Salvation History as My History
Reading Acts 7 this week as a church. Stephen stands up in front of his countrymen and fearlessly declares why he is willing to lay his life on the line. He tells the story of salvation. It is as Jesus promised, when you get yourself in trouble before the authorities, the Holy Spirit will give you the words to speak. Stephen speaks a powerful sermon that drives his countrymen to hurl stones upon him until death.
Stephen’s story begins in a strange place. When asked to tell of God’s salvation, I usually begin with a common line like, “Well, you see, I grew up in a Christian family and went to church…” Stephen begins his story well beyond himself to a story that is remembered in the core of his identity. The story doesn’t begin with Stephen as in, “you see one day I went forward when this preacher named Peter stood up and said we needed to repent in order to have life through Christ.” No, Stephen’s story begins with Abraham. Salvation doesn’t begin with Stephen’s understanding of what happened to him, but with how he joins in the over-arching story of how God saves. History, for Stephen, becomes the story of salvation.
I wonder what might change in our lives if we began to see our salvation not as this thing originating at some point in our lives but as the continuation of what God has been doing all along. What if salvation has always been happening, and now we are simply living through one part of that story? One day, some people will look back upon us and recount God’s story told through our lives.
i am still being saved. rather.. we are all being saved.
i recently did a rite of passage with my son Zach and a few of his best friends and their dads. He’s going into 6th grade and we sent told them they are being sent on a journey over the next few years to discover what it means to be a man. and to become one. in a letter i wrote him, here’s a part of what i said.
“Zach you are living a story. The Story of Zachery Taylor Riddle, is an important part of a long story going back generations. Your story is an extension of my story, which is an extension of your grandpa’s story, who is an extension of my grandpa’s story.. The story stretches back thousands of years. Our story, yours and mine, begins in Genesis 1 and the Bible tells much of it. Though we may not be directly related to David, he is part of your story. He slayed giants because God wanted him to. You will slay giants as well. (Hopefully not literally.) There’s something important for you to know in this story. God is the main character. David knew this. Your grandpa knows this. I know this. “
Thanks for sharing that, Mark.
I find the story of St. Stephen particularly moving considering that he was a Hellenist: a Greek-speaking Jew who embraced the rule of the Roman Empire. I would have loved to see this outcast, this perceived traitor to Judaism, lecture the religious elite on the history of the Jewish people. There is a sweet irony to it that very much appeals to me.