Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Acts 6:8–15; Psalm 119; John 6:22–29
There was a synagogue that bore the name of freedom.
It was called the Synagogue of Freedmen.
A beautiful name. A noble memory. A rescued past.
For they had once been captives, taken in chains, carried far away, and then released.
And yet—
what is the use of chains falling from the hands if they still cling to the heart?
What is the use of a body set loose if the soul remains bound?
They were called freedmen, but another master held them. For there is a slavery worse than iron, and a prison deeper than Rome.
Sin is that prison. Falsehood is that chain. Envy is that yoke. Pride is that hidden dungeon in which a man says, “I see,” while he loves the dark.
So the freedmen gathered against the free man.
For Stephen stood among them full of grace and power, rich not in silver but in the Spirit, strong not in violence but in wisdom, burning not with anger but with the fire of God.
He spoke— and they could not answer.
He shone— and they could not bear the light.
So those who were unable to overcome his wisdom called for witnesses.
This is an old story.
When truth becomes unbearable, false witnesses are summoned. When the light is too bright, men do not close their eyes only— they try to put out the lamp.
Thus Stephen began to resemble his Lord.
As false witnesses rose against Jesus, so they rose against Stephen. As they rejected the Holy One, so they rejected the one filled with His Spirit.
And yet Stephen had not come to condemn them but to open a door.
He stood before slaves and announced freedom.
He stood before the descendants of captives and spoke of a greater exodus.
For release from Rome is not release from sin. To be delivered from Caesar is not yet to be delivered from the self. There is an Egypt hidden in the human heart, and there is a Pharaoh who rules from within.
Only the Son can make men free indeed.
This is the tragedy:
those who bore the name of freedom did not recognize freedom when it stood before them in the face and voice of Stephen.
They defended the house and rejected the Guest. They guarded the letters and resisted the Spirit. They honored the memory of deliverance but refused the Deliverer.
So who was free?
The synagogue had the name. Stephen had the reality.
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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