Is There ANY Hope Left?

When I first saw that this weeks text was from Daniel, but I hadn’t read it yet I really wondered how appropriate it would be for the first week in Advent. After all the story we get today does focus a lot on the presidents and the satraps conspiring to get Daniel out of power and their solution is to get him thrown into the lion’s den so that he will be eaten. Not exactly a joyful text for the beginning of the season of Advent that we would hope for.

However, as I started to lament about that I remembered how every first weekend in Advent the text is basically the exact same text, but found in the different Gospels, and it is all about the time when the Son of Man will come again and there will be fear and confusion, the heavens will be shaken, and distress on the nations of the earth. Also not exactly a joyful text for the beginning of Advent that we would hope for.

Darius was a brand new king to the throne at the age of 62 which is probably why he set 120 satraps to rule over the various parts of the whole kingdom. He may have done it because he wasn’t prepared to rule or because he didn’t want to have to worry about all of the different aspects of ruling at that age. Whatever the reason, it was likely because of that, that Daniel was put in the situation that he was in.

It was also that newness of Darius being king that made him go along with the idea of these presidents and satraps declaring an edict that no one pray to anything other than the king. Darius probably thought it was a good idea that everyone focus on and recognize him as the new king through this ordinance so that he could legitimize his seat on the throne.

What is interesting is that after the document is signed we hear that Daniel knows that it’s signed and he goes to his house. The next thing he does is pray to God like he always did. The NRSV translates Daniel’s response as, “although he knew” and two other Bibles translate it as “when Daniel learned”. It’s hard to really know if this was an act of defiance toward the edict and the satraps who made it happen or if it was simply that time of day, out of the three times that Daniel prayed to God and he was doing it as the text says, “as he had done previously”. Regardless of the actual reason behind why Daniel went back to pray, it was now against the law for him to do so.

Daniel, despite the kings best efforts to save him, is thrown into the lion’s den. I don’t know about you but just the thought of being sent to a den of lions would be enough to send me into utter despair. While I don’t think that any of us will be sent into a literal lion’s den, just as I said that I doubt that any of us will be swallowed by a giant fish like Jonah, I do think there are things we face in our lives that feels just as hopeless. There is no doubt that the pandemic has felt like a lion’s den for many of us especially with the number of cases continuing to rise throughout our nation at a very alarming rate.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving and I know that many people within this congregation and throughout our nation were not able to be with their family and friends because of the restriction that this pandemic has caused. And people are worried about the same thing happening for their Christmas celebrations. This time of year can already put a lot of stress on people and when you put a pandemic and restrictions on top of all of that it just adds to everything. Not to mention all of the hurricanes that have devastated land and homes as well as the general unrest of people with everything else that is going on in our country and world right now. Worship isn’t how we have ever had to worship in the past and it’s hard on all of us. It’s not exactly the joyful Advent we were hoping for.

I really wish we could have known more about Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den. We see King Darius tell Daniel he wants his God to deliver him, but was Daniel afraid? Hopeless? Worried? Scared? Confident? Faithful? What? What we do know is that God protects Daniel by sending an Angel to come and watch over him and shut the mouths of the lions. Regardless of how Daniel felt when he was thrown into the den we know that he had hope and trust in God because God knew that he was blameless in God’s eyes and he says even in the eyes of the king.

Even in the darkest of times, Daniel and ourselves included, there is hope. In the midst of a literal den of lions or a den of lions or the form of a pandemic, or regular ole holiday stress, there is hope. One of the things that struck me while reading the story of Daniel for today is that twice King Darius, who is not a believer in Daniel’s God, says that God is the living God. That’s what makes hope possible. We love and have a relationship with our living God who endures forever and who’s kingdom shall never be destroyed.

That is the hope we have. No matter what we face in this life we have a living God who’s kingdom will never end. Things may get bad, and things are bad right now, and things will get better and through the good and the bad we have a God who stands by our side and shuts the mouths of the lions. God shuts the voices that say there is no hope by bringing hope. God shuts the voices that say death by bringing life. God always has the final word in any situation we find ourselves in and that word is always a word of love.

In this season of Advent, which is all about waiting and anticipating may we open our eyes and our hearts to all the ways that God is bringing hope. May we keenly focus in on the hope that is found in the Christ-child, the very reason we watch, wait and anticipate. The child who brings a light that overcomes all darkness and bring everlasting hope to a world in desperate need of it. Amen.