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Easter · Fifth Sunday of Easter · Year A

Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60

Stephen Sees the Son of Man

May 3, 2026

The Disputation of Saint Stephen, Vittore Carpaccio
The Disputation of Saint Stephen, Vittore Carpaccio, 1514Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
From Carpaccio's Stephen cycle for a Venetian confraternity. The deacon argues from a low platform in an imagined eastern city of domes and minarets.They could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke: the reading is the argument, and then the stoning.Vittore CarpaccioA Venetian narrative painter whose cycles of saints' lives are also the best surviving record of what Venice looked like.Pinacoteca di Brera, MilanMilan's great collection, assembled by Napoleon from churches and convents across northern Italy.Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelJohn 14:1-14Jn 14:1-14
Epistle1 Pet. 2:2-101 Pt 2:2-10
Old TestamentActs 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60
PsalterPs. 146Ps 146

Overview & Insights

“I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:56)

The reading brackets Stephen’s speech, keeping its occasion (6:1-9), its opening address (7:2a) and its conclusion (7:51-60). The occasion is an internal quarrel between Hellenists and Hebrews over the daily distribution, settled by appointing seven men who all bear Greek names, Stephen first; Luke never calls them deacons, and the two whose work he records, Stephen and Philip, preach rather than wait on tables. The peroration turns the charge back on the council in the prophets’ own idiom, “stiff-necked” from Exodus 32:9 and “uncircumcised in heart” from Jeremiah 9:26. Verse 56 is the one place in the New Testament where “Son of Man” is spoken by anyone other than Jesus, and the figure of Daniel 7:13 is seen standing rather than enthroned. Stephen’s two dying prayers deliberately echo Luke 23:34 and 23:46, and Saul is introduced in v. 58 as the man at whose feet the garments are laid.

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Take it further: Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60

Commentary

New Testament: Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60 (Easter 5: Series A) 1517.org

Lutheran house voice reading Stephen's martyrdom as gospel-shaped witness.

Commentary on Acts 7:55-60 Working Preacher

Scholarly walk through the climax of Stephen's speech and stoning for this Sunday.

Acts 7:55-60 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed homiletical angle on Stephen's vision and death.

Acts 7 Commentary: Stephen's Defense and Martyrdom Enduring Word

Verse-by-verse walk through Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin and his stoning.

Acts 7 Commentary Precept Austin

Compiled cross-reference commentary for close study of the chapter.

Acts 7:55 Commentaries (Pulpit, Cambridge, etc.) BibleHub

Compares multiple classic commentaries on Stephen's vision of the Son of Man standing.

Background & Word Study

Acts 7:55 Greek Interlinear BibleHub

Greek text and parsing for 'gazing into heaven' and the Son of Man vision.

Book of Acts Summary (Acts 1-12) BibleProject

Overview video setting Stephen's story in the book's literary design.

The Church Fathers

Catena on Acts 7 catenabible.com

Patristic comments strung verse by verse on Stephen's speech and death.

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