it's easy, you love is easy

& i get more than i deserve

A sermon on St. Stephen and ministry:

There’s a question we sometimes ask students in confirmation. And the reason we ask is to check if the students are paying attention. Obviously, of course, not this year’s students. They always pay attention. They’re perfect. As they are every year. 

Nevertheless, it’s a nice little exercise. So, I thought we might try it. And here’s the question: What just happened? This isn’t a trick question, either. I just want to engage you. What just happened in today’s passage?

That said, although this isn’t a trick question, it is the sort of question that has right and wrong answers. For instance, if you were to say that Stephen was just hired as the head pastor at First Lutheran in Jerusalem, that would be wrong. However, there were a few details in that example that would be considered correct. But I don’t want to do your work for you. So, I’m not going to tell you what they were. 

Instead, let’s take about sixty seconds to find some examples of what just happened in today’s Scripture. I’d prefer you break into groups, chat with one another, and even check each other’s answers. But I know some of us are introverts. And if you want to work by yourself, that’s fine. I get it. As the old saying goes, hell is a breakout group at 3 in the afternoon. 

Alright, enough hemming and hawing. Let’s get to it. Shall we? What just happened? Take sixty seconds to come up with your responses. 

…Ok. As always, thank you for playing along. You’re good sports. But how was it? Did anyone notice anything new? (Yeah? Like what?)

What else? What just happened? I’m not looking for a particular answer, either. I just want to notice everything that happened. So long as what you have to say is in this passage, it’s fair game. What just happened? 

*Take answers.

Very good! It’s an action-packed incident. Isn’t it? It’s easy to come up with examples. A lot happened.

But what do you suppose the folks who were there would have said happened? Surely, the mob would say something different than Stephen’s fellow Christians. Wouldn’t they? And a disinterested group of observers would probably say something totally different than both groups! Right?

What are we to make of this? On the one hand, that’s simply a feature of life. Isn’t it? We’re used to contested perspectives. Party A said this, but Party B said that. The question I’m interested in, though, is: What do you say really happened?

In this case, it’s somewhat straightforward. Isn’t it? After all, we have the Holy Writ on our side. We know what happened. Stephen was martyred. 

And that’s right. That said, as Stephen dies, he says he sees something. Doesn’t he? Some of you noticed it, too. Before Stephen dies, he says he sees heaven wide open with Jesus, the Son of Man, standing at God’s right side.

Herein lies the rub. Even Scripture admits that the rest of the crowd doesn’t see what Stephen does. All the mob saw, presumably, was a blasphemer. And all the onlookers saw was Stephen’s death.

So, what gives? Did Stephen have a vision? Was he merely hallucinating? Or did something altogether different happen? The question isn’t just what happened. Is it? No, the real question is, what really happened?

That’s where the rubber meets the road, too. Life is more than just a list of events. No, life is the meaning of those events. It’s like how Sly and the Family Stone responded to Marvin Gaye’s classic 1971 album “What’s Going On” with their album “There’s a Riot Goin’ On.”

What I want to put to you today, dear sisters and brothers in Christ, is that this Scripture puts it to you. You must answer. What happened at the moment of his death? Did Stephen have a vision? Did he hallucinate? Or did something else transpire?

…Let’s go ahead and take hallucinating off the list. Even if we have trouble believing in visions, we don’t want to ascribe what happens to Stephen as nothing more than a trick of the mind. Do we? 

But that doesn’t help much. Does it? In fact, it puts the screws to us. Now, we really have to make a determination. Now, we really must say what we think really happened!

Maybe you suppose it doesn’t matter much. Perhaps you’re entertaining the notion that it makes no real difference if Stephen had a vision or if something else took place. And I will grant you, that’s a tempting proposition. But it doesn’t really work. 

First of all, even if it was nothing more than a personal vision, you’ve still got to interpret it! Was Stephen given a glimpse of what was really happening in heaven at the moment of his death? Or was he just given a vision of what heaven is like in general? Or was he merely having a vision that, indeed, confirms Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is God?

Do you follow? Even if you say this is a private vision, you still have to determine if this vision is metaphorical or real. And this matters! As Flannery O’Connor of blessed memory said, “If it’s just a symbol, to heck with it.”

Let me give you an example of how this plays out: When Jesus is baptized and sees heaven opened, the Holy Spirit descend in bodily form like a dove, and a voice from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Is Jesus just having a personal experience? Or is something more real happening?

Or let’s try another example. What about communion? What happens when I hold up the bread and wine and say the body and blood of the Lord? Am I holding up real bread and wine but only metaphorically talking about flesh and blood? Or is something really happening?

You understand, don’t you? An interpretation is required. Something is at stake. Even if you say it’s just metaphorical, you’re still making a claim about what really counts as really real! I mean, metaphors are nice and all, but they’re no substitute for reality.

…Ok. Well then, what do you say now that you know what’s really on the line? Does Stephen have a vision? Or is something else going on? And is this something else actually real?

I’m not going to make you say. And I’m not going to have some participation with a vote, either. I’m not going to do that because Scripture doesn’t want you sitting there, making some judgment. Truthfully, the opposite is more the case!

Check this out. What did we say after this passage was read? Go back and look at your bulletin if you can’t remember. What did we say after this passage was read?

That’s right! The Word of the Lord! The Word of the Lord! This passage isn’t just some piece of information you can study at your leisure! On the contrary, THIS is God’s Word to us today! This passage is what God has to say to us! 

That’s why we call them passages! We trust God will pass through these words when they’re read amidst God’s people gathered together! We’re not doing the interpreting today. No, God is.

Are things getting a bit topsy-turvy? I hope so! I hope so because that just means you’re, at last, finding yourself in the right position to accurately understand what’s really happening in today’s passage! It’s not this passage that’s being interpreted. You are! I am! We are!

So long as you imagine you’re in the driver’s seat, this text will be nothing more than a piece of information. It may be true. It may not. It may be interesting. It may not. But that’s all it’ll ever be!

The thing is, that’s all wrong! This passage isn’t just any of that. Is it? No, this is God’s Word! This passage is what God has to say to us today!

The key to understanding what’s happening in this passage isn’t interpreting it correctly. No, it’s standing under it! That’s what it means to understand Scripture, to stand under it! And you’ve always been there, but now you know it! And now that you know, you’re finally ready for this passage to really speak to you!

…So, let’s just cut to the chase. Stephen is seeing reality as he dies! It’s like that vision I had a couple of years ago. It was Dr. Jones who asked the right question. He asked what it meant. 

It took me a while to figure it out. But what I learned was, for once in my life, I actually saw reality as it really was! I had been going along, presuming I saw this world correctly. But that day, in worship, I saw that so much more is really going on!

When we say the Word of the Lord, we’re not just repeating some religious mumbo-jumbo. No, we’re stating what’s really happening! Where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, he shows up! THIS is the Word of the Lord because, through it, Christ speaks to us!

In worship, Christ interprets us! And he interprets us as his, as Christians, as the Church! Christ interprets us into the people where he is alive and active in the world! Christ interprets us into the place where heaven is opened, and he reigns!

…Are you getting the picture? It’s not just this passage that’s coming into focus. Is it? No, you are! I am! We are! Reality is!

So often, we think church is just going through the motions. Church is for thinking religious thoughts and feeling religious feelings. And sure, that might happen sometimes. BUT that’s not all that happens! Not by a long shot! Honestly, what really happens in church happens even if none of that takes place!

No, what really happens in worship is that God comes to us! God comes to us by the power of the Holy Spirit! God comes to us in the Word! And when God comes to us in the Word, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, stands amongst us!

This, THIS is what it looks like to see heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father! Church, what’s happening right now, is how Christ reigns! Mission doesn’t happen because we take matters into our own hands. No, mission happens because by the power of the Holy Spirit, the crucified and risen one stands at the right hand of the Father in OUR midst! Mission is nothing other than the work of the Triune God and the Triune God alone!

Sure, it looks like we’re just doing some ritual. But in reality, heaven and earth are meeting, Christ is reigning, and the Holy Spirit is making Christians out of you and me all over again! In fact, it’s happening right now as you CAN’T help but dare to see more than there is to see!

You can’t will yourself to see this, though. It’s not a decision. Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s not your decision. It’s God’s! And today, God wills you to behold all this and more!

And you know what else? This is true even if you can’t see it yet. You will. It may not be today or tomorrow. Although, it might. Even so, as Saint Paul discovered, for now, no matter what, it will be through a glass, darkly. 

But on the great Last Day, you will look back and see, as clear as day, for yourself, that it’s all been true all along! For now, though, until that completeness comes, we take it on faith. And that faith is one more way Christ exercises his dominion! And this faith he chooses to give you changes everything FOR you!

…This faith gives you the power to see ministry where there’s persecution! It gives you the power to see an ally where there’s an enemy! It gives you the power to see Christ where there’s the person sitting right next to you, thinking about their grocery list. It gives you the power to see Christ where there’s bread and wine. It gives you the power to hear Christ where there’s only my voice. 

In other words, it gives you the power to apprehend reality. Yes, for now, this is a promise. But this promise is oh so much stronger than anything else in all the world! Heaven and earth may pass away, but this Word will not pass away! And this Word is Christ, the ROCK we’re built upon. 

Our Hymn of the Day is hymn number 652, Built on a Rock. Hymn number 652. Built on a Rock. Let’s sing!