May 6, 2025 // Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading: Acts 7:51—8:1a
Reflect on the Word //
In a course some years ago, I learned that the word for “martyr” in Greek means “witness” (source). And it sunk into my heart that for the early Christians, to be a witness to Jesus’ identity as God and Messiah was inextricably connected to the possibility of martyrdom. To give witness doesn’t just mean to speak up and give a testimony in front of an auditorium of teenagers or the person sitting next to me on the plane—as meaningful and brave as that may be nowadays.
It also means that I would be willing to lay down my life for Him in the process of professing Him as Lord. That thought scares me a little—even a lot. I realize that sometimes I am more afraid of dying than of truly living. So I beg for more of the Holy Spirit, to fill me and work in me, as He did in Stephen (see Acts 7:55). That the Holy Spirit would soften my “stiff neck” and break open my heart (Acts 7:51).
And before I am overcome by my weaknesses, I remember someone else who was there that day. There were the “witnesses” to the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58), who laid their cloaks down in front of none other than Saul—the persistent persecutor of the early church. The same man at whose feet the blood of Stephen was poured out, who condoned that death and sought out the death of more Christians, became the faithful Apostle Paul. The witness of Stephen reverberated into eternity for Saul, as seen in his conversion, his transformation, his mission, and his own martyrdom.
The stories in Scripture of the Saints, their witness, their prayers, their lives and deaths, are for our benefit, for our greater conversion and devotion. If the Lord was able to transform Stephen and Paul into witnesses of grace and the resurrection, He can also do the same in us. May we be brave enough to give witness to the Lord, Who died and rose for us, and is “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).
Relate to the Lord // Whose saintly witness inspires you? Ask for their intercession today.
