Finding Unexpected Friends in the Fight
This past Sunday we allowed the Old or Hebrew Testament story of Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were forced into the service of a Babylonian king, to draw us into some holy imagination. We asked how like-hearted friends can encourage us to live in congruence with our deepest values - to live in Christ centered ways - even when so much around us suggests we lean into powering up and over, into selfishness, fear, and hate.
Let’s read from this passage in Daniel 1:
5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table….
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
Our friends Alvin and Estefania shared thoughtfully on how this moment in the story connected with their own experiences with majority culture and pressures to assimilate, to give up key aspects of identity (in this story, religious food practices) in order to receive some reward of approval, power or influence. Perhaps you connect in some ways with those pressures as well.
One insight Alvin offered is that while Daniel and his friends pushed back around some of the king’s expectations, they still found ways to use their position of relative privilege and work within the system, presumably not only for their own benefit, but for their whole community. They didn’t go on a hunger strike, though we can imagine how that could also have been an ethical option. Instead, they chose to get a little messy and take a risk, to look for partnership, perhaps even friendship, with the guard “appointed over them” - with one of their oppressors, who himself lived in fear of the king. And God honors how they get creative and reach out.
In your life, are there people you’ve been surprised to find allyship with? Or have you ever been the unexpected ally in someone else’s story? What did you notice or learn from those experiences? Would you be willing to be surprised again? Perhaps staying open to unexpected allies is one way we can push back against the fear and hatred all around us.
When you’ve finished mulling over these things, why don’t you invite Jesus to continue with you throughout your day? AMEN.