One of the cliches you near nowadays is that “Christmas is for children.” That is certainly not the way the Bible or the liturgy of the Church looks at the feast. One of the great Biblical scholars of our era even wrote a book “An adult Christ at Christmas.” The liturgy comments on the meaning of feast by situating the story of the first martyr, St. Stephen, on the day after Christmas. This juxtaposition reminds us that the cross looms over the manger, that this child is destined to suffer. The story of Stephen’s martyrdom, found in the Acts of the Apostles, is instructive in the budding faith of the first followers of Jesus. St. Luke, the author of Acts, describes Stephen’s death by stoning as similar to that of Jesus on the cross. There is one crucial difference. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” On the cross Jesus had cried out “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” For St. Stephen, Jesus is the mediator who gives us access to the same intimacy that he had with the God the Father.
