X-Ray Vision

 

X-Ray Vision

 

Acts 7:55-60
7:55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

7:56 "Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

7:57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him.

7:58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

7:59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

7:60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.

 

 

When we were kids, Superman’s x-ray vision was a real “super power.” Imagine being able to see through walls, or into sealed objects by just gazing at them! Of course, as young boys, some of us fantasized about being able to see under clothing, without thinking that what x-rays actually see are bones and cavities in molars and bicuspids. Of course, to the early writers of Superman comics, x-rays were magic, and their character would be one step closer to “super” by having the ability to see with them, built in. Superman’s super vision did have limitations, however. Do you remember the entertaining scene from the blockbuster film with Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel, and Margo Kidder as Lois Lane, on her penthouse balcony, where she asks Superman by asking him to prove his x-ray vision by asking him the color of her underwear? After a quick, lascivious glance at Lois, standing on the other side of a rooftop flower box, Superman says, “This planter must be made of lead.” His super-power vision can’t see through lead (neither can x-rays emitted by an x-ray machine), but when she steps out from behind the planter later in the interview, he exclaims, “Pink!” Had he really had x-ray vision, he might have said, “Well, your pelvis is intact.”

 

Speaking of anti-super powers, at age 68, my personal vision is clouding over. It would be nice to have a small dose of that GOOD kryptonite! As a victim of myopia (nearsightedness) since before the third grade, with a nice measure of astigmatism, eyeglasses or contact lenses have been my almost life-long companions. I did wear contact lenses for almost 20 years, but the aging process eventually sent me back to Ben Franklin’s trusty eye jewelry. And now, between those spiderweb-like “floaters” and budding cataracts, just seeing the book I’m trying to read is a chore, let alone peeping at someone’s underwear. Routine cataract surgery later this year will swap out God’s lenses from a couple of artificial ones, and I’m hoping I can read better through the spider webs, which are permanent residents, I’m afraid.

 

Speaking of seeing, I also have to say, as one who grew up in a basement film processing darkroom, and who minored in photojournalism in collage, how exhilarating it has been to see the rapid evolution of digital photography! After a lifetime of painstakingly processing and printing or mounting my own pictures and slides, and owning a wide variety of cameras from Kodaks to those of exotic Russian or German construction, the ability to “take pictures” on a pocketable, battery-powered marvel that saves the photos in a digital memory is truly miraculous, in my mind. My first digital camera was an “experimental” one from Kodak labs that took a maximum of seven, low-resolution photos. Still, it was a wonder. Within two years, my next digital camera was 20 times the resolution, and would store over 200 photos on a removeable memory card. My current two “mirrorless” digital camera bodies with interchangeable lenses will each store over 3500 high-res pictures on their memory cards. And if that isn’t miraculous enough for your taste, take a look at your Android smart phone or your iPhone! My Apple iPhone 13 Pro currently has over 6,000 VERY high resolution photos (mostly of Dara and our grandkids) stored on it, with room for MANY more! 

 

Okay, one more story about miraculous vision in our lifetime: all of us have been absolutely stupefied by the incredible images caught by the Hubble Space Telescope or the latest, the James Webb Telescope. We have peered into the center of the galaxy and to the edges of the known universe—so far away that in being able to capture them, we are actually seeing millions of years back into time, they tell us. Wow.

 

And yet, from Superman’s x-ray vision to my Olympus OM camera or crazy-great smartphone, or even the telescopes parked in space, nothing holds a candle to the story this weekend’s lectionary text from the Book of Acts relates about the kind of super-power vision Saint Stephen demonstrated! He looked into the heavens and saw GOD, and God’s Son, Jesus Christ, standing at God’s right hand—in the words of the text, he “gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.” Take THAT, Hubble!

 

The story of Saint Stephen is, in itself, quite miraculous, but also one that should inspire the “everyman” in all of us. We first meet him in the Bible when he is one of several early disciples who are chosen by lots to “wait on tables.” As I understand it, this was a benevolent practice of righteous Jews, who would collect the leftover food at restaurant tables to take it to the poor. The early Christians, most of whom were Jewish before coming to believe in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), felt compelled to maintain this ministry, so they needed “volunteers” from within their ranks to do so. Stephen was one of those chosen, and while it was certainly a laudable act of compassion, it surely must have been also considered quite “custodial” among the exciting, emerging ministries of the budding church. And yet, in fairly short order, we read this in verse 8 of chapter 6: “Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.” What gives? The “waiter” becomes a super-apostle?

 

Let’s finish the story, first. Because of his impact as a public witness for his faith in Jesus Christ, and most likely because of the “wonders and signs,” St. Stephen was hauled before the religious authorities (“high priests”), probably some of the same crowd that condemned Jesus. All of Acts 6 and 7 are worth a good read, for our table-waiter launches into an eloquent telling of pretty much the whole history of Israel, detailing the many ways the historical people of God busted up their relationship with the Almighty, eventually invoking the colorful Old Testament phrase, “stiff-necked” people. His story is like prosecutor’s summation in a court of law than ends with an accusation that his listeners—these vaunted religious leaders—continued the unlawful history by “murdering” Jesus, the Messiah. This obviously did not sit well with the priests, but they really lose it when Stephen exclaims that he is looking directly into heaven and seeing God and Jesus, which they quickly label as blasphemy, condemning him to death by stoning, the “mandatory sentence” for blasphemy in that day.

 

Stephen is a kind of “missing link” in the glorious and explosive history of the early church. The humble “busboy” who, filled by the Holy Spirit, becomes a powerful witness for Jesus and performing signs and wonders, pleads God’s case against Israel in front of the “court” of the high priests. In the midst of being pronounced guilty, he has this transcendent vision. The text renders him as sounding almost trance-like as he tells all present of what he is “seeing.” Jacob saw angels descending and ascending a great ladder to heaven. Peter, James, and John were witnesses to the transfiguration of Jesus and his “guests” for that theophany, Moses and Elijah. But Stephen uniquely gets to see right into heaven and sees God on the throne, with Jesus standing just where he should be, after his ascension! His account must have been so spectacular that it jarred the priests and they jumped on the “security” of blasphemy as a way to show their incredulity. So, the Stephen “link” moves from humble servant, through signs and wonders, on to accusations of the religious leaders using their own history to plead his case, and then to the vision of heaven, just before he is stoned to death. Sound familiar?

 

Stephen sure sounds like a “Christ figure” to me, in this story. The link continues, as we read on, for who is holding his cloak while he is being stoned? An enforcer from the court of the priests named Saul. Saul, whom we have come to know as Paul the Apostle, becomes the kind of “resurrection” story for Stephen. Witnessing the death of Stephen may have been the first domino to fall in Saul’s spiritual transformation to being a Christ follower that culminates on the road to Damascus. 

 

So, as you see, Stephen’s “vision” goes way beyond his glimpse into eternity. Or, should we say that God’s “system” of raising common people up to be the true “superheroes” of the faith is a vision that just might hook our wildest imagination. Throughout the history of Christianity, this visionary system has produced monumental heroes of “waiters” and mothers, teenagers and those from the disenfranchised margins of humanity. The story of Stephen reminds us we are all susceptible to both God’s “promotions” beyond our simple servitude. We never know where we may end up, while serving God in our simple ways. 

 

Fred Craddock, the late highly celebrated, yet “simple” preacher, once said in a sermon there were two things that really troubled him about the Bible: what it told him he didn’t like; and the places it would put him where he didn’t feel he had any business being. Saint Stephen is one of those biblical witnesses to this fact! 

 

We should be both inspired and a bit unsettled by Stephen’s “x-ray” vision of God in God’s high heaven. No other vision has so set the wheels of the Christian church in motion, and no energy source greater than the Holy Spirit has kept them fueled. While we may be awed by the images from Hubble, humbled by our own waning eyesight, or even amazed by the stories of Marvel Comic superheroes, it was the vision and life of Saint Stephen that gave us the “big picture” we will all someday see, face to face—God on the throne and Jesus at God’s right hand. Amen!