Acts 7:55-60

This short passage doesn't tell us much without reading what comes before it. It is also the traditional introduction of St. Paul, who wrote all those epistles we are always reading. He's called Saul here, but at this point, that's his name, and he's a very different person. He is a Jew, well versed in his own religion, and he works for Rome, finding and persecuting Christians. And that's what is happening here. He later changes his name when he changes his mind about Christ.

This passage is known as the “Stoning of Stephen”. The preceding chapter is probably left out because the lectionary has given us some overviews of the Biblical narrative lately and that's what Stephen just gave to this crowd. Well, they are having none of that. It didn't help that he ended his story by calling them all “stiff-necked” either. That could be another reason for limiting what is included.

Psalm 31

You should recognize some familiar words in the Psalm. They are the words that Luke puts in to Jesus' mouth as he dies on the cross. It is attributed to King David although I'm not sure about that. It doesn't seem much is known about what danger the psalmist is writing about either. But it is one of the literary parallels of someone in dire straights, calling to God.

1 Peter 2:2-10

Peter is sometimes called the “rock” or “foundation” of the church. The symbolism here is fairly obvious. The historicity is far from established. The statements about “chosen race” are out of step as we have seen with similar John passages. This can still be interpreted to mean; if you choose Christ, then you are part of his chosen people, but this gets too difficult to parse for me.

John 14:1-14

John 14:6 is almost as important as John 3:16. We have the character of Thomas appearing again to ask for clarification and Jesus gives it. This is as clear as the instructions get. For many that has been enough, although there are always those promises, as in verse 12 that you, “in fact, will do greater works than these”. Given all the healing and miracles Jesus has done, who wouldn't want even more?

The rest of this is repetition of “Father and Son” stuff, something no one has been able to make a coherent narrative of. Mostly it has been the cause of schisms and wars. The “way” that Jesus says he is, became a name for the early Christians, that is “The Way”. In the 20th century this was revived as the name of a new movement claiming they had revealed knowledge of lost 1st century truths. There are so many claims like this in the Bible of places prepared for us and greater gifts to come, it's no wonder that people keep saying they have found them.