Monday, 4/20/15
It the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Stephen
was brought for trial before the Sanhedrin. His accusers were “certain members
of the so-called Synagogue of Freedman,” and I think we should stop to consider
who those men were.
The Roman Empire had Jewish communities in all of its
provinces, and the empire had a trick for preventing those scattered
populations from rebelling. They took, as hostages, a few young Jews from every
port, and they detained them in Rome for five year stints. After freeing them, then,
Rome pulled in other young Jews as hostages for five years.
In most cases the teenage Jews they turned into hostages
were not particularly religious to start with; but during the five years of
being detained because they were Jews, they often became so religious that on release,
instead of returning to their homes. they joined the Synagogue of Freedmen to
participate in temple worship.
In Jerusalem they would be won over to the Pharisees’ point
of view that despised the Christians for not keeping kosher, so, in persecuting
Stephen, they felt they were standing up for God.
St. Stephen asked God to forgive those young men, and we
should follow his example in seeing that the people who oppose us often are
doing what they think God want them to do.
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