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| (Briton Rivière - Daniel in the Lion's Den, 1872) |
Daniel 6:25-28 "Then King Darius wrote to all peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole world: ‘May you have abundant prosperity! I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: For He is the living God, enduring for ever. His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and His dominion has no end. He delivers and rescues, He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth; for He has saved Daniel from the power of the lions."
Yesterday I concluded with a bit of an unsettling reflection (it certainly unsettled me as I wrote it): As we reflect on our "Christmas Stress" surely it points to these facts: we are fixated on the material, the social, the financial and the physical; we neglect God. We live in turmoil and stress because we live distracted from Jesus.
I am often called naive because I believe (though I struggle to live this well) that if we are seriously Christ followers, we will take seriously all that Christ taught us. If we are Christ followers our choices will reflect Christ and we will live in the peace of Christ. If we are Christ followers we will risk material, social, financial and physical loss to live for God. So I suppose I embrace the label "naive" if living for God is naive. There is no middle ground and Jesus left us no wiggle room. Our yes must be our yes and our no our no. We will know no peace unless we know Jesus.
So to modern eyes what does a "naive" life look like? I think it looks like the naive Daniel and all his ridiculous choices.
Daniel lived 2200 years ago. The king (at that time a person who at a whim could order any execution) ordered that Daniel (and all Jews) would eat food from his table - Daniel replied no thanks, it would dishonour God, it would defile me as it's not kosher. Disobey the king? Not sensing a good career move here. Then this King had a dream. Also, being tired of all the nonsense he was hearing from his spiritual and political advisers he decided to test their inspiration. He demanded they interpret the dream without him telling them anything about the dream. An impossible task which none prudently accepted ... except that is, for Daniel who naively believed God would provide the interpretation. God did - Daniel told the King his dream and its meaning. So Daniel, against the rational odds, found himself promoted above the other mature experienced worldly advisers. Time went by and a new King ascended the throne. God sent a warning to the King which was amazingly and mysteriously written on a wall during a banquet. None could read it. Daniel again knowing God would help him naively stepped forward - God is faithful and Daniel easily read the writing on the wall. Jealous of Daniel's continuous advancement the other advisers laid a plot to bring Daniel down - they proposed that only the king (yet another new King named Darius) should be worshipped. Darius loved the idea. All offenders would be thrown to the lions. Again a horrid career choice: Daniel naively chose to pray only to God. "Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, ‘May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!’" There is no mention of struggle, debate, excuse or even sadness. Daniel was a sucker who fell naively into the trap. Naively dependent on God Daniel also walked right out of the trap; he survived the lions' den unharmed. Through Daniel's naive witness Darius came to know God (see the opening quote) and this "naivety" was made available to everyone in the kingdom.
Daniel continually prayed, worshipped and honoured God so he moved fearless where other people falter and fail. Daniel walked naively among the storms where wise men feared to go. Daniel naively lived for God and so lived in peace above the trial and turmoil in a very dangerous time and place. If this is naivety then live naively! Live in that peace filled naivety we seek in the nativity of the Christ of Christmas.
Matthew 18:2-4 "He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
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