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Devotion by N.T. Wright
So they stoned Stephen. ‘Lord Jesus,’ he cried out, ‘receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down, and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘Lord, don’t let this sin stand against them.’ Once he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:59-60).
“What is a ‘martyr’? As is now widely known, the word technically means ‘witness’. A ‘martyr’ is someone who gives evidence. Why then do we call people who die for their faith ‘martyrs’? Well, at one level at least, because in being prepared to die for their faith they are showing that they, at least, reckon that this faith is not just a set of ideas, not merely a nice religious glow, but the very living truth itself, worth more than one’s own life. That is no doubt true.
There is only one explanation. They really had learned something from Jesus, who made loving one’s enemies a central, non-negotiable part of his teaching (not, as so often in would-be ‘Christian’ society, something one might think about from time to time but not try very hard to put into practice). On the cross Jesus himself prayed that those nailing him up might be forgiven (Luke 23:34).”
This situation wasn’t normal. Stephen encountered Christ, was willing to die for Him, and also willing to forgive his killers. Stephen was indeed a witness and proof of a risen Christ!