The Disturbing Power of a Believer

A thought about Acts 6:8-15

First century Christianity is amazing.  The power that has belonged to the mysterious, invisible God of Moses has now been seen working in Jesus.  Jesus’ followers eventually understand the mind-blowing truth: Jesus IS God.   Jews of the first century who do not accept this revelation understandably think this is blasphemous.  No one is God except God alone.  There is one God and this God is too holy to even name, too holy to see without dying.  By definition, Jesus can’t be God.  Yet the signs are there: miracles that show nature’s submission and healing that shows power over death.  And the wisdom is there; Jesus is able to teach and explain things beyond the natural apprehension of people of his day.

As if that weren’t pushing the inconceivable enough, Jesus gives his Holy Spirit to the believers who then discover they themselves also have this same power.  That’s where Stephen is in Acts 6.  Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people.  And we have testimonies about other disciples doing similar things.  At Lystra, Paul heals a crippled man.  Peter heals the lame man outside the Temple.  It is the end of human suffering.  We can heal.  We can understand.  And we know, beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is real, has great, personal love for us and we are not, ultimately alone nor subject to eternal death.  What greater news could there possibly be?

But there is something in me that balks at this boldness.  Part of me can’t take something that wonderful.  It must be fake.  It must be corrupt.  It must be a trick, because if it’s real, then my whole view of the world is wrong.  I will wonder out loud at whether or not there are errors being made.  This will create the basis for doubt.  Others will agree with me and we can discredit this delusional nut.  It’s better to doubt a person like this, a person so ridiculously invested in magical thinking.  It’s better to doubt that human beings are raised up to participate in the saving work of God.  Who do we think we are, anyway?

In the end it’s not about how important Stephen is.  It’s not about whether or not I have this miraculous power within me.  It’s about how important God is, God for whom Stephen would give and lose everything.  It’s about whether or not I believe God has this power.  And it’s about putting aside my own magical thinking, my desire for power, and my fear of judgment and making myself available to God.  Then, hopefully, God can love the world a little bit through me.

(For the literally curious, here’s the text that started this rambling: Acts 6:8-15

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Then they instigated some men to say,
"We have heard him speaking blasphemous words
against Moses and God."
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,
accosted him, seized him,
and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
They presented false witnesses who testified,
"This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law.
For we have heard him claim
that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place
and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."
All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.)