First Sunday of Advent
Daniel 3:1 & 8-29
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.
Accordingly, at this time certain Chaldeans came forward and denounced the Jews. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! 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, and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men 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.”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. 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. 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.”
Then, 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 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. 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. 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. But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.
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.”
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.”
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. 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 scorched, and not even the smell of fire came from them.
Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that utters blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Growing up in Southern California did not give me a lot of opportunities to be brave. Like most of you, I had a pretty stable life, and true fear is something that I’ve only felt a very few times. I’ve never been in a war zone, I’ve never been chased by a wild animal, I’ve never had a gun pointed at me, or had anyone threaten my life. That is the privilege of living in a first-world country. Which isn’t to say that those things don’t happen to people who live here, they’re just much more-rare than in other parts of the world.
What we do have here are extreme natural disasters. People often say they would never live in California because of the wildfires and the earthquakes. Wildfires seem like they’re very common these days, but I don’t remember a lot of wildfires when I was growing. There are definitely more of those, now. Big earthquakes aren’t very common, either, unlike tornadoes or hurricanes that happen every year in certain parts of the country. Still, having spent most of my life in California, I have experienced my fair share of earthquakes, and it was during the Northridge earthquake on January 17, 1994 that I felt true fear. It was 4:30 in the morning, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit about 25 miles away from our house, which in earthquake terms is not far away at all. It was strongest earthquake I had ever felt in my entire life, and people as far away as Las Vegas; Ensenada, Mexico; Phoenix, Arizona, almost 400 miles away, felt the Northridge earthquake.
I was 14 years-old when it happened, and I was sharing a room with my brother James, at the time. We had bunkbeds, and I had the top bunk. I don’t even remember getting out of bed, but I somehow ended up in the bottom bunk with my brother, and we just held onto each other for dear life.
The earthquake only lasted for about fifteen seconds, but fifteen seconds is a really long time when the ground is shaking hard enough that buildings and freeway interchanges fall down. I’m going to count that out for you so you can see how long that actually is: 1 one-thousand, 2 one-thousand…15 one-thousand. Imagine the ground shaking so hard that it would be impossible to stand for fifteen whole seconds.
I remember I just started saying the Lord’s prayer, over and over again, and my brother started saying it with me. And, we just kept on praying, saying the Lord’s prayer over and over again until the ground stopped shaking. Fifty-seven people died because of the Northridge earthquake, and over 9,000 people were injured. It was one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history, dealing damage equal to $25 to $100 billion in today’s money.
Fear can be a very effective motivator. People throughout all of human history have done things they didn’t want to, because of fear. King Nebuchadnezzar tried to use fear to make people worship his gold statue. It worked, for the most part. I think it’s completely reasonable for someone to make a show of worshipping a gold statue if it meant they wouldn’t burn to death, but that fear wasn’t enough to motivate everyone. Some people are willing to die for what they believe in, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three people who were not going to compromise their beliefs to pay homage to a false God made of gold. They were willing to give up their lives, instead of dishonoring the God that they believed in, and so King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fire. But, God didn’t abandon them. God sent an angel to walk with them in the fire, and the fire did not harm them. The fire was so hot, that it killed the men who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace, but God was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the fire did not harm them.
You might be wondering why this is the story that the lectionary has given to us for the First Sunday of Advent. I was wondering the same thing, too. But, as we dive into the themes of this story, it starts to make sense. For the first Sunday of Advent, you might expect the story of when the angel came to Mary to tell her that she was going give birth to God’s Son. As with most angel encounters, the angel tells Mary to not be afraid. Unless you’ve had an angel encounter of your own, there’s not really any way for us to understand this fear. Based on the way they’re described in the Bible, angels are terrifying to behold, which is why they always have to tell people to not be afraid of them. But, I would hope that the fear of meeting an angel is not the same as being afraid for your life. Regardless, in both stories, God sends an angel.
In both stories, the Israelite people are being oppressed. King Nebuchadnezzar is forcing them to worship a golden statue, and in Jesus’ time, Rome has the Israelite people under its heel. And, in the time that God’s people need help, God sends help. God sends an angel to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Jesus to the Israelite people living under Rome. So, at first glance, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego might seem like a strange choice for the First Sunday of Advent, but it is a story about a story about the ancestors of Jesus, about people being oppressed, being afraid and needing God’s help, and God sending help to them. So, it’s actually the perfect story for the First Sunday of Advent.
The subject of fear has been coming up a lot the last few weeks. Last week, we looked at how people are often afraid to talk about politics and religion. The week before that, we talked about how the darkness makes us afraid because we can’t see the danger that might be lurking there. We’ve talked about a lot of the scary things in the world that are happening right now, people going hungry, people losing their homes, people having to stay out in the cold. But, Advent is when we’re supposed to remember that fear does not control us. Advent is when we’re supposed to remember that Jesus is coming, and that Jesus is going to save us. Jesus is bigger than any fear that we might have, stronger than any obstacle we have to overcome, and will be steadfast and patient with us as we figure it all out. The scary things in the world aren’t going to go away, but we don’t have to face them alone, because Jesus is with us.
The Northridge earthquake was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. But, it was a little less scary because my brother was with me. I didn’t have to face it alone. Whatever happened, we would go through it together. And, as we prayed the Lord’s prayer, we knew that God was with us, too, like the angel walking in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
That is a gift that God has given to all of us. Jesus came into the world to be with us and is alive inside of us. The Holy Spirit is always around us, everywhere we go, with everything that we do. And, our Creator God sees it all, knows it all, lives it all with us. When we suffer, God suffers. When we’re scared, the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to comfort us and to give us courage. When we’re sad, the light of Jesus shines within us to let us know that we are not alone in our tears.
So, as we enter this Advent season, with all of our doubts and worries and fears, remember that Jesus is the guiding light of hope. God might not make the scary things go away, but God will make sure that we don’t face the scary things alone. So, be brave as you face the world, as you walk out into it to bring God’s light to those who need it. Be the courage and the hope that people need right now, because you carry God with you wherever you go. You carry the spirit of Christmas with you wherever you go. Be with your neighbors, and make the world a less scary place.
Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
