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.”
St Stephen recalls for us our history, as he recall the history of his brothers. He retells the story he has known from a small child. He leanred how Moses brought the people out of Egypt. He knew the story of the golden calf. St Stephen could even quote various references to these events outside of the Torah. Oh that all of us recall the history of the God's people so well.
While this presentation in Acts could teach us all that we need to know the biblical record better. It also reminds the people how they have fallen away. They have not listened to the Word of God. They have not recognized the prophecy of the coming righteous one, nor did they recognize him in their midst. And now they are going to kill someone who is once again telling them about the Jesus Christ.
The people were stiffnecked in the time of Moses. The people were stiffnecked in the time of Jesus. The people are still stiffnecked, and now I am no longer talking about Jews or Hebrews, but the people of God. We continue to seek what is right in our own eyes, and loses sight of the reason for the season, or the reason for Christ death on the cross. It was so that all people might be saved from their sins. But so many of us don't even recognize what sin is anymore.
If you are struggling try to follow in the foot steps of St Stephen. Search the scriptures and retell the story of the God and his people. It is your story. You are a stiffnecked people, but Christ has died for you.
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