The Heavens Opened

…shut up the Immortal in a tomb, and rid ourselves of the wonder from which such great terrors come upon us?”

But even when they had done these things, they gained nothing of their aim; what they attempted turned out the opposite for them. And this is why in the evening they said, “When will it be morning?” For again the wonders worked in the night of the resurrection were fearful: they saw the tomb as a bridal chamber, the grave sealed and the dead man running out alive, the soldiers like dead men (Matthew 28:4), the women bearing myrrh, angels guarding the linen cloths, and another sitting on the stone as herald of the resurrection (Matthew 28:2). Then they said: “When will it be morning, so that we may give silver to the soldiers, so that we may corrupt Pilate, so that we may steal the truth by deceit, so that we may spread the report ‘that his disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep’?” (Matthew 28:12-14).

This is the testimony the law bears, and Moses through it, or rather God in each of them, against the thankless people; and Stephen the theologian, for convicting that people, is called a blasphemer by them. And the high priest says: “Are these things so?” (Acts 7:1). Do you not know how they are? Did you not contrive the plot? Did you not hire the slanderers? Are not the witnesses of the deceit in your pay? “But there is need,” he says, “of falsehood and pretense, and we need deceit for the trap we have laid. So we sold Joseph (Genesis 37:28), so we murdered Naboth (1 Kings 21:13), so we crucified Christ.”

But Stephen, having found an occasion for teaching, poured many saving words into the people’s ears, and as the conclusion of his speech he brought in words fit for him to say, as a witness of the truth, and for them to hear, as men bent on fighting against God and sick with opposition to the Spirit: “Hard-hearted and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51).

And how is it that at the beginning you say, “Men, brothers and fathers, hear me” (Acts 7:2)? “Those words,” he says, “belong to the nobility of Abraham, these to the wickedness of these men. Those belong to the good root, these to the bad branches. Those show what is distinguished in the flock, these the unruliness, the hardness, the unbridled temper of the many.” Isaiah urged him toward that opening: “Say ‘Our brothers’ to those who hate us and abhor us, so that the name of the Lord may be glorified” (Isaiah 66:5). But toward this ending they themselves forced his speech, even against his will: “I called them brothers, I addressed them as fathers, so that no one would think I was accusing them as enemies or refuting them as foes. But I called the same men hard-hearted and uncircumcised, since truth must be put before kinship, and one must not spare friends or brothers or fathers or any other relatives when they break the law.”

Yet the children of the Jews could not bear these words, but gnashed their teeth like wild beasts, eager to swallow Stephen up while he was still speaking. “They gnashed their teeth” (Acts 7:54). For of them it had been said: “Sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword” (Psalm 57:4). But Stephen kept his eyes not on them but on God, and leaving the earth behind he hastened toward the courts of heaven, and with a ringing voice he proclaimed: “Look, I see the heavens opened” (Acts 7:56). That is: the gain is shared, the way is ready for all, the gate has been opened to those who wish to enter. Let the brave man contend with all his strength; let the true soldier now use his weapons, now show the greatness of his might. For the one who presides over the contest is watching; he stands ready, handing out the crowns and the prizes.

“Look, I see the heavens opened.” And he did not leave the one who wishes to know in ignorance of who opened them. For this reason he cried out: “and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56), meaning God the Word made flesh. For since the Son of God has become Son of Man, since he who is from the Father has himself come from a virgin and stood as the common border of earth and the heavens, the dividing wall of enmity has been taken away (Ephesians 2:14), the barrier is out of the way, and citizenship is shared by angels and men, if men are willing. Those who are on earth may serve as soldiers in heaven, be below in the flesh and present above in the spirit, be with the clay by the clay, but with God by the mind.

Such, then, was the theology Stephen proclaimed; but disorderly shouts followed his orderly theology, and shout followed shout; and stones from slings followed the teachings of the holy laws.