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As a Writer, I Am Struck by This Passage
I’ve been reading Chapter Seven of The Book of Acts, and I can’t shake what happens at the end. It’s the moment Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin, falsely accused of blasphemy, and speaks with unwavering boldness.
The text tells us:
“On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’
At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him. They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Three things strike me deeply.
First, the mercy: that Stephen, amid brutal violence, prayed for forgiveness; not for himself, but for his attackers. “Do not hold this sin against them.” That is Christlike love in its purest form.
Secondly, the question. Was Stephen relieved of the violence and anesthetised by Holy Spirit metaphorically speaking? (I speculate).
And finally, the tone of the final line: “And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” After the rage, the stones, the shouting, a phrase of peace. A lullaby of sorts. The passage, so full of fury, ends not with a scream but with silence. As a writer, I’m aware of how powerful a tonal shift can be.
I'm not aware if there’s a technical term for this kind of narrative movement in a short passage, call it a cathartic drift or emotional arc, but in music there is, dissonance resolving into consonance The clash of violence, the grinding teeth, the crescendo of hatred; all resolved in the gentle harmony of a soul slipping into rest.
What a way to end a chapter. What a way to live and die—with truth on the lips, and love in the heart.
Passage taken from The Berean Standard Bible (BSB) (Public Domain).