Luke 23:26-56; Daniel
6:10-23
God’s vindication of the innocent
sufferer: The Innocent Blood of Daniel
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
They were jealous, filled with hatred,
and murderous thoughts because Daniel was clearly blessed by his God and had inexplicably
found favor with the king as well. First and foremost, you should take away
from this the fact that God’s Law is truly good, the only good. Though we find
that it is often rejected and brings those who strive to keep it woe,
nevertheless, nonetheless, for those who value integrity and honesty, even if
they are unbelievers, God’s people are valued and are esteemed. Such was the
cases with Joseph, Moses, and Daniel, and many other figures of faith in the
Holy Scriptures. However, that was not the case with the king’s satraps. They
were jealous of Daniel and they hated him, so they plotted against him to
destroy him. Daniel wasn’t guilty of breaking any of the laws of the kingdom,
so they had to create a new law of their own and trump up charges against him
in order to get him. In the course of their plotting, consequently, their
hatred for their own king became apparent as well, for their little trap
involved catching up their king in a catch 22 that he could not get out of
himself.
The Persians and the Medes had a law
stating that an ordinance of the king could not be revoked, thus they devised a
trap for both Daniel and their king that would demand Daniel’s life. Without
mentioning Daniel, whom the king respected and valued, the satraps convinced
the king to sign an ordinance prohibiting any petition to god or man other than
to the king within the next thirty days. Of course, they knew that Daniel
faithfully prayed to God three times a day, corresponding to the hours of prayer
at the temple in Jerusalem. Thus, after the ordinance was signed, they knew
where and when to catch Daniel in the act, now breaking the king’s ordinance
and law. They got him, and they ratted him out to the king. Then they reminded
the king of the binding nature of his ordinance according to the law of the
Persians and the Medes, and they got the king too. Ironically, your LORD God
loves it when you “get Him,” when you hold Him to His Word, Promises, and Law.
But, the satraps were not those kind of men.
Thus, it was off to the lion’s den for
poor Daniel at the command of the king, who was himself thrown into the lion’s
den of bad conscience and remorse. His parting words to Daniel as he sealed the
den were, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” Was this a
prayer? Was there a hint of hope in his words? Did he even really and truly
believe that Daniel’s God would deliver him? There is good reason to believe
so. For, the king fasted and suffered a fitful, sleepless night. And, arising
early in the morning he went in haste to the lion’s den and cried out, “O
Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually,
been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel answered, “O king, live
forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not
harmed me, because I was found blameless before Him; and also before you, O
king, I have done no harm.” Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded
that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den,
and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in His God.”
We remember what Joseph confessed before
his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for
good.” Well, the same can be said concerning Daniel. And, the same can be said
concerning Jesus. Likewise, the same can be said concerning you. Because you
belong to the LORD, you can expect the scorn and persecution of the world, of
demons, and of evil men. However, you can also expect that there will be some,
even unbelievers, who know you are Christ’s disciples because of your love for
your brothers and sisters and neighbors, and who respect you and honor you for
it. For, your Lord Jesus has repeatedly taught you that to be His disciple you
must bear your own God-appointed cross, that the world will hate you and
persecute you, and that, nevertheless, you will be light and leaven and salt,
transforming the world in mostly unseen ways. More than that, your Lord Jesus
gave you this promise: I will be with you always, and nothing can separate you
from my love.
And so, we see in the story of Daniel in
the Lion’s Den how the faithful are persecuted by the world and evil men
because of their confession of faith. However, we also see how God’s
faithfulness and providence provides for His people and sees them through
suffering and persecution, and even death, all the while shining through them
as a bright light of hope and forgiveness to others. And so, even when we
suffer, our suffering is sanctified in Jesus’ suffering, so that is not in vain
and we are provided strength to bear, to persevere, and to endure. Sometimes
Christians seem to simply get caught up in the world’s furor against the object
of our faith, Jesus. Like Simon of Cyrene, we are just going about our lives,
minding our own business, and suddenly we are torn from the crowd and Jesus’
cross is placed upon us. We don’t get to choose our own crosses to bear, but
the Holy Spirit knows what we need to strengthen our faith and trust in the LORD
and in His Word that we might be a witness to others of the hope that is in us.
St. Paul wrote in his Epistle to the
Romans, “For [Jesus’] sake we are being killed all the day long; we are
regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” In all of the great figures that we have
considered this Lenten season – Abel, Joseph, Isaac, Jeremiah, and Daniel – we
have seen, if from an Old Testament perspective, how the faithful must suffer
at the hands of the world and evil men. And yet, we have also seen how the Son
of Man, Jesus Christ, suffered for all of them, and for us too, thereby
sanctifying our suffering and vindicating our blood, making us to be martyrs,
that is witnesses, to the faithfulness of the LORD in His Word. Thus, St. Paul
continued saying, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him
who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers,
nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In Holy Baptism, the image of Jesus has
been imprinted upon us. We have died with Christ and we have been raised with
Him. Therefore, the life we live, we live to the Lord. In all we say and do, in
all we witness to others in our lives, words, and deeds, in our humility,
suffering, persecution, and even in our death, “Let the clear inscription be:
Jesus, crucified for me, is my life, my hope’s foundation, and my glory and
salvation!”
In
the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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