Acts 7:54-60

The stoning of Stephen is a brutal chapter in the history of the church. Quickly finding meaning out of violence dishonors and devalues the grief and loss of those affected. Quick predestinarianism is insensitive to those who grieve. Stephen's brutal stoning is something that is not romantic or tender. It is mob violence of the ugly sort we have seen in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Darfur and recently Kenya (not to mention Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan).
Growth in the church created problems. Stephen was a solution to the problem. Stephen's death was an unanticipated consequence of that solution. The value of his death can only be measured in the life of those who followed: most signifcantly Paul.