Daniel 3- Rack, Shack, and Benny

 

            Today we’re continuing in the book of Daniel. Last week we looked at King Nebuchadnezzar who continually failed to learn his lessons in humility despite being witness to God’s miracles and power. Today we’re focusing further in on some of the Israelites who were living within Babylon, specifically Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, or as Veggietales cleverly shortened for us: Rack, Shack, and Benny. And we want to look at how they are responding to Nebuchadnezzar’s command of trying to force all peoples to bow down and worship his golden idol.

            And their response is simple: we will not bow down. A simple response, but a profound, countercultural response. For there are so many who bow down to the idols of their age. Some bow down because they are ignorant. They somehow fail to see the ways in which the values of the age in which they live contradict the values of the kingdom of God. They have been fooled by the propaganda agents of the kings of their ages into thinking that the ways of the king are the ways of God. Some bow down because it is the path to advancement. There are many who gladly sacrifice their values in order to advance their career, as a politician, in Hollywood, in academia... Some bow down to idols because they would rather fit in than stand out like a sore thumb. When everyone else is bowing low, it is painfully obvious when you are standing up.

            But the response of the faithful Christian must be this: I will not bow down. It is a defiant response. And a rare response. It’s not that everyone wants to bow down, there are many do not want to bow down, they only bow down reluctantly or bow down under protest, but they still eventually succumb to the pressure and bow down. But the Christian must say I will not bow, no matter the consequences. A defiant, stubborn response. But note that though they will not let others force them to believe or act in certain ways, neither are they trying to force others around them to believe or act in certain ways. The book of Daniel gives us an interesting case study in pluralism. We get unique insight into how faithful people are to live in the midst of an idolatrous nation, which is useful for us today to look at, for we too live in the midst of people who believe in all sorts of different gods.

            The first thing I want to note about how the faithful Israelites were living in a pagan empire is that they did not compromise on their values. In things that were really important, they did not conform to the pattern of the world around them. They stayed set apart, holy in how they acted.  They would not worship other gods or disobey god’s laws. Nor did they think concering those who worshipped idols and false gods, “Hey, whatever works for you.” They weren’t like, “I worship this God called Yahweh, but if you worship Marduk or Ishtar or the big statue, who really cares? All gods and all religions are basically the same, it doesn’t really matter what we call God or what you believe.” That’s how many today in our pluralistic society think, that all religions are basically the same, that it doesn’t matter what you believe. But if that’s what you believe, you believe in a different god than the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They knew that it was important to only worship the true God. Heck, that’s the first command in the 10 commandments. They knew it was dangerous to worship idols, they saw how Jerusalem had been conquered by Babylon as punishment for their idol worship of false gods like Baal.

            Rack, Shack, and Benny did not assimilate to the pagan empire they lived within. However, neither did they resort to opposite extremes. They did not assimilate, but neither did they seek to impose their own beliefs on others by force. That is the way of Babylon, not the way of Yahweh. We believe firmly that what our religion teaches is the only truth, and yet our tools are persuasion and enticement, not coercion and swords. We seek to persuade others why our religion is truthful and we try to live lives of love that are appealing to others, to live in such a way that people look at us and say, I want to live with that kind of hope, that kind of courage, that kind of love and purpose.

Pluralism is good when it is about letting those of many diverse beliefs and backgrounds all live together in harmony and peace. But certain attempts at pluralism can become bad when they are less about letting each person in their distinctives and uniqueness live as they would like, and more about lessening any distinctives, of flattening everything out, of trying to get us all to be basically the same. Good pluralism, good interfaith relations is about saying what we believe is different, we may share many similarities, but we also sometimes have contested values and visions of what is good, but, regardless, we can still love each other and get along. Bad interfaith relations is about trying to flatten out any religious differences, of just saying your truth is true, my truth is true, his truth is true. This is done out of the good motive of trying to unite all faiths together, but in reality this view pushes away many major world religions for many believe that their faith does indeed hold exclusive truth. Trying to base a pluralistic society off of the belief that all religions are the same grounds the unity and peace of our society on lies and wishful thinking, when instead our unity can be grounded simply in the common dignity of all peoples, that all deserve freedom and respect and kindness.

            So, Rack, Shack, and Benny did not assimilate themselves to the culture of Babylon, nor did they force their beliefs on the culture, but neither did they separate themselves from the culture. This is important. For there are some who understandably think that if I’m going to live a righteous life I’m going to have to sequester myself away from the rest of the world. I’m gonna have to homeschool my kids, stay out of politics or public service, hide in a small enclave of like-minded individuals. Sometimes we may need to do those things. But that is not the path Rack, Shack, and Benny chose. So far from sequestering themselves away from society, they were working in some of the highest levels of the government of Babylon. And this is pretty radical. Babylon was this big, evil empire that was often doing wicked things. But Rack, Shack, and Benny and Daniel, they sought to be a faithful presence even in that wicked space, serving as some of the highest officials in the land. They were in those positions to do whatever good they could, to leverage their position to influence the king and the law towards slightly better ways. How can you be a faithful presence in wicked spaces? How can you be a model of love and service and goodness even in the midst of large systems that so often fall far short of being wholly good? Because if good people like Rack, Shack, and Benny wholly retreat from public life, think of who that is leaving to take up roles of power in society? Society is worse off if Christians retreat into isolated spaces. If we choose the path of separation, how then do we preach the gospel to those who have never heard it? How then do we live as ambassadors of God’s name?

            We must be a faithful presence, but being a faithful presence in these spaces is tricky. To do so is to walk the tight rope between the twin dangers of assimilation and separation. And to stay as a faithful presence in wicked spaces will inevitably lead to points of conflict. At some point they may try to force you to do the wicked things they do, and you must resist, and that may cost you your position. But we must try to be that faithful presence nonetheless.

            Conflict is almost inevitable, and we see this in Daniel 3, because here’s the thing: when you don’t bow to other people’s false gods, they get mad. They get real mad. Because it breaks the illusion for them that they are living under. It reveals to them that the truth that they desperately want to believe may be wrong. They want to believe the false truth so bad because the lie lets them do what they want or lets them pretend to be more powerful than they are. Nebuchadnezzar needed his illusion that his kingdom was eternal and divine to be believed by everyone else around him, or else the illusion would break. And so he threatened death in the fiery furnace for those who would not bow. When we hold to the truth, we do not feel threatened when others disbelieve, because 2+2=4 whether or not others think it does. But when we hold to a falsehood, like Nebuchadnezzar did, we feel threatened and defensive when others disagree, because the falsehood is founded on something flimsy, it’s a lie that can easily be toppled by the truth.

Nebuchadnezzar gives Rack, Shack, and Benny one last chance to bow down before they face the consequences. And to their credit, they resist. And Nebuchadnezzar is shocked by this, he seems to think that if they are risking the fiery furnace they are doing it out of the misguided belief that they have a god who would certainly rescue them from the furnace. For who would risk death otherwise? Without assurances of safety.

            But that’s not why Rack, Shack, and Benny resist. They say if God wants to deliver us, He can, and boy, we’re sure gonna let him, and we’d be really thankful. But if not, we still won’t serve your gods. This is a very powerful, courageous line. Because the religion of so many people is the religion of quid pro quo. What does that mean? It means we’ll do something for God if God does something for us. We’ll do something for God if it benefits us. We’ll sacrifice a little if we get more back in return. But the faith we are called to have is not merely the faith of quid pro quo, we are called to have the faith of “but if not”. Yes, truly radical faith begins with that phrase, “But if not.” Of acting in faith and righteousness whether or not it benefits us in any way. We expect people to act in their self-interest, there’s nothing surprising about that. But those who are willing to do what is right at great cost to themselves, that is powerful. It’s like what Jesus says in the sermon on the mount, you love those who love you, great, even the pagans do that, even the tax collectors do that. Love your enemies. That is radical love. Love that gets nothing in return.

            Radical faith says I’d love to worship God and get to live the easy life, with a great family, lots of money, plenty of pleasure and entertainment. But if not… if I don’t get any of those things, I’ll still worship God. Rack, Shack, and Benny have the radical faith of other great bible heroes, like Esther who says, “If I perish, I perish, but I will go try and do what is right.” They have the faith like the faith of Jesus who willingly went to the cross and to his death to live in obedience and faithfulness.

            But even if our faith is not yet to the point of being willing to sacrifice for the sake of God, even if we aren’t ready for radical faith, even the mere faith of quid pro quo should inspire us to do what is right, for ultimately doing what is right is always in our self-interest. In Matthew 10, Jesus tells us that if you are wise you do not fear those who can kill the body like King Nebuchadnezzar, no, if you are wise you fear God who can destroy both body and soul in Hell. As we saw last week, Nebuchadnezzar for all his powers, is weaker than a grasshopper compared to the power of God. We should thus fear God’s commands and edicts far more than Nebuchadnezzars. And what is sacrificing our mortal life compared to gaining eternal life?

            But as we get to the end of the story, we see that even though Rack, Shack, and Benny were willing to follow God no matter what comes, God nevertheless chose to save them and deliver them. The text tells us that when Rack, Shack, and Benny are thrown into the fiery furnace, the furnace is so hot that it even killed the people who were throwing them into the fire, but Rack, Shack, and Benny remained in the furnace unharmed. And as Nebuchadnezzar and others looked in they noticed that Rack, Shack, and Benny were not alone. There was a fourth person there in the fire with them, and it had the appearance of a god.

            What a great reminder to us that we are never alone. In our darkest trials, God is right there alongside us. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I do not fear, for God is with me. As Christians, we typically interpret this 4^th person in the fiery furnace with them to be Jesus. Now we don’t know for sure, but at the very least this person acts as Jesus does, and foreshadows Jesus. For this person saved them from the fiery furnace just as Jesus saves us from the fires of Hell. This person preserved their life when they should’ve been dead, just as Jesus raises us back up from the grave. Yes, God is a God who is not afraid to enter into the fiery furnace to help us, God comes and bears our sufferings that he might save us.

            Thank God for Jesus and for resurrection life, for that is the good news, that is the hope that gives us the courage to live as Rack, Shack, and Benny lived. That is the hope that gives us the courage to live as a faithful presence in the midst of a wicked, pagan empire even if living among them may invite persecution. God is on the side of the faithful. And if God is for us, who can be against us? With God on our side, we do not fear the Nebuchadnezzars of this world, no kings or empires or militaries make us tremble, for God is stronger, God is greater, and God will triumph in resurrection life.