Defying The Orders Of Empire

What sacrifices are you willing to make for your faith or for what you know is right?

In the first reading today, Azariah (now known as Abednego) is cast into the furnace with his two friends, Shadrach and Meshach. They defied the king’s orders to bow down before the golden idol and now find themselves risking death because they refuse to comply with something that they do not believe in.

If we think about the United States empire as the king we live under, what orders do we resist? Which ones do we comply with? How does how we live offer an alternative to what the dominant status quo requires from us? And what happens to those who speak up or resist?

On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (which I would really encourage everyone to read or read again). In it he cites Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as ancestors of the struggle for civil rights and models for nonviolent action against unjust laws. King was incredibly disappointed by the nonresponse of white people with respect to racism, let alone defending of the status quo of segregation, and said that he had “watched white church [members] stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities.”  He goes on to say that in days past, the church was much more aligned with the likes of Abednego. “Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.”‘ But the Christians pressed on…called to obey God rather than [human law]. Small in number, they were big in commitment….So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church’s silent–and often even vocal–sanction of things as they are.”

He said that back in 1963.

Just sit with his words for a moment. What does it get you thinking of in your own life? Are there actions that you have wanted to take personally that you have held back on? What has held you back?

What does it get you thinking about in the wider society? Are there situations where you would like to hear “the church” speaking louder or showing up?

What is important to distinguish is that what is moral (just) and what is legal are two very separate things. American economist and commentator, Walter Williams, said, “Legality alone is no guide for a moral people. There are many things in this world that have been, or are, legal but clearly immoral. Slavery was legal. Did that make it moral? South Africa’s apartheid, Nazi persecution of Jews, and Stalinist and Maoist purges were all legal, but did that make them moral?”

Every day we might be asked to go along with things that, upon deeper reflection, we do not agree with, condone or wish to support. And yet we go along (knowingly or unknowingly) or remain silent/inactive. We may be afraid of the consequences. Resistance might be inconvenient. We might feel a pressure to conform. Maybe we’re not aware of an alternative. Perhaps people will no longer associate with us or will treat us differently. The list is, actually, quite long.

At a personal level, we might also decide not to take an action (that is more consistent with what we know to be right). I was talking with someone recently who is remaining in a relationship even though others are saying, “You should leave that situation.” Sometimes our resistance is remaining where we are because we know it’s the right thing to do – even if it is hard or unpopular. Or maybe we have extended grace to someone when others say, “They don’t deserve it.”

Resistance to ‘orders’ or going along with the crowd can be a difficult choice. And there are consequences either way. What we don’t often speak of, however, are the costs of compliance. What does it do to us to go along with an order or situation that we disagree with deep down?

You may find yourself trying to navigate some difficult situations these days. I know that I am.

King closes his Letter by naming that if he is exhibiting a “patience that allows me to settle for anything less than [what he knows to be right], I beg God to forgive me.” King did the hard work of discerning his own moral compass and action in spite of many critics, including some in his close circle. That being said, he surrounded himself with people he could speak with openly to do some of the difficult discernment that can help lead us to clarity.

Abednego stands as a great example for us today to take seriously the demands of our faith – personally and collectively. And Jesus said it quite succinctly in his own life when he said, “What does it profit someone to gain the whole world and lose their soul in the process (Mark 8)?”