WWJD?

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 7:55-60

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.

_______________

The WWJD fad has passed; I have written about it before.  There is one camp that says that that is not the most helpful question.  They say that asking "What would Jesus have me do? is the better question.  I have grown to believe that that is akin to splitting hairs with a butter knife.  Reflecting on what Jesus might do in any given situation seems to me a pertinent and instructive question for moral decision-making, and it is persuasive for the question, "What would Jesus have me do?"  Of course, we don't have exhaustive knowledge of Jesus' experience in every situation, but there is sufficient teaching and action on his part to serve as a guide for contemporary times.  The proto-martyr Stephen seemed to think so.

When taken out of the city after preaching Christ to the Sanhedrin, he begins to be stoned.  What went through his mind at that very moment?  Perhaps it was "WWJD?" because we see him, in the thick of the pelting and in imitation of Jesus on the cross, praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and, "Lord do not hold this sin against them."

While in the western world we are not likely to suffer stoning, we all have had the experience of mild to severe persecution by others.  When that happens, are we able to entrust our care to the benevolent love of God?  Can we, as Jesus both taught and practiced, pray for those who persecute us?  

This week, spend some time in the prayer for your enemy, in these days of high emotion and hot temper. Have the courage to present your adversary to God and trust that God knows our hearts — all of our hearts — and that Christ is, as we have always maintained, the Lord of history. Nothing can happen, in the church or in the world, that is beyond the mercy of God to heal. Nothing is beyond the power of God to turn what happens in human affairs to possibility and good.