Dancing with Angels

Wednesday, The Fifth Week of Lent

DN 3:14-20, 91-92, 95

Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55,56

John 8:31-42

Today’s first reading is one of my top 5 favorite passages from the Old Testament.  It is about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  (Just a side note – it is probably a good thing I never got married and had children because I think I would have named them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.)   Even just saying their names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego make me smile.

The story goes, King Nebuchadnezzar created a golden calf and has it mounted on a pole.  The rule of the Kingdom is any time the people hear the sound of a musical instrument of any kind, they are to fall to their knees and worship the golden calf.  This is okay for most of the people, one god is as good as any other god.  But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are followers of the God of the Israelites.  They believe in the God of Abraham and Moses.  They believe in Yahweh.  They will not worship any other God.  And there comes the rub.  King Nebuchadnezzar is irate and insists they worship his golden calf, or they will be thrown into the white-hot furnace.

The King gives them one last chance to worship the golden calf.  He asks them if their God is great enough to save them from the flames.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego claim their God is that great, but even if he does not save them, they will not worship any other God. 

The King calls his strongest soldiers and has the three bound and thrown into the furnace.  

When the King looks into the furnace expecting to see the three bound men being consumed by the fire, he sees instead four men talking and dancing in flames.  King Nebuchadnezzar realizes the fourth man is an angel.  He knows then that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is the true God and he worships Him.

I admire Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  Their fidelity to God, even in the face of the harshest adversity, is remarkable to me.  They even say if God does not save them, they will still believe.

So often in our world, we avoid conversations about faith.  We don’t want to go down that road even with those we call our friends. 

Faith in our society has become a very personal thing and something taboo in most public gatherings.  You know what they say, “Never talk about politics or religion.” So most often, we avoid the subject, and we don’t talk about our God and our journey of faith with him.  If the topic does come up many times, we avoid it and just remain silent.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are role models for us.  They went into a furnace rather than deny their God.  And then on meeting the angel of God in the oven, they danced. 

God did not have to do anything to earn their faith.  Even if they just died in the furnace, their faith was so strong, they would not step back from it.

Probably most of us will never be forced to choose between God and death.  But every day, we are given opportunities to witness to our faith in God.  We are being called to speak of the love and goodness of our God. We can do this in effortless ways by freely offering our prayer to others. We can share the blessing of God with the words, “God bless you.”  We can stop conversations (not just walking away from them) when gossip and ridicule of another is the topic.  We can freely witness to the work of God in our lives.  These are dark days in our world. We are called to continually bring the light of God.

So today, think about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and smile.  You have been gifted with faith just like theirs.  In the hard times, look for the angel God sends to walk and dance with you.  Thank God for the angels; they confirm our faith.