out common fallacies that we believe about the past, and one that has stuck with me is the false belief that we are much more intelligent than people who lived long ago.

We’re not.

Our context is quite different, but human nature is the same. We are as intelligent, and as unintelligent, as those who have gone before us.

So when we read about the stoning of Stephen, as with so many other stories in scripture, and think how differently we would have acted if only we had been there – we need to take a pause.

We know the story and see the big picture. They were in it. They were there with the heat and dust and shouts and fear. Things were moving fast and no one had time to think. Pick a side, fast, and hope you survive to get home to your children.

I am not defending anyone’s actions here. But I am putting us on a level with the crowd, not above. And I am asking myself, and all of us:

When have we covered our ears?

At whose feet have we willingly placed our coats?

What are we now going to do about this?