Skit: “A Tin of Soup”

    So is that why Stephen was stoned to death?  Were people jealous because he was doing more to help the poor than they were?...  I find that to be a very interesting take on the story.  It seems to me that there was likely a lot more going on when Stephen was stoned to death than just jealousy over helping the poor.  However, what this skit does is to lift up the call of Jesus to care for “the least of these” and to oppose injustice wherever it occurs.  It purposely tries to make us uncomfortable, and asks us to evaluate what we do as followers of Jesus in order to address poverty and hunger and homelessness.

    In the skit, Ada points to one little tin of soup as if it is practically nothing.  Yet, when you put a whole bunch of tins of soup together like we have here, you have a lot more than nothing.  In fact, there is always more that we can do together than we could ever do simply as individuals.  That’s why all of the congregations in our synod work together in order to support the Urban and why many individuals have brought food today in order to serve lunch there.  That’s why all of the Lutherans in Canada work together through Canadian Lutheran World Relief - so that we can make a difference in parts of the world that we could never begin to touch as individuals.

    The thing is that Jesus did not separate body and soul or physical hunger and spiritual hunger.  His ministry was always to the whole person, and his salvation is also for the whole person.  That’s why the letter of James talks about how silly it is to tell somebody who is in need to go in peace and keep warm and eat their fill if you’re not going to help them out with their bodily needs (2:16).  Faith in Jesus Christ means not just sharing the peace and sharing the Word, but also sharing food and shelter and clothing.

    Yet, just imagine if actually doing these things would be enough to get you stoned to death.  In fact, imagine that you are part of the early church in Jerusalem.  It is a church that includes some who were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus and others who have believed because of their testimony.  It is a church that includes both Greek speaking Jews and Hebrew speaking Jews.  It is a church that has been growing by leaps and bounds and now includes thousands of people.  In fact, it has been growing so fast that some people are feeling left out.  And so, more volunteers are sought out in order to help share the workload.

    One of them, named Stephen, is particularly gifted.  He helps with the distribution of food to the poor.  He has been given the ability to perform miracles and to heal people.  He is full of the Holy Spirit and has the gifts of wisdom and evangelism and preaching.  And what happens to him?...  He gets stoned to death.  How do you react as a member of the church?... [fear? evangelism? Don’t believe anymore?...]

    It is hard for us to imagine what we might do.  However, we do know what happened after Stephen was killed.  All of the remaining Christians faced persecution, and most of them were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.  Only the apostles remained in Jerusalem.  Many Christians were arrested and thrown into prison.  However, those who were scattered began to tell people in other places the good news about Jesus.  Soon there were believers not only in Jerusalem, but also in Galilee and in Samaria and in other parts of Judea.

    The death of Stephen could have been enough to send everybody into hiding.  It might have convinced people to give up believing in Jesus and to pursue a safer path for their lives.  However, the power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the risen Jesus continued to sustain them.  Their faith only grew stronger as they were persecuted and imprisoned.

    Thus it is that even today, those who are persecuted for their faith learn to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and discover that the presence of the risen Jesus is real.  It is unlikely that we will be stoned to death either for sharing our faith or for helping the poor.  However, even if we were, we would be safe in the arms of Jesus.  For Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Amen.

Easter 3 (NL 3)                            Acts 6:1-7:2a, 44-60
April 30, 2017
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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