Throwing Stones
A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter May 7, 2023
The Rev. Robin Teasley
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.
Acts 7:55-60 See also 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14
There is a recurring mention of rocks and stones and cornerstones in our readings today. You may remember from geology class that there are three classifications of rocks. Igneous rocks are created from volcanic lava that has cooled and solidified. Sedimentary rocks are formed by the accumulation of earlier rocks, moved and formed under the influence of gravity, water, and pressure. Metamorphic rocks are formed by subjecting existing rocks to extreme temperature and pressure.
There’s no geology exam coming after the sermon, but keep in mind that in general, rocks are formed under severe conditions such as fire, pressure, glaciers, and water erosion. It is for this reason that rocks are hard and strong, and yet, they are over and over transformed by the same elements that created them. From pebbles to boulders, rocks and stones are everywhere. You can collect them, paint them, landscape with them; and you can throw them.
Throwing stones - why do we do that? We start as children, using toys or real stones. When we are disciplined for our physical harm of others, we turn to hurtful words; we exclude, we blame, we shame. As we grow older, we pick up larger, harder rocks that inflict even more harm such as passive aggressive behaviors, slander, racism, and weapons of mass destruction.
We have all thrown a stone or two, and we all know the rhyme from our childhood, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Only it’s not true, is it? Because sometimes words do hurt, even more than stones. And the fire, pressure, and erosion of those words we hear as children sometimes make our adult hearts like stone. And wasn’t it Jesus who said, “let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone?” Jesus knows we are all fully capable of some stone throwing behavior. Oh, it may have been a while since we bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it at someone else, but what about the metaphorical stones? What might they be and how do we throw them?
Perhaps they are the hurtful words we hurl, even at our loved ones, in our anger and frustration. Maybe they are words of criticism, condemnation, or judgment. Maybe our favorites are the stones of sarcasm or the weighty rocks of holding grudges. Sometimes they are in the form of exchanging heated words with those with whom we do not agree. Just look at social media. It has become a stoning pit.
Lately there seems to be a rockslide of hate and vitriol unlike anything we have experienced before. According to social scientist Arthur Brooks, we don’t have an anger or hate problem in society, as much as we have a contempt problem, which is far worse. Contempt is defined as a mix of the primary emotions of disgust and anger. The Latin word contemptus means "scorn." It’s the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.
Contempt is a very dangerous thing. Its danger lies in contempt’s peculiar ability to dehumanize its target. Widespread public contempt has the potential to undermine the moral basis of all human relationships and, indeed, of human community itself. It normalizes hurtful behavior.
And this brings us to the stoning of Stephen. As a member of the early Christian community, Stephen was assigned to be a deacon, serving food to those who were hungry and tending to the widows. But the Holy Spirit gave some preaching gifts to Stephen. We only hear the ending of the story in today’s reading, so it’s helpful to know that Stephen had preached what we might call a fire and brimstone sermon to the council that day, and he preached as if he knew it would be his last sermon.
He recounted the history of the people of Israel, speaking truth to them about their failure to hear God’s purposes as spoken through the prophets. He reminded them that long ago God told Moses that they were a stiff-necked people, which enraged the council and caused them to grind their teeth! Then filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, he saw the heavens open! When he described what he saw, the contempt of the council could no longer be contained, and they dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death.
It’s a painful story, yet it remains true through the ages. Those who are filled with contempt destroy relationships and even lives. When we are unable to hear painful truths about ourselves, we inflict pain on others, and our hearts harden. Proverbs 4:23 exhorts us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Paul exhorts the church in Phillipi, to stop their conflict and be of the same mind in the Lord, to be gentle with one another, and in prayer to seek peace from God, peace that will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:7)
We can allow the heat, pressures, and raging waters of life to harden our hearts to stone, or we can choose to entrust our hearts to Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of our faith. Those who follow Jesus bear witness to him by imitating his kind-heartedness and his peaceful self-sacrifice. In his last words, Stephen commends his spirit to Jesus, just as Jesus commended his to the Father. As Stephen prays for his enemies and forgives his attackers praying, "Lord, do not hold this against them," we remember the words Jesus spoke from the cross, "Father, forgive them.”
There will always be stones available for throwing, and people who are angry enough to throw them. Human anger stokes the fire of hatred and applies the pressure of judgment, it ices into glaciers of contempt, and causes waves of erosion that threaten to sweep away society. But God is stronger than anything that can wound us. God heals our hurt and our anger, transforming our stony cold hearts into warm-heartedness, and in turn working through us to transform others with the power of love and forgiveness.
Stephen's faithful response to contempt was warm-heartedness and forgiveness. One need not be divine to do what Stephen did. Jesus tells us: "The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father."
The next time you see a stone, pick it up. Feel the weight of it in your hand. Let it remind you of a time when you felt contempt and chose to throw a stone rather than forgive. Then remember Stephen, who forgave those who were stoning him. Remember that he could not do that without first gazing at the glory of God. As you turn the stone over in your hand, let it remind you that we are all living stones, chosen and precious in God’s sight; that Jesus is the cornerstone of our faith and our strong foundation.
Title Image: The Stoning of Stephen, St. Etienne du Mont, Paris
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