In the Book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar sets up an idol in Babylon - an enormous golden statue. The king summons all of the officials together for its dedication. At the great sound of many musical instruments, the king orders all of these officials to prostrate themselves in worship of this idol. He threatens anyone who refused to do so to be thrown into a fiery furnace. Three young Jewish men refuse to do so. They refuse to abandon their Jewish faith for King Nebuchadnezzar. The king has them bound up and thrown into that fiery furnace. However, God sends an angel to save them. They walk through the furnace unharmed. That is the background for today’s first reading from the book of Daniel, in which one of these young men prays from within the furnace, asking God to look kindly upon them and upon his people, to forgive them their sins that have brought them such torment and suffering.
Today’s prayer asks God to not forget his covenant, to not abandon his people. In the exile in Babylon, the people were far away from their Temple. They feel abandoned, despised, and without a leader. The Temple in Jerusalem was the place where they performed their religious rituals and offered sacrifices. They were cut off from that. Yet, without all of that, they still wanted to commit themselves completely to God. We can feel cut off or abandoned on our own journeys of faith. We can sometimes feel like we cannot commit ourselves to our faith with all the rest that is going on in our lives. Let us use this holy time of Lent to examine our lives and to see how we need to commit ourselves more completely to God.
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