Scripture: “A Golden Statue”
1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue whose height was sixty cubits and whose width was six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. … [And a] herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, 5 that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, you are to fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”
Today’s story—of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Hebrews Shadrah, Meshach, and Abednego—is a familiar story, but it is also a distant one. I imagine the last week or two for you has involved setting up a Christmas tree or putting up seasonal decorations to make your home feel a bit warmer and more welcoming. I imagine in the weeks to come you’ll be gathering with friends and loved ones for dinners and parties. I imagine that if you haven’t already secured gifts for your loved ones, you’ll be frantically searching Amazon or the aisles of a local store. All of which is to say, we personally are far, far away from the darkness and danger that threaten Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego face while living in the land of their captors.
Or are we? As Nebuchadnezzar constructs his golden statue, I invite you to consider some of the more prominent monuments and landmarks in our own time and place. Consider the iconic Hollywood sign, that to this day symbolizes fame and stardom and the dream of being seen and admired. Or consider Wall Street, the hallowed temple of the dollar. Or consider the Washington Monument, an icon fashioned in the style of an Egyptian obelisk, a timeless marker of strength and success.
Now, it’s true—there are no edicts that compel us to literally bow down before these monuments on the pain of death. But think about a person who lives without any regard for fame, money, or might, and you’ll be thinking about a small fry, a nobody, a zero. You’ll be thinking about someone who’s as good as dead to much of the world around them.
So as we continue with this familiar story, perhaps consider that there are “golden statues” around us today—idols of worship—that demand our attention, even as we prepare for a most holy occasion.
Scripture: From Yahweh to Nebo
8 Accordingly, at this time certain Chaldeans came forward and denounced the Jews. 9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, shall fall down and worship the golden statue, 11 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These pay no heed to you, O King. They do not serve your gods and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
Before we go any further, it may help to know that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are not the original names of these three Hebrew men. They are Babylonian names that have been given to them in an attempt to erase their cultural identity, including their faith. For example, Abednego’s original name is Azariah, which means “the Lord [Yahweh] is my help.” But an official of Nebuchadnezzar gives him a new name, Abednego, which means “the servant of Nebo,” a Babylonian God. This new name erases Azariah’s link with Yahweh, the Lord, and instead asserts that he is the servant of a Babylonian god.
So even before Nebuchadnezzar commands the three men to bow down to his statue, they have already endured pressure to change, to renounce their God and his way. But that pressure is about to increase dramatically now that they have openly defied the king.
Scripture: “We Are Seeds”
13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?”
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. 17 If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
On the first Sunday of Advent, we light the Hope candle. Hope is a familiar word; we use it all the time. But typically when we say “hope” we actually mean “expect” or “desire.” In other words, when we say “hope,” we have a particular result in mind, a specific outcome that we expect or desire. This popular concept of hope fits well with the popular concept of Christmas. Children may “hope” for certain gifts. Adults may “hope” for their family or siblings to keep the peace at Christmas dinner. Some of us may “hope” for a white Christmas.
In recovery circles, you’ll sometimes hear that “expectations are just resentments waiting to happen.” That applies equally to this popular concept of “hope,” such as in the saying, “It’s the hope that kills you.” In other words, it’s the expectation for one thing that leaves you so devastated when that one thing does not happen.
So what is “hope” if not just expectation or desire? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego give us a beautiful example, showcasing hope in all its risk and glory. I don’t know if you caught it, but when Nebuchadnezzar challenges them, saying, “Who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego do not respond, “Our God will deliver us.” In fact, they have no assurances for their own personal safety. Their decision is not based on the expectation or desire for a particular result. “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us…let him deliver us,” they say. Let’s sit for just a minute with that first word “if.” There’s a lot hanging on that “if.” Life and death, to be precise. And that “if” also reveals something about these three men’s faith. Namely, their faith is not in a God of power. If their faith were in a God of power, then surely there would be no “if.” God would have the power to save them, no question. But apparently power is not the priority of their God, and not the priority of their faith.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego appear to have put their faith in something different. I have to believe that they’ve put their faith in the God who is Love. And love, we learn, does not control or conquer or win. Love actually suffers and dies. We see this most clearly in Jesus Christ. But we also see in Jesus Christ that even as love dies, it is raised anew. It lives. It endures. As Paul sings, “[Love] endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:7-8)
For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, hope is not the expectation that things will turn out one way or another. That is a feeble hope, a hope “for” something, a hope sure to fail, sure to breed despair and resentment. Their hope is heartier. It is a whatever-the-results hope. Their hope is not “for” an outcome but “in” a Love that never ends.
Throughout history, there is a folk saying that appears in various contexts of resistance, which goes something like this. “They crushed us into the ground. But what they didn’t know is that we are seeds.” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not hope for survival as much as they hoped in God’s love, which endures forever, which never ends. Either way—live or die—they would be seeds.
Scripture: The Real Miracle
In one sense, this hope gives Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego victory, regardless of what happens next. Nebuchadnezzar sees that his empire-building project is destined for failure as long as there are people like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And so…
19 …Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, 20 and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire. 21 So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire. 22 Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.
24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.” 25 He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.
Today’s scripture reads a little bit like a folktale. Just as the story of Jonah contains some exaggerations and artistic license for the sake of making its point, so too today’s story. That’s not to say that today’s story did not really happen, but rather to say that the point of the story is deeper than the events themselves.
When Nebuchadnezzar sees that “the fire had not had any power over the bodies” of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he does not simply see a miracle of physics, the inexplicable phenomenon of flammable substances not being engulfed in flame. The real miracle he sees is hope. The real miracle he sees does not happen in the flames but moments before the flame, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego declare that whatever happens, they will only serve the God who is Love. That is the true moment when “the fire [does not have] any power” over their bodies. That is the moment when we see what their real hope is. It’s not for personal survival, but in God’s love.
Hope in a Season of Expectation
None of us face a blazing furnace this Advent. Or the immediate compulsion to bow down to some literal statue. But our world is not so far removed from this story. We live in a land of idols, such as Hollywood, Wall Street, the Capitol, each one demanding that we bow down, each one promising happiness in some hoped-for result: fame, money, power.
When I lived in England, I attended for some time a little Anglican church that had a robust student ministry for the two universities nearby. Each Christmas, I was astounded as families in the church filled the fellowship hall and prepared a Christmas dinner for all the international students who could not go home and for anyone else who did not have family in the area.
Looking back at that event, I see hope triumphant over the idols of our world. I see folks who chose not to bow down to the pressures and enticements of the world around them. Instead they trusted in God’s love and live accordingly, showing God’s hospitality and generosity to the stranger and the lonely. I don’t share this story to suggest we all need to do what that little church did. I share it, rather, as an invitation to ask this question: what does it look like to hope in a season that is filled with expectation?
Advent hope is not about getting a particular result. It is about trusting and living in God’s love, whatever the result. The danger of expectation is that it narrows our vision, so that we might actually miss God when God arrives. By making room in their hearts for the stranger and the lonely, the church hosts actually made room in their hearts for Christ. Their hope in God’s love opened their hearts to receive Christ.
Prayer
O God who is our hope,
Whose love endures all things
And never ends—
Inspire us by the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
To relinquish the desire for results
And trust instead in your love
Which is redeeming all things
…
May we all fall to the ground
As seeds of your love.
In Christ, whom we hope to welcome: Amen.
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