The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 328: Stephen Is Martyred (2023)

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

Fr. Mike reflects on Stephen's heroic martyrdom and points out how those around him refused to hear him and hardened their hearts, something we too can do with the Word of God. In the book of Romans, Fr. Mike also highlights the importance of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, responding to the call to love and to not be conformed to this world, and remembering that Christians have been grafted onto the tree of Israel. Today we read Acts 7, Romans 11-12, and Proverbs 27:13-14. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 328. We are reading from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7, all about Stephen, and Romans, St. Paul's letter to the Romans, chapters 11 and 12, as well as Proverbs chapter 27, verses 13 and 14. Only two verses for those of you who know that you like the slow drip of

the Proverbs as opposed to having entire chapters of Proverbs. We just get, you know, little verses here and there. The Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. And every single day delivered to your place where you listen to podcasts, you get the podcast. Here we are, day 328. We're reading Acts chapter 7, Romans chapter 11 and 12, and Proverbs chapter 27, verses 13 and 14.

The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7. Stephen's speech to the council. And the high priest said, is this so? And Stephen said, brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and said to him, Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you. Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.

And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them, and ill-treat them four hundred years. But I will judge the nation which they serve, said God. And after that,

they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs. And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time. And at the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls. And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph. He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants that they might not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born and was beautiful before God. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house.

And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And seeing one of

them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian. He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and would have reconciled them saying, men, you are brethren. Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush.

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare to look, and the Lord said to him, Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt, and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? God sent, both as ruler and deliverer, by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke with him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. And he received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside. And in their hearts, they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, make for us gods to go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days and offered offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices, forty years in

the wilderness, O house of Israel? And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, and I will remove you beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers, in turn, brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the

place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels, and did not keep it. The stoning of Stephen. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. The letter of St. Paul to the Romans, chapter 11.

Israel's rejection is not final. I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.

Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened as it is written. God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day. And David says, let their feast become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever. The

salvation of the Gentiles. So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means. But through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now, I am speaking to you Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember, it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. You will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief.

But you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off. And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a

wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree? Israel will be saved. Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren. A hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The Deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

Just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by mercy shown to you, they also may receive mercy. For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.

Amen. Chapter 12. The New Life in Christ. I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me, I bid everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. For as in one body we have many members and all the members do not have the same function,

so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving. He who teaches in his teaching, he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who contributes in liberality, he who gives aid with zeal, he who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Marks of the true Christian. Let love be genuine. Hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with

brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Never flag in zeal. Be aglow with the Spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live

peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. No, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. the book of proverbs chapter 27 verses 13 and 14 take a man's garment when he has given surety for a stranger and hold him in pledge when he gives surety for foreigners he who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice rising early in the morning will be counted as cursing. Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you so much. Lord, thank you for this day.

Thank you for the gift of these readings today. Help us to be yours. Help us to hear your words and put them into practice this day and every day. Help us receive your grace and be grateful for the fact that you have saved us and grafted us into the tree of Israel. Thank you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We bless you. Please receive our praise.

Please receive the blessing. In Jesus' name, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. I want to keep this relatively brief because, you know, it's been kind of long these days, but I can't go anywhere without referencing Proverbs 27, verse 14. Oh my gosh, did you catch this? He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice rising early in the morning will be counted as cursing.

You bless your neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning is like cursing them. I love that because, you know, it's good to be happy in the morning. I think that's fine. But there are times when you're like, bro, it's early, too early. And your excitement and your blessing

early in the morning is received like a curse. Does that make sense? I think that's pretty, pretty fun, pretty fun proverb there. We have Acts chapter seven. As I mentioned, it's Stephen, not only Stephen's martyrdom, Stephen's speech. How incredible is this? When we hear in the New Testament, these people like Stephen today going over the story of salvation. And you know the whole, maybe you knew the whole story beforehand. Maybe you knew most of the story. But here, as Stephen goes through, he goes all the way back to the call of Abraham from

Ur of the Chaldees and going to the promised land and his son and his son gets circumcised and all these things happen. Then his son's son, Joseph, gets sold and the whole shebang, we get to hear the whole story and why we get to hear the whole story, because this is the story of how God has called you now to say yes to him in the same way that God called the people of Egypt, the people of Israel to say yes to him. But Israel said yes. And Egypt hardened their hearts. And basically here is Stephen saying, don't harden your hearts. You are a stiff neck

people. Verse 51, stiff neck people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. And it's not just a comparison with Israel and Egypt, but is that comparison of also those in the wilderness, their fathers, those who are Hebrews, right? Who turned away from the Lord God who saved them to worship false gods, you know, the golden calf and whatnot. And so it's so, so powerful because Stephen is saying, that's what you're doing right now. You are, here's the God who saved you. He saved you through his life, death and resurrection here in Jesus Christ. And you are hardening your hearts. You're turning away from, from this, this gift. And I love this, this last, I mean, I don't love it because it's the martyrdom of Stephen. You don't love that, but it's so powerful and so beautiful. It's incredible. In verse 54 of chapter seven, it says, now, when they heard these things,

they were enraged, ground their teeth against him. Um, goes on to say in verse 57, they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him, basically covered their ears. Cause he is saying, I see in heaven, I see the glory of God. I see Jesus standing right at the right hand of the father, the right hand of God. And they're plugging their ears. We don't want to hear what you have to say. How often, gosh, you guys, how often is that the case where that could be us? That could be us saying, I don't know if I want to hear God's word. I don't know if I want to hear what God has to say to me today because I've already hardened my heart.

But that's also sometimes what happens around us. Here's Stephen, who has, as I said, has the face of an angel who is full of grace. He's full of mercy. This moment, he's basically being just like Jesus as he says, Father, forgive them. Don't hold this sin against them. And yet even that innocent Stephen, even that holy Stephen, they don't want to listen to. They plug their ears and rush upon him and stone him to death. And as we say, we saw here, there's a young man named Saul whose name will later on be changed to Paul. And he's consenting to Stephen's martyrdom,

Stephen's execution here. So a lot of stories in this and just remarkable. You guys, if there's ever, there are some parts of New Testament writings that I just, I love, that I love more than others, you know, it's just because they hit you in the right way. Yeah, it was yesterday or the day before where we were reading in chapter eight, what should we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? How it talks about how, what should separate us from the love of God and Jesus Christ, tribulation or distress, persecution or famine, nakedness, peril, the sword. That's chapter eight. In verse chapter five, you know, we talked about God proves his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But if there's another chapter

that I love is chapter 12, chapter 12 of the letter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans. Chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. I love it. I appeal to you, brethren, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. You know, I don't know if you think some of our Catholic friends who are part of this community, you might recognize some of this language in a couple of the Eucharistic prayers. Like at mass, we ask God, God, make us an acceptable sacrifice to you, like make of us an acceptable sacrifice to you in the course

of the sacrifice of the mass. And so you might recognize that, but some of our non-Catholic friends, I want to let you know that at mass, that's one of the things we pray for. We pray that not only we're offering the sacrifice of Jesus, the once for all sacrifice of Jesus, but we're also saying, Lord, help us to be part of that. As St. Paul says here in Romans chapter 12, verse one, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spirit to worship. And then the next verse, two, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal

of your mind so that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. That is, again, so essential. It's necessary for us because we think the way the world thinks, then it is highly unlikely that we're thinking the way God thinks. Lastly, in this one, verse chapter 12, the last lines from verse 9 all the way to the end of verse 21, it's often read at weddings. I don't know if you ever realized this. A lot of weddings that I'll do when they choose the New Testament reading. They choose Romans chapter 12, verses nine through 21, where it says, love be genuine, hate what is evil,

hold fast to what is good. It goes on, love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. It goes on, and it's just so important if, man, these are the sections of the Bible sometimes you just highlight, go back and write notes on the side is where you kind of pray and say,

okay, God, how do I do this? How do I, how do I bless those who curse me? How do I live in harmony with one another? How do I not be haughty? How do I associate with the lowly? And it goes on and on as you note, as you know, because you just listened to it. Last thing.

Oh gosh, you guys, what a gift. Isn't this the craziest gift to be able to go through the whole Bible like this? Chapter 11, I kind of skipped over chapter 11, but you can't skip over it. Here's St. Paul who's saying, listen, the people of Israel, they've not been abandoned. It's not that God has rejected them. That's not the case at all. And so any kind of trace of anti-Jewish sentiment, any kind of anti-Semitism, That has no place because Romans chapter 11 talks about God's plan, his love, his call, the gifts are irrevocable. That's chapter 11, verse 29. He's not taken back his love. He's not taken back his gifts. He's not taken back his call from the people of Israel. He is calling them forward though. Of course, he is calling them to receive Jesus as the Lord,

but he hasn't taken back his promises. He has not taken back his blessing. And that's very, very important for us to realize that you and I, we have been grafted onto the tree of Israel. So it's not like, oh, there's a whole new tree here, this Christian tree that's next to the Jewish tree. Nope. As St. Paul says, it is that root. The root is the story that Stephen told today. The root is the story that Stephen told today. The root is all the way back to Abraham, this faith of our fathers. And we've been grafted onto this tree. We're not by nature Israelites, but we have St. Pope Paul VI, at one point he said,

spiritually, we are all Jewish because we've been grafted onto the tree. And so we pray for our Jewish brothers and sisters that not only they realize that the promise is still theirs, but the fulfillment of that promise is also theirs. That fulfillment of the promise being Jesus Christ, our Lord. So we pray for those who don't believe in Jesus. We also pray for each other. I definitely, every single day, I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.