Taking Orders From Higher Authority

Last week I listened intently to much of the homegoing services for Rev. Jesse Jackson who died on February 17. While the services featured many dignitaries and celebrities, what stood out for me were the thousands of ordinary people who attended to pay their respects. These were folks who had been moved by Jackson’s life, witness, moral courage and vision. Throughout his life, Jackson had been “tested under fire” and remained true to his principles and commitments to building a better world for all. He remembered who he was through it all and remained faithful to that call.

In our first reading from Daniel 3, Azariah is literally being tested in the fire. Some of us may know Azariah as Abednego. Azariah was his Hebrew name, but the Babylonian king renamed him as an attempt to get him to assimilate. The same was true for Hananiah (who was renamed Shadrach) and Mishael (who was renamed Meshach).

Perhaps we can just pause there for a moment.

There are so many groups in our world who know this reality all too well – of a dominant group trying to change identity (and culture) and renaming people in order to assimilate them. This is a process of domination.

For many of us, our capitalistic culture has worked hard to give us a new name and identity – as a “consumer.” They want us to assimilate to what is required of us in this economy. Other forces want to assimilate us into war or greed or a whole host of identities that serve the purposes of the ruling class.

But like Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, we, too, can resist. Yet resistance has its costs.

We meet Azariah today in the furnace. He and his other companions were thrown in there to burn alive because they would not bow down to the Babylonian king and go against their principles. That’s the extent of the sacrifice that they were willing to make.

While in the furnace, Azariah says words that resonated powerfully for me in this present moment. He says, “For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation, brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins. We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, to find favor with you. But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received…”

I thought of our country these days whose status has lowered considerably in the eyes of the world – “brought low everywhere in the world this day because of our sins.” I thought about how we have “no prince, prophet or leader” who would seemingly  “find favor” with the God of Jesus’ understanding (a God Jesse Jackson would resonate with). And we seem hell-bent on becoming more like the Babylonians with every passing day (an empire that fell due to internal dysfunction, incompetent leadership and discontent among factions of people living there).

Jesse Jackson, like Azariah before him, was someone who offered us a different way. He was one who showed us persistence and not becoming beholden to worldly powers. He took his orders from a higher authority!

In one of his most famous speeches, his Keep Hope Alive speech in 1988, he said, “As Jesus said, “Not my will, but thine be done.” It was his way of saying there’s a higher good beyond personal comfort or position. The good of our nation is at stake. Its commitment to working men and women, to the poor and the vulnerable, to the many in the world. With so many guided missiles, and so much misguided leadership, the stakes are exceedingly high…”

But he encouraged us, even in the midst of struggle and hardship for our principles to, “never stop dreaming. Face reality, yes, but don’t stop with the way things are. Dream of things as they ought to be. Dream. Face pain, but love, hope, faith and dreams will help you rise above the pain. Use hope and imagination as weapons of survival and progress, but you keep on dreaming…Dream of peace. Peace is rational and reasonable. War is irrational in this age and unwinnable. Dream of teachers who teach for life and not for a living. Dream of doctors who are concerned more about public health than private wealth. Dream of lawyers more concerned about justice than a judgeship. Dream of preachers who are concerned more about prophecy than profiteering. Dream on the high road with sound values.”

He finished his speech saying, “It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don’t you surrender! Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith. In the end faith will not disappoint. You must not surrender! You may or may not get there but just know that you’re qualified! And you hold on and hold out! We must never surrender!! America will get better and better. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! On tomorrow night and beyond, keep hope alive! I love you very much. I love you very much.”

[Note: I would encourage you to go back and listen to his speech, in part, because a whole segment of it is about names, identity and not accepting the names the oppressor has given you.]

These are times when our voices need to be heard. These are times when our bodies must be visible in the world. These are times when we must care for and protect our neighbors – even at personal cost. These are times when we must hold fast to our principles and not accept assimilation or identity theft.

There will be costs. Just ask Jesse and Azariah. But there are costs for assimilating and capitulating as well, and these might have a soul-cost which is higher than we imagine.

As we move through this week, maybe we can find some comfort in the witness of the many who have gone before us in whatever costs we suffer trying to stay true to what we know and believe.

[Note: I could have written a whole other reflection on Matthew 18: 21-25 related to forgiveness and mercy – a passage where we are encouraged to forgive people “seventy-seven times.” Of course it relates to this reflection in that we have to do the inner work of loving and forgiving that enables someone like Jesse Jackson to keep engaging the people he disagreed with and even the people who tried to harm him. This is no small endeavor.]