Hope through the cross – 15 January 2020

₃₄Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. “If anyone wants to come with me,” he told them, “he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me. ₃₅For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.

₁Some time later, as the number of disciples kept growing, there was a quarrel between the Greek-speaking Jews and the native Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds.

₁The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”

₂Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia ₃and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’ ₄And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live. ₅God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square metre of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children. ₆This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for 400 years. ₇But I will pass judgement on the people that they will serve, and afterwards your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.’ ₈Then God gave Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.

₉“Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him ₁₀and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household. ₁₁Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food, ₁₂and when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there. ₁₃On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family. ₁₄So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, 75 people in all, to come to Egypt. ₁₅Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. ₁₆Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.

₁₇“When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger. ₁₈At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt. ₁₉He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die. ₂₀It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months, ₂₁and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ₂₂He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.

₂₃“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow-Israelites were being treated. ₂₄He saw one of them being ill-treated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him. ₂₅(He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.) ₂₆The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow-Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’ ₂₇But the one who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. ₂₈‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ ₂₉When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.

₃₀“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ₃₁Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: ₃₂‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. ₃₃The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ₃₄I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’

₃₅“Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush. ₃₆He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. ₃₇Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.’ ₃₈He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.

₃₉“But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt. ₄₀So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ ₄₁It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honour of what they themselves had made. ₄₂So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

₄₄“Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. ₄₅Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. ₄₆He won God's favour and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ₄₇But it was Solomon who built him a house.

₄₈“But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says:

₅₁“How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! ₅₂Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. ₅₃You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels — yet you have not obeyed it!”

₅₄As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. ₅₅But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right-hand side of God. ₅₆“Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right-hand side of God!”

₅₇With a loud cry the members of the Council covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, ₅₈threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. ₅₉They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ₆₀He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.

₁And Saul approved of his murder.

That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria.