People

I admit it: I am an unabashed watcher of people. And I watch some people more than others, although I'm not sure why.

For example, people at the gym. Every day, I watch people at the gym. Who needs an iPod or cable t.v. with dozens of real people around? People are strange, fascinating, entertaining and surprising. I watch one man with tattoos on his arms a lot. He used to wear a do-rag on his head but he hasn't been this week. I realized that I watched him when I actually privately wondered why he stopped wearing a do-rag. I watch one woman, who is almost always on the stair-master with the channel turned to TBN. She wears blue spandex and her hair is usually in braids. She wasn't there today, so another woman got to use the stair-master. Then, there is the guy who lifts weights occasionally and most likely takes steroids frequently in addition to his trips to the tanning bed (I know about the tanning because he actually told me). He and his sidekicks like to egg each other on to see who can lift the most extraordinary amount of weight at one time. I did not actually see him lift any weights today; he was just talking when I saw him.

Scripture makes us watch people, too. Today, the spotlight was on Stephen in Acts. There is all this activity in the first six chapters--Jesus ascending, the Spirit descending, thousands of people saved, Peter preaching, Ananias and Sapphira lying and dying, the Pharisees seething--and then: pause. Stephen.

"All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel." (6:15)

All eyes were on Stephen. Then, the high priest demands an answer for Stephen's supposed blasphemy. Stephen's 'speech,' if it can be called such, at first seems like an eloquent summary of Old Testament history in support of New Testament revelation; indeed, it is that, and more. Stephen's brilliant use of the Old Testament was actually a breathtaking, unapologetic description of Jesus. Though Stephen does not use Jesus' name, he builds his case towards the climax of verses 51-53 where Jesus is undeniably the promised Righteous One, the One who called and equipped the great savior Moses, the One who brought the Israelites out of Egypt. In words that resound with harsh finality, Stephen accuses:

"And now you have betrayed and murdered him--you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." (v. 53)

After the text makes our gaze linger on Stephen, we are ushered at breakneck speed into Stephen's final seconds. The leaders are furious, cut to the quick; they gnash their teeth in what was surely an almost uncontrolled expression of rage and anguish. Stephen beholds Jesus at God's right hand and the leaders cover their ears; Stephen is dragged outside the city and the leaders begin to stone him; Stephen asks Jesus to receive his spirit and prays forgiveness upon the leaders.

And then, Stephen falls asleep.

It's as if we are allowed to watch him intently for a while and then told to wait; don't those who fall asleep eventually wake up? In the meantime, someone else was watching Stephen. His name was Saul, and although he vehemently fought against Stephen and other Jesus-believers like him, he became one of the most unapologetic, breathtakingly brilliant Christians of all time.

Huh. I guess that means who (and Who) I watch has the potential to rock my world! Imagine that....