Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

During the penitential season of Lent,
let us recognize the true face of Jesus Christ.

Scripture

“‘Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’”
Daniel 3:15

Reflection

The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is usually told with a sense of wonder that the three men faithful to God are thrown into a fiery furnace and through the intervention of God survive. It is a tale of hope told to a people who are in exile facing the realities of oppression in their daily lives.

But first it is a story of Nebuchadnezzar’s arrogance. The people of Babylon were not only to bow down to the emperor’s person, but also to his image. They were to process before his statue with full musical accompaniment and fall down and worship before his statue.

True to their Jewish faith, the three young men refused to bow down to the idols. Jesus also called his disciples to recognize him as the true Son of the Father: “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me” (John 8:42).

But an issue for Christians today is that all too often we have built arrogant, idolatrous images with the face of Jesus. Wars have too often been fought in the name of a “patriotic” or “muscular Christianity” which directly contradicts the teaching of Jesus. In this instance Christians are called to reflect on who they are offering worship to: the false idol of bombing our way to “peace,” or following Jesus’ call of entering into a true dialogue with those identified as “enemies” so that the dignity of each person is upheld.

Pope Francis

“It makes me think one thing: people, leaders, entrepreneurs who call themselves Christians, and manufacture arms! This gives rise to some mistrust: they call themselves Christians! ‘No, no, Father, I don’t manufacture them, no, no. . . . I only have my savings, my investments in arms factories.’ Ah! And why? ‘Because the interest is somewhat higher. . .’ And being two-faced is common currency today: saying something and doing another. Hypocrisy.”
Address to the Children and Young People of Turin, 21 June 2015