Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. Acts 7:57-58 (NLT)

My wife is great at guessing the outcome of a whodunnit movie or television show long before the end. She will often catch the little hints and clues that the writers and directors provide. As we sit on the couch watching a murder mystery she will reference a seemingly trivial object or line and muse, “That’s going to be important to the story later on!”

As I read through today’s chapter and got to these verses, I thought of Wendy as I realized that this seemingly trivial side note is going to be very important to a larger story. Weeks and weeks of tension between Jesus’ impassioned, vocal followers and the religious leaders have escalated. The arrests, the floggings, the imprisonment of the twelve and their growing throng of followers finally builds to a tragic climax as Stephen is singled out and stoned to death.

You’d think that this would be the beginning of the end for Jesus’ followers. The powerful religious machine that had put Jesus to death was now going to squash Jesus’ followers. When things look their darkest, however, God’s power is most powerfully revealed. God specializes in eucatastrophe. This tragic moment starts a potent chain of events that are part of a much larger story.

And it begins with the young man checking coats at the stoning of Stephen. As Wendy would say, “Pay attention. That’s going to be important to the story later on!”