I’d like to tell y’all a story. Once upon a time, there were three good Jewish boys named Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Their homeland, the kingdom of Judah, had been conquered by the Babylonian Empire; along with their good friend Daniel, they were among the thousands of Jews who were taken from their homeland and dragged back to Babylon as spoils of war. Like Daniel, they had stayed faithful to God, and God had blessed them; the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had given them positions of authority among the administrators and bureaucrats of his realm. And as usually happens eventually, staying faithful to God got them in trouble.
You see, one day, King Nebuchadnezzar decided it would be a really swell idea to have everyone in his government worship a huge golden statue. He had it made and erected outside the city, where there was room for the Babylon Symphony Orchestra to set up nearby, then summoned all his administrators, bureaucrats, and officials to gather before the statue. His herald gave them the king’s command: “When the orchestra starts playing, bow down and worship the king’s statue! If you don’t, you will immediately be thrown into the fire in that huge furnace over there.” And the orchestra played, and everyone fell flat on their faces and worshiped . . . except for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who stayed standing.
I didn’t make up this story, of course; as I’m sure many of you recognized, it’s from the book of Daniel, chapters 1 and 3. The story of those three young men—mostly known by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—has been told many ways for many reasons, but I’m not sure it’s ever been used as a commentary on American political and cultural polarization, so this morning might be a first. Read more