The First Martyr’s Bold Witness

This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 3, 2026.

Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Stephen: The First Deacon

Today I want to take for my text the story from the first reading, The Stoning of Saint Stephen. Stephen is a remarkable figure in the book of Acts for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that he's one of the first seven deacons of the Church. The apostles realized pretty quickly that they couldn't take care of all of the responsibilities of a growing church, and they wanted to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. They decided that the works of mercy that the church was doing at that time, taking care of orphans and widows and looking after the poor, that those things needed to be handed off to other people who would take that responsibility in hand and carry that ministry forward on behalf of the whole church.

Stephen is appointed as a deacon along with six other men who are selected for their faithfulness. And their work was to be for building up and doing the work that the apostles themselves did not have the time or energy to do.

It turns out that churches today are not all that different. Sometimes we get into the wrong frame of mind when it comes to church, and we start thinking of church as something where you come to church say on Sunday morning and then the pastor does this thing called ministry to you through worship and then that's it. That's what the church is about, and that's not really what's going on here at all. In fact, the ministry of those who have the apostolic office, which is to say the pastors in this situation, realize that their ministry must be handed off in part to others who will help, and that it is actually the proper place of Christian leaders to equip the saints for the building up of the body and work of ministry in the church.

Sometimes I'm the kind of person who, well, if I can do something, then I must do that thing, and it would be wrong for me to ask somebody else to do the thing that I myself could do. But I have learned from several mentors in ministry over the years (coming up now this summer will be my, I believe, fourteenth anniversary of ordination) that I can't do everything myself, and that we as pastors have to share the ministry with the broader church so that the work gets done. I would like to say thank you to all of you who step forward in roles great and small to take care of the many details that make it possible for the church to do its work in the world.

The True Meaning of Martyr

Stephen is also an important figure because he is the first named martyr. Now the word martyr is actually an interesting word, and I don't usually get into the biblical language as much in sermons and preaching, but it's worth digging into this word in particular because when you hear the word martyr today you immediately start thinking about somebody who is willing to die for their religion. We think about this in terms of especially with radical Islam and people doing terrorism and things like that, and they say well they're going to be a "martyr."

The funny thing is though that the origin of the word martyr comes actually from this passage in the scriptures. The word martyr as meaning somebody who dies in testimony to their faith comes from the act of St. Stephen willingly dying rather than recanting his testimony about Jesus Christ. He witnesses, he testifies to Jesus, and the word there in Greek is martyrion, which eventually comes into English as the word martyr.

The word martyr starts off as somebody who witnesses or testifies to the faith. Stephen is called the first martyr because he is the first who witnesses to Jesus Christ by his willingness to suffer death rather than recant his testimony. And sometimes, especially in the Orthodox Church, we call St. Stephen the Protomartyr. He is, in other words, proto — the first — martyr.

Stephen's Successful Testimony

St. Stephen was incredibly successful in testifying to Jesus Christ. He was successful — and we know this for a number of reasons, between him and the apostles testifying, telling the truth, telling the story of Jesus Christ all across Jerusalem, but especially in the environs of the temple, which still existed at that time — that a great number of the temple priests themselves had come to believe in Jesus. So those Levites who had been set apart for the work of worshiping God in the temple and offering sacrifices to God upon his altar have come to believe that Jesus Christ is the true and lasting sacrifice, the once and for all sacrifice through which the sins of all who trust him in faith can be forgiven!

On the other hand, when you get outside of Jerusalem and especially in the synagogues of the freedmen in other cities, not so many people had come to believe in Jesus. These places were dominated by the Pharisees, and if you know about the life of Jesus, you know that Jesus was constantly butting heads with the Pharisees because they believed it was possible for them to perfectly keep God's Law and so be holy.

So St. Stephen stands up and boldly tells the truth about Jesus. He testifies by preaching in the environs of the temple, rather. He's in the area of the temple, and he begins to teach about Jesus.

Stephen's Sermon: Israel's History

Now, I don't know if it seemed a little jarring to you today in the first reading, because we went from the first phrase that he speaks in his sermon in the beginning of chapter 7. He says, "Stephen replied, brothers and fathers, listen to me," and then immediately after that, he jumps to, "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do!"

And that might have seemed jarring, and it was jarring for a good reason. The actual sermon that Stephen preaches starts off in Acts 2:7, and then we jumped ahead to verse 51. But what happens in the middle there? Well, he gives an extended dialogue, teaching the Jewish people who have gathered around to hear him, the hostile crowd who is not accepting the word of Jesus Christ, who is hostile to his message, who do not believe that he is the Son of God, who are angry with Stephen, this deacon, because of his preaching about Christ.

And he starts from the beginning with something that they will all understand. He starts with the story of God making a covenant with his people in Abraham. From Abraham, that covenant is then handed off to his son Isaac. From Isaac, it's handed off to his son Jacob, who is also known as Israel. From there, the covenant passes through Joseph. And through Joseph, the whole people of Israel, of Jacob, are transferred down from the promised land into Egypt to prevent them from dying in a famine. But then there they become great and numerous, and then they are enslaved by the Egyptians. And then Moses is called. Moses comes, and the burning bush happens, and the exodus happens, and the people of God are led out of slavery into freedom in the Promised Land. And then he talks about the Babylonian exile, and he talks about David and Solomon and the prophets.

Well, when Stephen gets to the prophets, he's a bit inspired, because from there he realizes that the best way to show the people what they are doing by opposing the Word of God that he is bringing to them is to highlight for them that they are doing to him exactly what their ancestors did to God's prophets. He points out that many of the true prophets that God had sent the people of Israel were not welcomed with open arms. Their word was not received with confidence and joy. People didn't hear Isaiah and Jeremiah and say, "Man, I love every word that's coming out of that guy's mouth." Those people often were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and even stoned to death because of their testimony — their true testimony — about what God is doing.

He also points out that these prophets were pointing ahead to a Righteous One, a Messiah who would come to rescue his people. And then Stephen turns to the part where we actually read aloud today and says, "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears, always persecuting the prophets!"

The Preaching of the Law

Have you ever woken up with a stiff neck? (I find that that's happening to me now that I'm in my forties more and more often.) And when you have a stiff neck, what can't you do? You can't bow your head. Your head doesn't want to go all the way up, but it certainly doesn't want to go all the way down. If you are a stiff-necked people, you are unwilling to bow yourselves before God. And he says, you are a stiff-necked people.

And then he says something that really winds them up. "Uncircumcised in hearts and ears." Now to us, that would not be much of an insult, but to the Jewish people who are hearing this accusation of uncircumcision, it drives them into a rage. Because they are convinced that they are a part of this unbroken covenant, starting with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, through the prophets, David, Solomon, the Babylonian exile, God's faithfulness through the prophets to that present day. And they are convinced that by keeping the Word of God and all the laws that have been erected around the Torah so that you can't possibly transgress one of the commandments, by doing all of that as perfectly as possible, by being incredibly scrupulous about every action and every word every day, that you can possibly keep the whole law perfectly and be entirely righteous before God.

And here St. Stephen, the Protomartyr, the first witness, says they are "uncircumcised in hearts and ears." They are unwilling to hear that which God has promised through the prophets. Their bodies may be part of the covenant God made with Abraham, but their hearts are not.

Then he puts the icing on the cake: Stephen says, "You received the law as ordained by angels, but you have not kept it." From here, these people are furious. He has now brought them to what we Lutherans call the preaching of the Law. That Law of God which speaks to each one of us, to me and to you, and says:

• No, you have not kept God's law perfectly.
• No, you have not fulfilled all the requirements that God has set for you.
• No, in Christ we can see an example of what a perfect human life is, and you do not live up to that standard.

You are uncircumcised in hearts and ears. You are stiff-necked. You are condemned before God.

No one likes to hear that. No one likes to hear God's Law. No one wants to come face to face with the reality that there is a holy God in heaven, and He actually cares about what you do, and you have not, by your life, pleased Him.

The Rejection of the Law

So they get angry. They fly into a rage. They pick up stones, and they prepare to kill the man who is bringing them God's Word. But it is not Stephen then in that moment that they are condemning, but God Himself. All Stephen has done is brought them the word of God in its full force.

And really, if we're thinking about it, our reaction to the law of God is not all that different from the people who were gathered around Stephen that day. We do the kinds of things that they do:

• They covered their ears so that they would not hear another word coming from the mouth of this Stephen who was telling them that they are not part of the covenant.
• They started to shout at him so that no one else could hear him and drowned him out.
• They rushed forward to kill him.

It's not just them. It's also me. And it's also you.

We reject God's Law in big and small ways every day. We put our hands over our ears so that we do not hear God's word coming to us to show us where we have sinned and why a holy God must send for us a perfect sacrifice.

But notice what happens next: Notice that in spite of their rejection, the message still goes out. There are still witnesses to St. Stephen, the first witness, who record his reaction. He looks up to the heavens and he sees that even in the midst of the opposition of this world, God is still on His throne, and the Son of Man, Jesus Christ Himself, has risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father! He sees that there is a God in Heaven who knows and sees what's happening, and He is willing, therefore, to do what must come next.

Stephen's Prayer

Stephen shows us the transforming power of the Gospel. As he is driven to his knees and as the blows rain down and his life is quickly ending, he prays a prayer that I don't know if I have the strength to pray, but by God's power He gives him the ability to say these words, "Father, do not hold this sin against them."

He doesn't take back one word of the truth. He does not compromise one bit on the truth of the Gospel. He does not offer an out to those who are angry with him, but instead he calmly, lovingly, but truthfully tells the people the truth and accepts the consequences. And then he prays for his murderers.

In the same way, Jesus Christ forgives those who rejected Him and His law, but who then repent and live. From His cross, hanging, bleeding, dying, crucified, Jesus Christ prayed for those who were standing around His cross who had nailed Him to that wood and had put Him up in the air. And in so doing, prayed not just for them, but for you. And He says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

The thief on the cross himself, having done nothing to earn his salvation except to simply turn to the Lord Jesus and say, "Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom." He repents. And that's all he can do.

To repent is just to admit that God was right and we were wrong. He repents, and the Lord Jesus gives him a beautiful promise: "I tell you truly, this day you will be with me in paradise."

People of God, there is a God seated on the throne. Our Lord Jesus Christ is sitting at His right hand. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and is ascended to heaven. He is seated on the throne of God today. He is in heaven watching over you, praying for you, interceding for you, giving you those gifts which you cannot earn on your own: life and salvation.

And He offers these things to you if you would only turn to Him and admit that He's right, to know His love and grace and admit that He's right and you're wrong, and then remember how much He loves you and understand how much He cares for you, and then live, to receive His spirit of love and forgiveness, and then learn from Him, step by step, day by day, how to obey Him, to follow Him, even to go so far as to find the kind of love and forgiveness that St. Stephen learned from Him: how to love and forgive not just his friends or his family, but also his mortal enemies.

Because while you were an enemy of God, Jesus Christ died for you and then said, "Father, forgive them." And He rose from the dead so that you would both know that He truly is the Son of God and so that you may receive life in His name. May you trust the promises of God in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, who loves you and bids you to repent and follow Him.

And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus our Lord to life everlasting. Amen.