Seeds of Martyrdom: The Birth of a Messianic People
April 23, 2024 - Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Acts 11:19-26; Psalm 87:1b-3, 4-5, 6-7; John 10:22-30
Saint Augustine, in one of his sermons on Psalms, said: “The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive". The martyrdom of Saint Stephen led to the spread of Christianity throughout Judea and Samaria. We can also presume that his prayer for his persecutors led to the conversion of Saint Paul. Today, Luke tells us that Stephen's martyrdom also brought about the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentiles in Antioch.
Biblical commentators and historians tell us that Antioch was at that time the third largest city in the Roman world, after Rome and Alexandria. It is estimated that it had a population of half a million inhabitants. It was also known as a place for all sorts of hedonists and pleasure seekers. But at the same time, the city had a large Jewish population and God-fearing Gentiles who embraced an alternative lifestyle taught in the Bible. The Jewish Christians who left Jerusalem after the persecution that followed the martyrdom of Stephen came to that city and preached the Gospel there. And they reaped abundant fruits: "The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord" (Acts 11:21).
Psalm 87 sings about Jerusalem as uniquely loved by God: “The Lord loves it more” than any other city in Israel (see Ps 87:2). Then the psalmist further describes the city as the mother of the nations that, with the exception of Ethiopia, are portrayed in the Bible as enemies of God’s people: Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, and Tyre. The Christian tradition easily recognizes in the description of this city the heavenly Jerusalem built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Eph 2:20). This city represents the Church, the Mother of all nations. In the sacrament of baptism, she gives birth to all who believe in Jesus Christ.
In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks about an unbreakable unity between Him and His sheep: no one can snatch His sheep from His hands and that they "shall never perish" (John 10:28). And the first reading ends with a statement that "it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians" (Acts 11:26). The word "Christians" in Greek means someone who is like Christ. The word "Christ" in Greek and "Messiah" in Hebrew means "anointed one". Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah which means, as Peter explains, that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power" (Acts 10:38). Being called Christians, we are also anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and power. The Catechism explains: "Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is 'the messianic people'" (CCC, 782). Thus, to be called Christians means to be the messianic people.
Indicating the meaning of His death, Jesus said: "unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24). As Christian, Saint Stephen emulated Jesus' sacrificial death and his martyrdom led to the spread of the Church. And as messianic people, the believers of Christ turned the Gentile city of Antioch into one of the most influential Christian cities in the ancient world. Today, it is our turn, as the messianic people, to spread the message of the Gospel in our hedonistic, individualistic, and divided world. May our efforts of carrying forward the flame of our ancient faith produce the fruits of faith, hope, and love among the people of our world.