Reflection - True

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112519.cfm
Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20
Luke 21:1-4

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are their names. The passage from Daniel may have introduced us to these three young men; but they have lived down through history and are more commonly known in modern times by their Chaldean names — probably because by these names they have been celebrated in song. Shad'rach, Me'shach, and Abed'nego was what their Chaldean captors called them.

There was three children from the land of Israel
Shadrack, Meshach, Abednego!
They took a little trip to the land of Babylon
Nebudchanezzer was the king of Babylon
He took a lot of gold, and made an idol
Shadrack, Meshach, Abednego!
And he told everybody “when you hear the music of the trombone
And he told everybody “when you hear the music of the clarinet
And he told everybody “when you hear the music of the horn
You must fall down and worship the idol!

The incident which provides the basis for the song concludes with the three young men being thrown into a fiery furnace. But that incident comes a bit later in their story than the current event. In the situation just read Daniel is able to deflect a potential problem — that of eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols — but the potential consequences, had he not been successful, would probably have been the same as they were when they refused to bow to golden idols.

When I was much younger — somewhere in my early elementary years — I was fascinated by the stories of martyrs. Shad'rach, Me'shach, and Abed'nego were among those whose stories I knew from a small book called Bible History. Possibly my enchantment with martyrs was due to the fact that my namesake was the first martyr . . . Or possibly because of a child’s fascination with heroism. In my mind ‘martyr’ and ‘hero’ really belonged together. In any case, the attraction resulted in multiple fantasies that focused on my own martyrdom. Stoning, beheading, boiled alive, torn apart by lions, fried in a skillet, burned at the stake, drowned, shot with arrows were just a few of the available options. I mulled over these and a variety of other execution methods. While certain possibilities seemed more distasteful than others, the heroism of the martyrs never failed to impress.

I’m a bit older now. My fascination with martyrdom has waned. I don’t have to peruse the romantic past; I can read about Christian martyrs in today’s world and it’s not so romantic any more. — heroic but not romantic. When I think about the young men in the story, I search for an explanation of their steadfast behavior. Daniel’s skill and the grace of God — which many would mistakenly attribute to ‘good luck’ — enabled them to escape a potentially the deadly situation in this introduction from the book of Daniel. But what of the later incident? The one in which they refused to bow to an idol? The furnace was real. The fire was real. The heat was enough to kill the guards that threw them in. What explains their steadfast behavior?

It was not a behavior that sprang from a sudden crisis, the kind in which the best of our human instincts prevail. The incident was prolonged and the opportunity was available up til the final moment to change one’s mind. After all, intense fires were not then a matter of turning on the gas. Besides, whether it was the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols or bowing to molded gold, intent could easily be withheld, thereby making the action nothing but a sham. But our Lord asks more of us than presenting a false witness so that we can avoid or survive the evils of this world. We are asked to give living expression to our faith and to trust that He will make all things work toward good for those who love him.

This was the coin that the widow brought for the temple treasury. It was not a coin drawn from riches whereby one could pretend to magnanimity. It was the coin of personal substance, given in confident faith and trust that the Lord would clothe those who were more than the flowers of the field. It was the coin that acknowledged the most basic truth of humid: all that is good comes from God.