July 21, 2024 Reflection

When J.K. Rowling published the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series back in 2007, like many people I purchased a copy as soon as it off the press. I then spent way too many late nights making my way through the concluding chapters of Rowling’s story  of good versus evil culminating in the Battle of Hogwarts in which the Dark Lord, Voldemort, is finally slain once and for all.

You might think that I, who see myself as one who stands on the side of “good” would have been giddy with excitement as that final battle scene unfolded.  Instead, I sobbed my way through those last chapters of Rowling’s epic story as some of my favourite characters became casualties of that final battle.  It was an all too poignant a reminder that in struggles of good versus evil, rarely, if ever, does everyone live happily ever after. There are often tragic losses along the way.

Now you might be wondering what Harry Potter has to do with Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego.  I’ll admit it is a rather strange way to begin my reflection but the story we have in front of us today is a pretty strange story, so I’m going to ask you to bear with me.

Although the story line of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego is a bit strange, it’s actually pretty straightforward.  King Nebuchadnezzar has issued a decree in all the land that when the appropriate music is heard, all his subjects must bow down and worship the golden statue he has recently erected.  Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego refuse to do so and are ratted out to the King.  When the King confronts them and threatens to throw them into a fiery furnace should they continue to disobey his command, they continue their defiance.  The King has the fire turned up a few notches to render their punishment even more severe and then men are bound up and pitched into the fire.  The flaming incinerator is so hot that even those charged with delivering the men into the flames are scorched to death.  But Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego are miraculously untouched by the flames.  Not only do they survive the whole ordeal but when they are lifted up out of the furnace not a hair on their heads is singed, not a trace of soot is found on their tunics.  There isn’t even a whiff of crispy skin in the air. Furthermore, in the midst of the fire, the King has seen a mysterious fourth God-like figure accompanying the three insubordinates as they freely walk around in the flames. Nebuchadnezzar concludes that surely the God of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego is the most powerful God of all and a new decree is issued that all must bow down and worship their God.

The moral of the story is, worship the God of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego and you will be saved from all harm.  Or is it?

Whenever we have a biblical story before us that includes what are clearly supernatural occurrences, I always find it’s helpful to look at the context in which the story is written.

In the case of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego, the story is set during the time of the Babylonian exile which took place from 597 to 538 BCE. This is the era in which Israel was taken over by the Babylonians and many prominent Jews were exiled from the country. In our story Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego along with Daniel who is the protagonist of the Book of Daniel from which this story comes are Jewish nobles. They have been taken into the employ of King Nebuchadnezzar because of their intelligence and wisdom. In the first chapter of the Book of Daniel we hear about how over three years they were taught the literature and language of Babylonia and how they were even given a new name by the King.

When the men had arrived in Babylon, Shadrack’s name was Hananiah meaning God is gracious. Meshack’s name was Mishael meaning who is like God? and Abednego’s name was Azariah meaning God keeps them, all names relating to their Jewish faith.  Their new names, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego all related to Babylonian Gods.

These men, stripped of their previous identities, were slowly being assimilated into their new cultural surroundings. This is akin to what happened in our own country when it was colonized and indigenous people were slowly stripped of their language and customs.

If you are someone who has immigrated to a new country in your lifetime, you might be able to relate to the challenge of trying to hold on to your identity, your language, your customs of your culture, in the face of the customs and traditions of your new home.

Although the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego is set during the Babylonian Exile, scholars believe that it was actually written during the time of the Greek ruler Antiochus, whose persecution of the Jews in Judea and Samaria included the outlawing of all Jewish religious practices. So we can imagine that when this story was first told, not only did it offer encouragement for people who were trying to hold onto their cultural and religious identity during a time of persecution, it reminded them that the God they believed in, was still in control and ultimately in charge of their destiny.

Because of that, it’s easy to read this story and think that the miracle in it is the way Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego are delivered them from the fiery pit completely unscathed. (In the same way some people think that because Donald Trump came through the attempt on his life  last weekend relatively unscathed it must have been a miracle of God that saved him without any regard for the person who took a bullet and lost his life)

So what if the real miracle in this story didn’t take place inside the furnace? What if what happened before the men were thrown into the fire is where the triumphant power of God showed up.  Isn’t the real miracle of this story found in the way these men chose to stand firm in their belief, in the goodness of their God and the ultimate sovereignty of their God no matter what? Isn’t found in their decision to be faithful to their God regardless of the consequences? They don’t know if their God will be able to save their lives and deliver them from the fire but nevertheless they stay committed.

They don’t go into the fire saying “well we know our God is going to get us out of this so good luck trying to harm  us.” They go into the fire saying “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace, great. But if not, we will not serve your gods and we will not worship your golden statue.”

What they do in this moment  then, is affirm the freedom of the human spirit to choose who and what they are willing to give their allegiance.

Even after their identity had been stripped from them, their names changed, their religious practices annihilated, their cultural heritage squashed, their very lives threatened, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego remember who they are.  They carry within them the memory of something greater than gold and more powerful than any tyrannical King could ever be. They remember the faith of their ancestors and the promise of the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt and the house of slavery. They recall the commandments that have been written on their hearts “you shall love the lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and you shall have no other Gods before me.”

The real trial in this story isn’t the physical danger that is before Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego, the possibility that they might get burned and lose their lives.  Our life of faith was never meant to be based in the certainty of our individual bodily deliverance from real and present danger.  The real trial in this story is the spiritual temptation we all have, to deny the power of the Divine to give us courage when we need it, strength when we are weak, faith when we are doubtful.  The real temptation in the face of those people and circumstances that test our faith, is to forget who we really are. When all evidence is to the contrary, our faith is meant to be rooted in the choice we make to stand firm in our belief in a sacred reality beyond ourselves and in the ultimate goodness of that reality.

Which is why I began today with Harry Potter and the casualties that took place on the side of “good” during the Battle of Hogwarts.  Because the truth is that sometimes we are not delivered unscathed from the fiery furnace. Good and faithful people get killed in battles of good versus evil. Good and faithful people die from illnesses and accidents and from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But one of the promises of the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego is that if we do find ourselves thrown in a fiery pit we will never be alone.  All manner of angels and divine beings will accompany us. And perhaps that is especially true if like Shadrack, Meshack Abednego and the members of Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter we willingly go into the flames with our trust in the goodness of life and the importance of justice for all firmly before us.

In our corner of the world in our day and age, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will try to stop us from practising our Christian faith (at least not our version of it.) The assimilation we are most likely to face is the temptation to give into the dominant culture of overconsumption and social conventions that do more harm than good. When it comes to situations that demand us to  “chose this day who we will serve” it is highly unlikely that our own lives will be in peril if we make the wrong choice. But the small and sometimes daily choices we make and the stands we take on the side of what is good and right do add up and can mean freedom or oppression for many including ourselves. So regardless of how we might get burned for those choices or the losses we might sustain, may we like Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego have the grace to always remember who we are and perhaps more importantly to remember the strength and the power of the God in whom we put our trust to overcome injustice, to be with us in all our trials and in the end to prevail in the name of good.