The Right Hand of God

I cried last week after dinner.  This really isn't a surprise to anyone as, according to my mother, I "have the gift of tears".  She does too.  I'm thinking that this could be another blog post for another day.

Anyway, the reason for the crying is that we read the story of Stephen after dinner.  As another aside, I pronounce Stephen as SteFen and Gary pronounces it as SteVen.  There is continued debate that will not be decided during this lifetime. During my study of Paul over Christmas, I noticed something in this story that I had never seen before.  In Acts 8:56, Stephen looks up to heaven and sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Standing.

There are numerous passages in scripture about Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.  The image and the words are imprinted in my brain.  Every Sunday night I recited the Apostle's Creed where I would say "On the third day He rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty."  Sitting at the right hand of God is a wonderful image and it is a fitting location for Christ to be--a position of power and authority and respect.  He is my savior and He deserves to be sitting at the right hand of God.  I love it.

Yet here, Stephen sees and declares that he sees Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God.  I am not a theologian.  Nope.  I didn't even research this passage other than what my study Bible states which is "The significance of Jesus standing is debated and thus uncertain".  But I'd like to offer my opinion.  It is the reason why I started to cry when talking about this story.

I think that Jesus was ready to welcome Stephen home.  He knew that the next small amount of time in Stephen's life was going to be really really hard.  Stephen was going to experience extreme pain and then he would be welcomed into his eternal home.  Jesus knows about extreme pain.  Stephen took a stand for his faith and Jesus stood both as a sign of respect for Stephen and as a way to get ready to greet him.  I'd like to think that it gave Stephen great encouragement to see Christ ready to meet him.  I also like to think that Christ has stood and will continue to stand each time someone is killed because of their belief in Him.

Could I be wrong?  Yup.  Yet everything I know and believe about Christ says that He loves us and feels for us and has experienced everything that we experience.  

I find myself praying often for our country and for my kids.  I pray that they will never experience persecution for their faith like what I see happening more and more around the world.  I pray that I will never live in fear for my life because of my passionate love for Jesus Christ.  I pray as well that if that moment does occur, I will be able to stand strong, declare my love for my Lord, and then as I breath my last I will open my eyes to see Jesus Christ standing and ready to welcome me home.