"STIFFED-NECK PEOPLE"

Reading: Acts 7:51 to 8:1

Sometimes people will simply not listen to the truth. And when it is imposed on them it not only bounces off of them, they not only reject it, but it makes them more adamant in what they already believe. Stiff-necked is the phrase St. Stephen the first martyr used when speaking to a group of such people.

Stephen said to the people and elders and scribes: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always opposing the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did before you. Was there ever any prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? In their day, they put to death those who foretold the coming of the Just One; now you in your turn have become his betrayers and murderers. You who received the law through the ministry of angels have not observed it.”

Do you think that lovely little speech had the effect Stephen hoped for? We are told, “Those who listened to his words were stung to the heart and ground their teeth in anger at him.” A short while later they stoned him to death.

There are people in the lives of all of us who don’t want to hear the truth. It is impossible to talk to them. When we do, it merely makes them angrier and more entrenched in what they already believe. What can we do for them? Pray! Pray for their welfare and enlightenment. At the same time realize we too can be wrong. We all take our turns being mistaken, possibly even stiff-necked. Let us be sure to pray for our own enlightenment too.