This blog is a reflection on the Catholic bible readings for today

Reading 1, Daniel 6:12-28

12 These men came along in a body and found Daniel praying and pleading with God. 13 They then went to the king and reminded him of the royal edict, ‘Have you not signed an edict forbidding anyone for the next thirty days to pray to anyone, divine or human, other than to yourself, Your Majesty, on pain of being thrown into the lions’ den?’ ‘The decision stands’ the king replied, ‘ as befits the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.’ 14 They then said to the king, ‘Your Majesty, this man Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, disregards both you and the edict which you have signed: he is at his prayers three times each day.’ 15 When the king heard these words he was deeply distressed and determined to save Daniel; he racked his brains until sunset to find some way to save him.

16 But the men kept pressing the king, ‘Your Majesty, remember that in conformity with the law of the Medes and the Persians, no edict or decree can be altered when once issued by the king.’ 17 The king then ordered Daniel to be brought and thrown into the lion pit. The king said to Daniel, ‘Your God, whom you have served so faithfully, will have to save you.’ 18 A stone was then brought and laid over the mouth of the pit; and the king sealed it with his own signet and with that of his noblemen, so that there could be no going back on the original decision about Daniel.

19 The king returned to his palace, spent the night in fasting and refused to receive any of his concubines. Sleep eluded him, 20 and at the first sign of dawn he got up and hurried to the lion pit. 21 As he approached the pit he called in anguished tones to Daniel, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God! Has your God, whom you serve so faithfully, been able to save you from the lions?’ 22 Daniel answered the king, ‘May Your Majesty live for ever! 23 My God sent his angel who sealed the lions’ jaws; they did me no harm, since in his sight I am blameless; neither have I ever done you any wrong, Your Majesty.’ 24 The king was overjoyed and ordered Daniel to be released from the pit. Daniel was released from the pit and found to be quite unhurt, because he had trusted in his God.

The Lion's den

25 The king then sent for the men who had accused Daniel and had them thrown into the lion pit, and their wives and children too; and before they reached the floor of the pit the lions had seized them and crushed their bones to pieces.

26 King Darius then wrote to all nations, peoples and languages dwelling throughout the world: ‘May you prosper more and more! 27 This is my decree: Throughout every dominion of my realm, let all tremble with fear before the God of Daniel: He is the living God, he endures for ever, his kingdom will never be destroyed and his empire never come to an end. 28 He saves, sets free, and works signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth; he has saved Daniel from the power of the lions.’

 Gospel, Lk 21:20-28

20 ‘When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you must realise that it will soon be laid desolate. 21 Then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country districts must not take refuge in it. 22 For this is the time of retribution when all that scripture says must be fulfilled.

23 Alas for those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come! 24 ‘For great misery will descend on the land and retribution on this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every gentile country; and Jerusalem will be trampled down by the gentiles until their time is complete.

25 ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the turmoil of the ocean and its waves; 26 men fainting away with terror and fear at what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

28 When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.’

There are difficulties in the way these texts depict justice. 

While not forgetting that the Daniel narrative proceeds from an experience of invasion, conquest and cultural imposition by a great power, we can still regret the casual, or is it gleeful, detail of the evildoers being thrown to the lions, with their wives and children. We may be equally uncomfortable with the hero cosying up to the real culprit, the King, whose arrogance and stupidity bring about the problem in the first place. There is something creepy about wanting to be the class rebel and the teacher’s pet at the same time.

 The book of Daniel is the source of the Gospel writers’, and possibly Jesus’, use of the term “Son of Man”. Daniel sees a vision of successive kingdoms, symbolised by fierce animals, followed by one whose symbol is “a son of man.” Another vision shows “The Son of Man”, decoded as the “the saints of the Most High”, coming on the clouds of heaven, that is, in the glory of God’s presence. Jesus would have read the prophecy and may have used this sort of language. Christian Jews interpreted the sack of Jerusalem as retribution on the jihadists who led the Jewish rebellion against Rome, and Luke gives this interpretation to Jesus.  Biblical concepts of revenge and retribution have been used by persons and nations to justify aggression. Wherever they occurr in Scripture it is necessary to mark them as sub-Christian, however familiar the text may be. The letter from Jim Wallis to President Obama (see ekklesia.com), is a good example of Christian thinking which sidelines sub-Christian notions of justice, by proposing a humantitarian “surge” in Afghanistan.

 Jesus promises, beyond disaster,  the coming of the “son of man” , the human/divine kingdom which restores creation.  The combined thrust of the readings for today is a recommendation of resolute patience in the face of persecution or disaster, a quality  easier to describe than to possess, as we hope for justice.