Stephen the first Christian martyr gives us a wonderful example of how to follow Jesus is his closeness to God and his willingness to forgive. Fr Richard reflects on today’s readings from Mass.
Readings for Tuesday of the third week of Easter can be found here.
Think of some of the greatest painters from the history of art and you might come up with names such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Caravaggio, Titian. Many of these masters had a “school” or group of followers who not only admired their work but imitated their style. In fact, so closely did many of these students follow the master that art historians often have a hard job deciding whether a particular painting is a genuine Old Master or the work of a follower. Not only is this of academic interest, it can also vary the value of the painting by several million pounds!
The martyrdom of Stephen that we hear about today has very strong echoes of the crucifixion of Jesus. When Stephen says “Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit”, it makes us think of Jesus on the Cross declaring “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit”. As Stephen cries out “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”, we are taken back to the moment when Jesus prays “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing”. The disciple is so closely following the Lord that it is impossible to tell what is Stephen the man and what is Jesus working in and through him. How did this come about? In the same way that the art student spent years studying the master in order to paint like him, so Stephen has been fed by the bread of life that Jesus talks about in the Gospel. In feeding on Jesus he was able to become like Jesus.
Not many of us will be called to lay down our life in the way that Stephen did. But all of us are called to witness to Jesus by becoming like him, so that we might show forth his love to the world. We do this especially by demonstrating our utter reliance on him, and also by modelling the forgiveness shown by both Jesus and Stephen in their final moments of life. Few of us will be able to paint like Caravaggio or Rubens, but all of us can love like Jesus so that our lives become one with his, for in this and every Mass he comes to us, feeds us, and fills us with his very self, the true bread of life.
Mass today is in St Mary’s at 6.30pm.
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