Sunday of Moses (NTA)

Acts 7:35-53
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
“ ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ac 7:35-53). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

God's people are still stiff-necked people. Stephen reminds us things are not much different from when Moses came down the Mountain. Stephen defends himself and those following the Apostles by saying that it is not we who reject Moses but you have rejected Moses.

After the people of Israel lost sight of Moses on the Mountain, they made a golden calf for themselves. They sacrificed to it. The people of Israel sacrificed to various idols as they turned their back on God. This stiff-necked people can not be changed. They persecuted the Prophets of God and so they do not want to listen. They even killed the Righteous One of God.

You are still stiff-necked people looking for your own ways. You turn to your own gods and idols for help in times of trouble. But God is the one who has delivered his people out of Egypt. God is the one who has redeemed from your sins. God is the one who Sent his Son Jesus Christ to die for the forgiveness of all your sins. He is the one who delivered you to righteousness. God has provided eternal life for you.