Looking into the lectionary - What should the church say?

Acts 7:55-60; John 14:1-4 Fifth Sunday of Easter May 3, 2026 “While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died” (Acts 7:59–60). Christians herald Stephen as the “first martyr,” stoned, according to Luke (the author of Acts), by a Jewish mob after proclaiming the good news of Jesus to them. Stephen models the peaceful endurance that later becomes characteristic of Christian martyrdom tales. He kneels and prays to Jesus in the midst of murderous violence aimed at him. His prayer for forgiveness for those persecuting him in 7:60 intentionally echoes Luke’s portrayal of Jesus dying on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Acts’ portrayal of Stephen epitomizes the ideal of Christian forgiveness: radically praying for those who persecute them (see also Matthew 5:44). Stephen’s death sets the stage for future Christians to piously claim benevolence in the face of what they call unjust suffering. Told this way, the story sounds nice. The problem is that the story is false. Acts scholars generally acknowledge that this book is a work of fiction. Furman University professor of religion Shelly A. Matthews calls Stephen the “perfect martyr” for Luke’s theo-political agenda, which shifts the blame for Jesus’s death off Rome and onto Jewish people. In his Gospel, Luke cannot deny Rome’s culpability for Jesus’s crucifixion, a historical fact that was well-established for his audience. The figure of Stephen, an apostle without a reputation, provides Luke the ideal canvas to present Jesus’s followers as compassionately self-controlled in the face of a violent Jewish mob enacting an extrajudicial killing. Luke misrepresents Jewish culpability. He creates both Stephen’s reputation as a forgiving martyr and a reputation of Judaism as intolerantly violent. Luke’s rhetorical fiction contributes to centuries of Christian anti-Judaism that persists today.... Thank you to this week's writer, Jimmy Hoke. Read the rest of the commentary at pres-outlook.org. Want the worship resources for April 26, 2026? You can find them here.

Order of worship — May 3, 2026 by Jimmy Hoke   Dismissed mission co-workers, denominational officials draft new theology of mission by Eric Ledermann Polyamory, church policy and the limits of regulation by April Stace The church cannot be silent — but what should it say? by Harriet Riley

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