The Gospel for the Feast of St. Stephen (December 27,2004)
Matthew 23:34-39
This is why—look—I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some you will slaughter and crucify, some you will scourge in your synagogues and hunt from town to town; and so you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. In truth I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation. ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you refused! Look! Your house will be deserted, for, I promise, you shall not see me any more until you are saying: Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
The writers of the gospel according to Matthew seem to have it in for the Scribes and Pharisees in a very tough way. These teachers and holy-aspirants -- the particular ones whom Jesus addressed here, not all of them -- had led people away from God toward their own creations about God. In doing so, they diminished or killed anyone who reprimanded them about their blasphemous behavior.
A Reflection
Simeon had got it right when he told Jesus' mother, Mary, that a sword would pierce her heart, as well. Simeon's Nunc Dimittis holds up the legend of Jerusalem's hostility to her prophets. It was more than Jerusalem, it was all of Jacob's lineage: all of them were skeptical, a good thing, but easily swayed by those who seemed to know, a bad thing, indeed.
We, too, are easily swayed, whether it's a diet craze, or the new gizmo, or the latest fashion. We do not discern by praying with the Holy Spirit as our guide. Instead, we rely on snap judgments and bias and pre-judged attitudes.
How different are we from that brood of vipers?
The Collect
We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to your Son Jesus Christ, who stands at your right hand: where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.
12:43:35 PM 
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