Today I read a speech of a man named Stephen. It was a defense he gave while on trial. This took place in Jerusalem. In the crowd was a rabbi named Saul. The courtroom seemed make-shift and the argumentation seemed carefully constructed. In the end, without witnesses or even conviction, the report is that the 70 in the court, as one, rushed on the scene. It was madness. And in the end, Stephen was killed. They rejected his defense. No matter what was true; their minds were already made up.
John McGarvey wrote about this and when I re-read his views, I couldn't help but think of another scene that took place this year, an insurrection madness as I watched with my wife that January day from our hotel room in Orange, New South Wales. That scene took place in Washington, D.C.
"This was a strange way for a court to break up; the whole body of seventy grave rabbis, whose official duty it was to watch for the faithful and regular proceedings of law, leaving their seats, and rushing with the wild mob, amid hideous outcries and tumultuous rage, to the sudden execution of a prisoner absolutely untried and uncondemned. But the maddest pranks ever played upon this mad earth are witnessed when wicked men set themselves in uncompromising opposition to God and his holy truth. So uniformly has this been true in history, that, at the present day, when such opposition is to be sustained, whether, on great or insignificant occasion, no well-informed man expects aught else than disregard of all the rules of justice and propriety. If the infuriated scenes which have been enacted under such circumstances, in the history of Christianity, could be dramatically represented, the performance might be appropriately styled, The Madman’s Drama."
The Madman's Drama.
By the way, the story of Stephen and Saul is recorded in the Bible, in the 7th chapter of the book of Acts. In a landmark decision, and as McGarvey said, "untried and uncondemned," Stephen is stoned and dies there having been rushed outside the city gates.
The frenzy of a mob with a stirring speech as impetus and wrong judgment in their hearts, that seemed to describe what we saw on the television that January day. I would add to McGarvey's words that the crowd in Jerusalem was ignorant and had already made up their mind, no matter what was said or no matter what was true.
That certainly seemed to fit the Madman's drama of 6 January.
I tell you this to say that nothing is new under the sun. History repeats and history repeats and history repeats again and again. Only sensible people standing for the right will make a difference. God help you to be a Stephen, to be a difference-maker, to listen to the truth and follow it with all your heart. No matter the consequences; no matter the opinion of the impending crowd.
Most of us will not die for our faith. Most of us will not suffer persecution for what we believe like Stephen did. By the way, that Saul ended up becoming Paul, the apostle, and suffering greatly at the hands of many raging foes. History can repeat.
When I revisit 6 January 2021 and watch the continuing discussion or the attempts to prevent such, it saddens me that what happened there could happen again. Mob rules are never good.
God help you to make a difference, to be a Stephen or a Paul, and to listen to and follow the Truth.
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