Wednesday, 4/5/17 — How Can We Keep From Singing?

For me, one of the most blissful situations in the world are those where – no matter what happens – I’m pretty much guaranteed to be happy with the outcome. For example, when my wife and I were expecting our child, I knew I would be happy regardless of if we had a boy or a girl (albeit, I realized, for different reasons). Similarly, when we had considered expanding our family, I did so knowing in my heart that I would ultimately be fine with our family the size it was or if we were blessed with a new addition to the household. As a slightly more involved example, when my wife and I lived outside Philadelphia the first year of our marriage, our options were either 1) find jobs that would enable us to live in the area we were at, or 2) move to Indianapolis, where – even if we were still out of work – we’d at least be six hours closer to my wife’s family. We ended up moving, and we’ve been thrilled ever since (especially once we both found jobs!).

One of those examples of being content no matter what appears in today’s readings. In today’s first reading, from Daniel, we hear the bulk of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were threatened with being tossed into a white-hot furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for not renouncing their beliefs in the Lord and worshipping Nebuchadnezzar’s deity. The three men justify their refusal by saying, “If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us! But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up.”

Sure, the three men had a preference . . . but they were also perfectly understanding that – if God didn’t answer their prayers in the way they would like – they were still going to be true to themselves and to their Lord, which was preferable to denying their beliefs in pursuit of Earthly relief.

This is often one of the central comforts that those of faith often find themselves when praying for someone who is sick or suffering (or when sick or suffering themselves): If the person recovers, then fantastic! Thanks be to God. But if the Lord determines that isn’t to be, we firmly believe that we’ll spend the afterlife in Heaven with Him. Whenever the “Plan B” of a situation is “Heaven with the infinitely loving Father,” that’s a pretty solid win-win proposition! (Of course, that gives us a strong incentive to do what we can to ensure our readiness for Heaven, thanks to the Sacraments, our prayer lives, and acts of mercy and charity.)

Really, the notion that we can’t lose if we’re with the Lord should permeate every aspect of our faith. Regardless of what hardships befall us in this life, Christ has promised us eternal life . . . how cool is that?! What shall we then say to these things? As Paul’s Letter to the Romans says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

In contrast, today’s Gospel selection from John shows what happens from the opposite side of view, where those who refuse to listen to God, stubbornly believing in their own incorrect rightness in the literal face of God. And Jesus tries mightily to persuade them: “[Y]ou are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.”

And despite their protestation that they do follow God, Jesus knows the truth of their hearts: “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

By refusing to believe, they have placed themselves in a can’t-win situation; how can you wait for the truth when you refuse to accept the truth? How can you claim to serve God if you won’t listen to His only begotten Son when he’s right there in front of you?

Ideally, an adherence to our faith should give us the calm and certainty of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; we know that God is with us, so what do we have to fear? With God in our hearts and lives, how can we not be happy? Or, as the popular hymn succinctly puts it, “How Can I Keep from Singing?”

Today’s readings: Dn 3:14-20,91-92,95; Dn 3:52,53,54,55,56; Jn 8:31-42

About the Author

Despite being a professional writer and editor for over 15 years, Steven Marsh is more-or-less winging it when it comes to writing about matters of faith. Steven entered the church in 2005, and since then he's been involved with various ministries, including Pre-Cana marriage prep for engaged couples, religious education for kindergarteners, and Stephen Ministry's one-on-one caregiving. Steven lives in Indiana with his wife and son. Despite having read the entirety of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he's still surprised at elements he rediscovers or reflects upon in new ways. The more Steven learns about the faith, the less he feels he knows; he's keen to emphasize that any mistakes are his own.

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14 Comments

  1. Thanks for your reflection Steve
    May the Lord God Almighty give us the belief like that one of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when we are challenged by the many worldly situations

  2. Thanx a lot for the insightful commentary. It really gets to the heart of some of my worries!
    May God continue to guide your thoughts!

  3. Thank you Steve. It is wonderful to have such a loving God. I think of how much He loves us that He sent His only Son into the world for us, when I read today’s Gospel. If only we have the courage not to deny Him in this life like the reading from the Old Testament. I pray for that kind of love for God.

  4. Win – win … what a great thing to remember! Thank you for the reflection that is so easy to hold on to because of how you help us to apply it to situations in our daily lives. Yes, the love and promise of God make everything OK.

  5. Hey Steven,

    As always, I enjoy your reflection. And from what I’ve gleaned over the years of reading your thoughts on scripture is that you are a “glass is half full” type of person, which is good.

    That being said, I may be going out on a limb here, but I would bet you didn’t see the movie “Silence” that was released a couple of months ago or read the book by Shusaku Endo. I will not go into the details of the movie/book, but your view of believing in God leads us to a win-win no matter what hardship befalls in life might change. Evil is smarter than you think.

    As for the Pharisees (and the Jews of today) on why they refuse to believe in Jesus is all you have to do is read Deuteronomy 6:4-6. There are many examples in the OT that show what happened to the Jews when the started to believe in false gods and it never ended good. If you look up the word “Pharisee” and understand what their purpose was you may get a feel for why they were behaving the way they did. Yes, in my opinion, they took their power used it unwisely. Jesus points this out many times. So I do understand your view on “truth”. But your question on how couldn’t they listen to God’s only begotten Son when He was standing right in front of them can be answered by reading Matthew 25. And after reading Matthew, I think we all can agree that we’ve been deaf from time to time too, because He’s also been standing in front of us, believe it or not.

    Mark

  6. Dear Steve, thank you for the phrase with God it’s a win-win situation. As I read Daniel about the 3 men, I thought about the 10 commandments, Jesus Christ summerized in two: “Love God,..”. These God fearing men, showed how well they understood and kept the 1st commandment, ” You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve.” (Deut. 6:4., then when Jesus answered the Pharisees,Matt 22:37-38; Lk 10:27), and would rather die than to break the commandment. And their conviction that, if they do not break the commandment, even if they die they’ll still be with the God they love, serve and obey. What a great example they are to us. Also by their not breaking the commandment,notice how Nabuchadnezar’s mind changed and he believed that indeed their God is the one to believe and right one to follow. What a contrast, in John 8: 31-42, the ones who claim to know so much cannot even pay attention to what Jesus, the visible God the Son, is telling them. Because of their PRIDE which I can say is our original, are going to kill Jesus (break the 5th commandment). When I read the verbal exchange between Jesus and the Jews, I’m flabbergasted to see how when in blindness, stupid pride, can block out any sensible voice. It seems like in His love, mercy, willingness, Jesus is trying His best to make them see, but cannot see. O our loving Jesus, please save us from our sins in which we’re adamantly stuck! In these days of Lent left help us to realize who You are, why You came, and that You alone can lead us to your Father. You are the Way, the Truth, the Light to lead us to eternal rest.

  7. As you often do…..put a positive spin on all of our blessed lives. My thankfulness deepens as I reflect on the readings. Cheers Steve

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