Wrestling with the meaning of the scriptures is not a straightforward process; this because the Bible doesn't stand before us as an ideal but as the witness of ordinary people who themselves were wrestling with what the Bible means and how Christ enfolds and expands that meaning. Today's story of the protomartyr Stephen is an example. Whether you follow Fr. Allen's slightly controversial understanding of this story or read it in a more "traditional" sense, the point stands: the Bible does not witness to "Ideal Followers of Christ" but to Christ's empowering presence in and through human fallibility.
