Loving God, you continue to reveal yourself as the Living God who saves.  Help us to be able to see and experience your salvation – especially in the midst of trying times, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Last week we were with Jeremiah, who had prophesied to the people all of God’s warnings and calls for repentance, only to be ignored by most.  The people’s stubbornness and refusal to change their ways resulted in exactly what Jeremiah had said – attacks from other nations, and ultimately being taken as slaves to Babylon.

         Now – 60 or maybe 70 years later – they have been in Babylon long enough for the Persian Empire to take over.  Darius is now the Persian king, and Daniel is one of the Jewish exiles.  Daniel has the God-given gifts of wisdom and integrity and management skills, so that he has ended up as one of the three presidents who oversee the kingdom.  However, as a foreigner and as a Jew, he is the target of jealousy and prejudice from all of the other officials.  And, because they cannot accuse him of any actual wrongdoing, they hatch this plan to catch him praying.

         Now, while members of a certain church near Steinbach might tell you that they are being persecuted in much the same way, let me be clear that this is not the same thing.  While we need to worship in different ways right now, we have not been banned from praying to the Living God.  When Daniel prayed, he may have disobeyed the king’s edict, but he did not put the health and well-being of others at risk by doing so.

         Daniel’s choices were these:  He could pray to the king – a false god with no real power – and avoid spending time in a den of lions.  Or, he could continue to pray to the God of Israel and suffer the consequences.  As the story progresses, we see without a doubt that he makes the right choice.  The king to whom they were supposed to pray has no real power.  Even though he supposedly wants to save Daniel, he can’t find a way to do so.  The God of heaven and earth, however, has no such limitations.  The lions keep their mouths shut in the presence of God’s angel.

         Imagine for just a moment that we only know the first part of the story.  Imagine that we have only heard the story up to the moment when Daniel is sealed inside the lions’ den for the night.  Surely our focus would be on the injustice of it all.  Insecure leaders have tricked the king into condemning Daniel to death.  One more innocent man has been made to suffer unjustly.  Why hasn’t God rescued him from this fate?  Why would God allow a good man to be persecuted in this way?  Have Daniel’s prayers all been for nothing?

         Perhaps the same could be said if the story of Jesus stopped with his death and burial.  People of faith who heard of it would rail at God over the injustice of it all and would ask why God would allow such undeserved suffering.  There would be only sadness and grief, and even anger, that all hopes of salvation had been dashed.

         This is where we are right now in the story of the 100-year pandemic that is Covid-19.  People are asking things like, where is God in the midst of all this, and why would God allow this to happen?  When will I be able to see my family again?  When will we be able to gather for worship again?  When will we get a break from all of the sickness and death and restrictions and stress and anxiety?  How long, O Lord, how long?  We are still in the middle of the story.

         Even in the crucifixion and death of Jesus, God was still at work.  There is a waiting period before we get to the end of the story, but we find out in the end that it was all for our salvation and that there is resurrection from the dead.  For Daniel, as well, God was still at work throughout his time in the lions’ den, and throughout his time as an exile in Babylon. And, while the lions’ den was just one night, the exile was more like 70 years long.

         In the same way, God is still at work now.  This does not always mean immediate rescue from all that threatens our health and well-being.  However, angels continue to be at work, God continues to answer prayer, and Christ continues to be with us and in us and among us.  The challenge for us is to look for and to recognize where God is at work, in our world and in our lives.  We are also challenged and invited to continue to come to God in prayer – especially at those times when it looks as if all hope is lost.

         The season of Advent has always been a season of waiting, of light in the darkness, and of the hope that is ours in the coming of Christ.  May we be able to see the angel when we feel as though we are surrounded by lions, and may we always recognize Christ when he comes.  And now,

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).  Amen.

Advent 1 (NL 3)                                Daniel 6:6-27

November 29, 2020

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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