Ashamed [1] of their defeat, they stirred up the people against him. He was seized and brought before the Council. They then brought up false witnesses, who testified that he ceased not to speak against the holy place and the law. All the members of the Council looked angrily upon him, but they saw his face[2] shining like that of an angel.
Filled with divine love and the Spirit of God, Stephen reminded them of the wonders which God had wrought for their fathers in Egypt and other places. After showing them how ungrateful[3] their fathers had been, he concluded with these words: “With a stiff neck[4] and uncircumcised heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have been now betrayers and murderers.”
When they heard him speak thus, they raged and gnashed their teeth with fury. But Stephen, being filled with the Holy Ghost, looked steadfastly[5] into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand[6] of God. When the Jews heard him tell his vision[7], they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushing upon him with one accord, drove him out[8] of the city and stoned him.
- ↑ Ashamed. As they could not answer him, they had recourse to lies and violence.
- ↑ His face. So innocent and joyous that it looked, as it were, glorified. St. Hilary says: “The fulness and beauty of the Holy Ghost, which were in the heart of Stephen, shone on his countenance, and made his face look like the face of an angel.”
- ↑ Ungrateful. Towards God and His messengers.
- ↑ Stiff neck. A neck that will not bend to the yoke of God.
- ↑ Looked steadfastly. Amid the raging tumult, Stephen stood like a lamb in the midst of wolves, and raised his eyes and heart to heaven, the home of everlasting peace.
- ↑ The right hand. Rapt in the Holy Ghost, bis spirit gazed into heaven, and there he saw our Lord in glory, at the right hand of the Father. Our Lord vouchsafed this vision to his servant, in order to give him courage and strength to meet the martyrdom which was awaiting him.
- ↑ His vision. They looked on his words as a horrible blasphemy.
- ↑ Drove him out. Without waiting either to try him, or to have their sentence of death confirmed by the Roman authorities. Stoning to death was the punishment decreed by the Jewish law for blasphemy. The punishment had to be executed outside the walls of the city, because a blasphemer was regarded as one unclean and excommunicated from the people of God. Thus the holy deacon, like his Divine Master, was condemned to a shameful death on the score of blasphemy. Who can describe what the holy martyr endured as he was driven to the place of execution in the valley of Cedron?
