HOPE: Advent 1, 2024

HOPE: Advent 1

Sunday, December 1, 2024
Daniel 6.1-27

Although we don’t always acknowledge it, the Bible is full of humor. One common form of humor comes from making fun of powerful empires and revealing their impotence. And our Old Testament reading today is one such example.

The author of the Book of Daniel presents an almost comical view of King Darius of Persia. Here, Darius, possibly the most powerful man in the world, is rendered utterly powerless by bureaucratic red tape.

The “deep state” has conspired against Daniel and found a legal loophole to snare the Jewish prophet. Darius is offended – verse 15 literally reads, “it was very evil for him” – and tries to save Daniel.

But, alas, his hands are tied.

Not only have the government bureaucrats written a royal decree themselves, but it's a decree that not even the king can reverse.

How ridiculous!

And so Daniel is thrown into the lions’ pit.

Fortunately for Daniel, “there is an alternative to the unchanging laws of the Medes and Persians,” argues Walter Brueggemann.

It’s fortunate for us, too, for we too have been thrown into the pit of despair by a status quo that cannot be reversed.

But there is good news, for as Brueggemann observes, “There is something inherently revolutionary about this God!”

When the King has no power to change the course of events, we can have hope because our God is with us in the pit – with justice and righteousness, steadfast love, truth and mercy – to keep us safe from the lions.

Thanks be to God.