Today's Gospel in Art - Saint Stephen's Day

The Stoning of Saint Stephen, Rembrandt 1625 © Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon

Gospel of 26th December 2020 - Matthew 10:17-22

Jesus said to his disciples: 'Beware of men: they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the pagans. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.

'Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved.'

Reflection on the Painting

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Nearly everything we know about Saint Stephen comes from the Acts of the Apostles. There the most memorable account about St Stephen are the words he spoke just before his martyrdom: 'But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." As he was speaking these words, men began to stone him, laying their cloaks at the feet of a young man called Saul, a persecutor of Christians, who later became St Paul, the Apostle. Probably those words by St Stephen had a profound effect on Saint Paul before his conversion.

Our painting is the first signed painting that Rembrandt did. He was 19 at the time. His style is not fully developed yet and the strokes are somewhat hesitant, yet his genius is already visible. The painting is divided into two distinct areas with a diagonal line separating the darker side on the left, and the lighter side on the right. Saul of Tarsus can be seen seated in the background. On his lap he is holding the coats and garments of the people who are stoning Saint Stephen. Saul is depicted a second time on horseback on the left. So whilst the painting is about St Stephen, it is equally as much about Saint Paul. Emanating from the top left is a beam of light that shines on Stephen's face: a sign that heaven saw it all happen.

It may seem strange to have the joyful day of Christmas yesterday, be followed immediately by a feast day of the memorial of the death of the first martyr. But that is exactly why the feast day is placed on the 26th, to remind us why Christ came into this world:… to die for our sins. This was accomplished by his death on the cross. Saint Stephen died in imitation of Christ. He showed us what it means to follow Christ: it is to imitate him and become like him.

LINKS

Today's story: https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/648

Christian Art - www.christian.art/index.php