The Stoning of Stephen – Choosing a Different Way
Sermon Preached by Rev’d Tracey Gracey on Sunday, 3 May 2026
Stephen was one of the first followers of Jesus after his death.
He was not one of the twelve,
but one chosen to care for the widows,
the poor, those on the edges.
As the early church grew, people began to notice that not everyone was being treated fairly. Some were being included. Some were being excluded, so the apostles appointed seven people to ensure that no one was left out.
These were the first deacons.
And Stephen was one of them.
He was known as someone full of wisdom and faith.
He spoke with courage and clarity.
And people listened.
But not everyone welcomed what he had to say.
The authorities felt threatened.
They were challenged.
And instead of engaging with him,
they found people to speak against him.
False accusations were made.
He was arrested.
Taken outside the city and stoned.
Stephen is the first Christian martyr who lost his life because of his faith in Jesus. He was later sainted and continues to be remembered in the Church, with his feast day on December 26.
He is the patron saint of deacons, those who work with horses, coffin makers, and even those who suffer from headaches.
I wonder if Stephen’s story sounds familiar.
Not just the violence but the pattern.
René Girard, a 20th-century French philosopher, thought so.
He spent much of his life exploring why human communities behave the way they do, and why we often look to others to shape what we desire, what we value, and even what we fear.
As part of her PhD work, Carly Osborn, an Adelaide Anglican, has taken Girard’s complex theory and created a simple story
to help us see these patterns of human behaviour more clearly
and to notice how the Gospel stories invite us to see and to live differently.
The following is an extract from Carly’s book.
The congregation will view imagery as the following is referred to
** Imagine two people.
Let’s call them A and B.
A is our main character.
B is someone they look up to — someone they admire.
A wants to be like B.
A observes B, and he learns what to desire from B.
What B has, [let’s say a hat], becomes important to A as well.
Not because A needed it…
but because B wanted it.
** So A begins to want the hat.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t just happen with hats or material items. We do this with opinions. With status. With who we listen to, even with who we exclude.
But then something interesting happens.
** When B sees that A also wants the hat,
it makes the hat even more desirable to B.
And now both of them want it more…
because the other one does.
They start copying each other’s desire.
** At first, they might be friends.
But very quickly, that shared desire can turn into rivalry.
** They begin to compete.
They begin to resent each other.
And if they’re close enough, in the same world, the same space, the same community, that rivalry can grow.
** And it can turn into conflict.
And conflict can turn into violence.
And the problem is — violence doesn’t stop.
It escalates. It spreads.
** It pulls more people in.
Until a whole community can turn against itself.
So how does it stop?
** Often a group will come together
and place the blame on one person.
One person becomes the problem.
The cause.
The one to be removed.
** And once that happens,
everyone else suddenly feels united again.
It becomes not “me against you”
but “us against them.”
And the community finds a kind of peace again —
but at a cost.
An innocent person carries the blame.
And it was this pattern that René Girard began to notice the way stories are told. In many mythological and ancient traditions, the crowd is seen as right, and the victim is seen as guilty.
But in our scriptures, the opposite happens.
The victim is shown to be innocent.
And this is what we begin to see most clearly in the life of Jesus
and now, lived out in Stephen.
Instead of retaliating, they forgive.
And in doing so, they break the pattern.
For they do not return anger for anger.
They do not join the crowd.
They do not turn on those around them.
Instead, they trust in God.
We are told that Stephen looks up
and sees the heavens opened.
He sees something beyond the moment he is in.
Something beyond the anger.
Beyond the violence.
And it is from that place,
from that vision of God,
that he responds.
He prays.
He entrusts himself to God.
And he forgives.
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
In that moment, Stephen chooses the way of Jesus.
The same way Jesus chose on the cross.
Not retaliation…
but forgiveness.
Not violence…
but love.
Not blame…
but trust in God.
And in doing so,
Stephen breaks the pattern.
He does not continue the cycle.
He interrupts it.
And that is what makes Stephen’s witness so powerful.
For he stands in the middle of tension,
in the middle of accusation,
in the middle of a crowd that has already decided.
And he responds differently.
And while our situations may not look the same, the pattern is familiar.
We know what it is like when relationships become tense.
When something is said or done and it unsettles us.
When we begin to take sides.
When we begin to compete with each other.
When we begin to form opinions.
And slowly, almost without noticing,
someone becomes the problem.
And we begin to pass judgment, to blame and exclude.
The question is: what do we do when we notice this in ourselves?
Do we follow the crowd?
Or do we choose a different way as Stephen did,
and follow the way of Jesus.
by refusing to return harm for harm,
by choosing love, even when it is costly.
Stephen stood in the middle of the crowd
and chose a different way.
And in doing so, he shows us that we can too.
Amen