  239: Stephen Addresses the Sanhedrin |
| 239: Stephen Addresses the Sanhedrin |
Event 240: Stoning of Stephen
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Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing
on the right hand of God.
- Acts 7:56 |
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Not used in Propers -- Used on Feast of St. Stephen (Dec. 26) |
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54 When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. |
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| Time Frame | ca. 35 | ||
Quotes
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Catholic
Encyclopedia: St. Stephen
The bodies of men stoned to death
were to be buried in a place appointed by the Sanhedrin. Whether in this
instance the Sanhedrin insisted on its right cannot be affirmed; at any rate,
"devout men" whether
Christians or Jews, we are not told "took order for Stephen's funeral, and
made great mourning over him" (vii, 2). For centuries the location of St.
Stephen's tomb was lost sight of, until (415) a certain priest named Lucian
learned by revelation that the sacred body was in Caphar Gamala, some distance
to the north of Jerusalem. The
relics were then
exhumed and carried first to the church of Mount Sion, then, in 460, to the
basilica erected by Eudocia outside the Damascus Gate, on the spot where,
according to tradition, the stoning had taken place (the opinion that the scene
of St. Stephen's martyrdom was east of Jerusalem, near the Gate called since St.
Stephen's Gate, is unheard of until the twelfth century). The site of the
Eudocian basilica was identified some twenty years ago, and a new edifice has
been erected on the old foundations by the Dominican Fathers. The only
first hand source of information on the life and death of St. Stephen is the
Acts of the Apostles (vi, i viii, 2).
He is the patron saint of bricklayers (due to his death by stoning) (Roeder), those in the building trades (White) and deacons (Farmer). Stephen is also the patron of several French cathedrals including those at Sens, Bourges, and Toulouse (Farmer). He is invoked against headaches (Roeder).
- John Wesley Notes:
I see the Son of man standing-As if it were just ready to
receive him. Otherwise he is said to sit at the right hand of God.
Albert Barnes' Commentary
A figurative expression, denoting that he was permitted to see into heaven, or
to see what was there, sd if the firmament was divided, and the eye was
permitted to penetrate the eternal world. Comp. Eze 1:1.
{h} "heavens opened" Eze 1:1
{i} "the Son of man" Da 7:13
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary
This is the only time that our Lord is by human lips called THE SON OF MAN after
His ascension (Re 1:13; 14:14 are not instances). And why here? Stephen, full of
the Holy Ghost, speaking now not of himself at all (Ac 7:55), but entirely by
the Spirit, is led to repeat the very words in which Jesus Himself, before this
same council, had foretold His glorification (Mt 26:64), assuring them that that
exaltation of the SON OF MAN which they should hereafter witness to their
dismay, was already begun and actual [ALFORD].
Robertson's NT Word Pictures:
Opened (diênoigmenous). Perfect passive predicate participle of
dianoignumi (cf. Mt 3:16; Lu 3:21). The son of man (ton huion tou anthrôpou).
Elsewhere in the N.T. in Christ's own words. Here Stephen may refer to the words
of Jesus as preserved in Mt 26:64.
Four-Fold Gospel:
The vision witnessed by Stephen, while the Jews were gnashing their
teeth upon him, need not be understood as the real opening of the heavens, so
that the things within them could be seen by the human eye, but only a
representation to his eyes, such as those granted to John in the isle of Patmos.
It was vouchsafed both for his own encouragement in the hour of death, and that
the remembrance of the words in which he described it, and the hue of
countenance with which he gazed upon it, might remain indelibly impressed upon
the minds of those who were present. There was at least one in the audience upon
whom, we have reason to believe, this impression was deep and lasting. The young
man Saul never forgot it; but, long afterward, when bending under the weight of
many years, he makes sad mention of the part he took in these dreadful
proceedings (1Ti 1:12,13).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* I see. Ac 10:11,16; Eze 1:1; Mt 3:16; Mr 1:10; Lu 3:21; Re 4:1; 11:19; 19:11
* the Son. Da 7:13,14; Mt 16:27; 25:31; 26:64,65; Joh 5:22-27
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