John 15: 13 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Martyrdom. This word is not new to our vocabulary. Those of us who have any knowledge of church history are familiar with it. As a child I heard of believers who were burned at the stake for no reason other than for what they believed.

Acts chapter 7 gives the account of the stoning of Stephen. He was one of seven men ‘thought to be full of the Spirit and wisdom’ chosen by the gathering of the twelve disciples of Jesus to administer a program of daily food distribution to widows. This happened after Jesus’ ascension from the earth and the local church was experiencing rapid growth as the disciples, moved upon by the Holy Spirit, preached the gospel fearlessly and did many miracles among the people. You would think that with so much good happening, they would be thought of highly and admired by all. No, not by all because there were those of the Synagogue who felt threatened and had Stephen dragged before the Sanhedrin (think of them as the High Court) after they had conspired with a group of men to lie against him. Although Stephen spoke boldly and recapped their entire Jewish history from Abraham thru Moses and from David up to the Christ whom they had crucified, it only enraged his accusers, so they decided to stone him to death.

While Stephen was being murdered, he said he saw heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Just like Jesus had prayed for forgiveness for those who crucified him, Stephen prayed for forgiveness for those who were stoning him. While Jesus laid down his life so we may have forgiveness of sins and eternal life (John 10: 17-18), it is important to realize as well that Stephen did not die in vain.

If giving one’s life to redeem or preserve the life of another is the highest expression of love, it seems to me that the greatest expression of hate is to take the life of an innocent person. We live in an age when beheadings, shootings, slayings, abductions and other acts of extreme brutality are meted out to many, even women and children, often just because of their faith.

Stephen was martyred and went to be with Christ and out of his death came transformation to his chief accuser, a man named Saul. After his encounter with the power of the risen Lord on the road to Damascus Saul was renamed Paul and was empowered to preach the gospel like no other man. (Acts 9: 1 – 22). Clearly even the martyrdom of saints cannot defeat the purposes of the Living God. And for those so cruelly treated, the Lord will redeem their souls even from the grave.