Forgive them

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. – Acts 7.57-60

At the end of Stephen’s sermon the people had heard enough. He flat our said that they had crucified the  Christ. Of course they were furious, ran at him, threw him out of the city, and stoned him to death.

But as he was dying his voice rang out.

‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’

His dying words were pretty much the same thing that His Saviour had said as He died on the cross. Both of them we focused on forgiveness and not wanting their killers to be judged for their sin. Jesus and Stephen both knew that their killers did not really know the impact of what they were doing. They did what they knew. Even with these horrendous actions there was still hope for their deliverance from sin.

But I think the biggest impact must have been on their abusers. In both cases those who did the killing heard the victims cry out for God to forgive them for their actions. How that must have stunned them. What they must have felt in their hearts. Did they feel sorrow? Conviction? Horror?

We can’t know of course, but we can know that this is how God’s people are to respond to attacks and reviling and persecution.The only proper response is love.

How many of is could respond this way? How many os us could just say, ‘Lord, forgive them?’