Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Turn. Love. Repeat.

Home
Catholic
Seeing the Son of Man in Heaven, St. Stephen Testified Humanity Is There

Seeing the Son of Man in Heaven, St. Stephen Testified Humanity Is There

Last updated on: December 26, 2020 at 6:28 am by Fr. Stephanos Pedrano, O.S.B.

Seeing the Son of Man in Heaven, St. Stephen Testified Humanity Is There 2020-12-26T06:28:25-08:00 Fr. Stephanos Pedrano, O.S.B.

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A human in heaven! Oh my God!

Carved stone image of the stoning of St. Stephen to death for upholding that a human now lived in heaven.

Pediment on front door of church depicting the martyrdom of St. Stephen, Jules Thomas sculptor. Photographer unknown but probably Charles Marville / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

St. Stephen’s testimony and martyrdom are in the Book of Acts, chapter 7.

I received the saint’s original Greek name, “Stephanos,” when I made vows as a monk in 1983.

So, celebrating the feasts of Christ’s birth and St. Stephen’s martyrdom back-to-back is dramatically personal for me.

On Christmas Day we gape at God’s birth on earth as a human baby.

Then, we awaken the following day to gape into heaven with Stephen, seeing the same human baby up there: having fully grown, died, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven.

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

I don’t know why Stephen’s judges, jury and executioners held back while he mouthed the Bible’s longest unbroken speech.

It only became too much for them when he said a human was where only God should be.

But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of MAN standing at the right hand of God.”

But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him together. They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.

“Son of Man” was a strange and rare utterance.

Only three persons in the New Testament used it: Christ in the Gospel, Stephen in the Book of Acts, and John the Apostle in the Book of Revelation.

And all three used it in reference to Christ alone.

“Son.” The New Testament Greek uses here the word for a male offspring.

“Man.” Here the Greek uses the word for “human,” not necessarily a male.

So, the utterance “Son of Man” calls attention to the real humanity of Christ.

It has the force of saying: “He Who Was Born a HUMAN.”

Stephen gave witness that a human is now at hand as God in heaven.

Our celebration of Christmas Day back-to-back with the Martyrdom of Stephen draws the full circle of the mystery of Christ: we gape at divinity born human on earth, and we gape at humanity arisen divine in heaven.

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The Eucharist draws the same circle: God Born as Our Flesh and Blood on Earth; Our Flesh and Blood as God in Heaven.

So then, in the Eucharist also, we can join Stephen in testifying: “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

In his Eucharistic Flesh and Blood, God gives himself to us.

With Stephen’s words we circle around to give ourselves back to God in the Eucharist: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Let us make that our prayer when we are dying, but let us make it also the prayer of our living.

Along the way, let the Spirit of Jesus open us to help the poor, as the apostles of Jesus chose Stephen to do, because that is another way our lives must say, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Turn. Love. Repeat.

Previous Post

December 24, 2019

"Do Not Be Afraid" Instead of “Merry Christmas”

Next Post

December 27, 2019 Herod's Dead and Deadly Faith

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Golgotha" literally mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Place of death Crucifixion hill Skull place Suffering ground