Friday, December 17, 2004 Nativity Fast
Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths
Kellia: Daniel 3:24-30 Epistle: Hebrews 7:18-27 Gospel: St. Luke 21:37-22:8
Daniel 3:24-30, especially vs. 28: "Nebuchadnezzar said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, Who has sent His angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him, and set at naught the king's command,
and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.'" After the armies of
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the city of Jerusalem and captured it (587 BC), much of the city's population was deported
from Palestine to the lower Mesopotamian Valley, near Nebuchadnezzar's capital, the great city of Babylon. A struggle
ensued for the exiles to maintain their faith, the revealed truths of God, against constant pressure to conform to the
dominant pagan culture.
The writings of the Prophet Daniel are helpful to Christians living in a society in which there is continuous pressure to
conform to a dominant world-view whose assumptions oppose the given truths of the Faith. Three youths of the exile
community of God's People refused the command to join in pagan worship, for it was plain to them that the idol was not
the true God. They were willing, as Daniel reports, to die rather than pretend to worship the image. They told the king
frankly that they would "not serve [his] gods or worship the golden image which [he had] set up"(Dan. 3:18). So, "full of
fury," the king had them thrown into a fiery furnace.
First, observe that God is present with His faithful People in the worst of trials. In this instance, the Lord did intervene
miraculously and personally, taking the form of a fourth Person in the furnace, walking with the three in the fire (Dan 3:25).
Thereby He kept them safe from any effects of the flames (vs. 27). However, one should not conclude that this deliverance
of the three youths is in any way an assurance that God will in most instances overcome the course of nature and
miraculously deliver the faithful from duress. Rather it is an assurance that He will be present with us whenever we stand
firm for the Faith, even to death. The faithful witness of a host of martyrs for Christ also reveals this truth.
Second, notice that their faithfulness effected a real change in Nebuchadnezzar. He blessed "the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, Who...sent His angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him" (vs. 28). This was not
conversion to the true Faith, but the king's acceptance of the validity of the Faith. He was moved to tolerate and admire
their Faith. His shift in policy allowed the People of God to practice the Faith freely. Let us note that out of the
Babylonian exile community developed the institution of the synagogue with its reading and exposition of the written word
of God, practices which formed and underlie the present structure and practice of centering the first portion of the Divine
Liturgy upon Holy Scripture.
Finally, Daniel makes clear that only a small change was achieved in the heart and mind of the Babylonian king by this
extraordinary miracle. Was he moved to general tolerance? Not at all. Instead, he ordered that anyone who should speak
"against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego [should] be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins" (vs.
29).
What a vivid reminder of the complications of winning others to the true Faith, especially those who have been raised to
believe in false religions! While on the one hand, we can rejoice that Nebuchadnezzar "promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego" (vs. 30), let us also heed what St. Nikolai of Zica tells us: "Daniel and the Three Children lived to a great old
age in Babylon, and were beheaded with the sword for the true Faith." The mission of the Church to disciple the nations
(Mt. 28:19) must continue until the Lord returns and brings history to a close.
O Christ, inspire our witness to Thee, that all may know the power of repentance, the joy of forgiveness, and of the hope of
Resurrection which are found in Thee alone.