After
the Babylonians had taken Judah (the southern part of Israel)
captive, some Hebrews served in the king's house because they were
skilled or of good families. Daniel was one such servant, and he
served Darius faithfully, and Darius respected him greatly. Other
people in the government became jealous of the respect Daniel
garnered from the king and tricked Darius into writing an edict which
would could not be repealed to get Daniel out of the way. They
convinced the king that he alone should be worshipped (not uncommon
for royalty at the time), and when Daniel was caught faithfully
praying to the Lord, he was tossed into a den of lions as punishment.
Despite being there overnight, God protected Daniel from the lions.
The next morning, King Darius went to see how poor Daniel had fared
and found him alive and well. Angry that he had been tricked, he had
Daniel pulled out of the pit and the satraps who devised the scheme
tossed in instead. They did not fare so well as Daniel. Darius then
released another edict, because he had seen how the God of the
Hebrews had delivered Daniel, saying, “in every part of my kingdom
people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the
living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs
signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued
Daniel from the power of the lions.” (Daniel 6:26-27)
This text was selected as
the narrative lectionary text for the first week of advent. It seems
like an odd choice. After all, what does this story have to do with
Jesus? It's about lions and satraps and Hebrews (oh my), not about a
baby or waiting or any of the other things we associate with advent,
right? However, I think this story hits straight at the heart of
where we live: in a world full of lions and the people who toss us to
them. What's eating you these days?
A friend of mine has been
going through a rough year. He lost his father, his son is unwell and
he's been tossed into internship same as the rest of us. His son
suffers from depression, and if you've ever watched somebody you love
struggle with depression, you know the pain involved in loving
somebody so deeply and being unable to help them. It's consuming
without the added stresses of trying to figure out your identity as a
pastor and adjust to other losses and changes. His story isn't a
unique one, though. No matter what our lives look like on the
outside, sometimes it just feels like we're being thrown into a den
with carnivorous beasts that haven't eaten in a couple weeks.
Sometimes it feels like your faith makes it even worse because you're
so faithful, darn it, why is this happening to you? Why doesn't God
do something about this? It just doesn't seem fair to be devoured
this way. Like the satraps who wanted to entrap Daniel and get him
eaten, the evil things in this world delight in the destruction of
our hope.
Daniel must have been so
scared down there, watching these lions circle, licking their chops
and staring at him with golden eyes glowing eerily in the dark. And
yet in the midst of that fear and uncertainty, God was in the pit,
standing defensively between Daniel and danger. I'm sure that didn't
make those ominous eyes and glinting teeth seem any less sharp, but
he wasn't devoured by them, and neither are we. God is standing
between us and all the things we fear: illness, loss of job, divorce,
etc, gathering us up and taking us into God's loving, protective
arms. This is a God whose cardinal role is to deliver us from that
which stalks and threatens us, even including the final word of
death.
The name Immanuel means
“God with us.” Advent is about the kind of hopeful waiting
expectant parents feel before the birth of their child, except that
we aren't waiting for an ordinary baby that will come at an
indeterminate time; we're waiting on God with us, who has already
been made manifest here, and who has promised to come again. Daniel
is a story fundamentally about rescue, and it nicely sums up the
story of God and humans—danger is everywhere, but God is a living
God, one who “rescues and saves.” Christ has done it before, and
continues to do it until the lion lays with the lamb. No matter what
is lurking around you, know that God is with you, and in this
upcoming advent season, remember we're not just waiting for a baby;
we're waiting in the hope of the final and complete deliverance from
all sin and death.
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