Sermon Transcript: August 25, 2024
It’s about to get really strange. We are continuing in the book of Daniel, in our Holy Imagination series. Daniel is a book that is filled with many wonderful tales. We had Daniel in the lion’s den and the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. So we’re already, it’s already been strange. It’s about to get stranger. This chapter, chapter seven, which we are about to look at, marks a turn from these stories that Daniel has been telling, these tales, to Daniel’s visions.
And while there is a change, Daniel’s affinity for animals and beasts remains.
Daniel Chapter 7:
In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream. I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle’s wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet, like a human being. And a human mind was given to it. Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks in its mouth among its teeth and was told, arise, devour many bodies. After this, as I watched, another appeared like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them to make room for it. Three of the earlier horns were plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn and a mouth speaking arrogantly.
As I watched, thrones were set in place, and an Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was white as snow, the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and flowed out from his presence. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him. The court sat in judgment and the books were opened. I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking, and as I watched, the beast was put to death and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.
As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of this matter: “As for these four great beasts, four kings shall rise out of the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever — forever and ever.
For the Word of God in Scripture, for the Word of God among us, for the Word of God within us. Thanks be to God.
I told you. Strange. Some of you are probably getting tired of me saying this. But it’s worth repeating. And it’s worth remembering. This book of Daniel is a part of biblical literature called Apocalypse. Now when we hear that word, images are immediately conjured in our minds of fire and judgment and the end.
These images largely come to us from Hollywood and TV.
But you can see where they get it.
But actually, in ancient times, apocalyptic literature served a very real and practical purpose. And we get a hint of that here too. These outlandish, strange visions are really coded language for what is happening in the world around them. It gives people a way to talk about those who oversee them, who are in charge, who are in power, without getting into trouble.
And toward the end of our passage, it is even made clear these four beasts represent four kings. It’s right there. This coded language. But even more so, what apocalypse does for us is it gives us this glimpse.
The word apocalypse itself has an image with it. It’s this idea of pulling back of the curtain to see something that’s there but hidden. And theologically speaking, this is God’s reality, God’s dream, God’s truth, that is hidden behind the curtain of our reality, what we see day in and day out.
So Daniel tells this strange dream. (Don’t you want to know what he had before he went to bed that night? Like pickles and ice cream? Don’t eat that, Daniel. It gives you bad dreams, right?) Anyway, we have these four beasts. And they’re given these various hybrid images. And the fourth one isn’t even described. It’s just described by virtue of what it does. It destroys and tears with its talons and its teeth of iron. The four beasts represent four kings.
But Michael Chan says, “they eventually give way, not to another king, but to the holy people of the Most High. Who will in turn receive the kingdom and will possess it forever. Yes, forever and ever.” And there we get that hint, that glimpse of this new way where the people themselves are empowered. And these four beasts are stripped of their dominion.
Daniel is presenting us with a new vision of kingdom and power and rule. Walter Brueggemann in his book, Truth Speaking to Power, says, “the outcome is to delegitimize and deconstruct the kings in effective ways in order to show that while they occupy the forms of power, they lack the substance of power.”
To paraphrase our bulletin cover quote, a new world is not only possible, she is on the way. And on a quiet day, we can hear her.
Daniel is saying there is a new way, a new world that is on its way, that does not bask in power over others in violence and domination, because these lack the substance of power, but shows us what true power is about.
Daniel gives us a vision, an idea, a hope of what lies ahead.
And you may have heard this phrase that was in there of one coming on a cloud. The New Testament writers echo this language for Jesus. They pick up on this vision, this imagery for Jesus. It’s not that Daniel is talking about Jesus. It’s that when folks in Jesus’ time read Daniel’s vision, it makes them think of Jesus. Because he exercises power differently than other kings or rulers.
Again, Brueggemann says, “in both his teaching and his very presence, Jesus of Nazareth presented the ultimate criticism of the royal consciousness. He has, in fact, dismantled the dominant culture and nullified its claims. The way of his ultimate criticism is his decisive solidarity with marginal people and the accompanying vulnerability required by that solidarity.”
We hear this repeated time and time again in the Gospels, right? What is the criticism of Jesus? He eats with tax collectors and sinners. He associates with marginalized people. He lives in solidarity with them. The kings who exercise power and dominion but lack the substance of power, Jesus shows what that substance of power is.
And so strange as it may seem, my question for us is, what is our vision as a church and how does it pull us forward?
Yes, we have a capital project to renovate parts of our building in crucial ways that will make it more accessible and hospitable, more in line with our mission and purpose as a church. These are good and wonderful things, but they’re hardly strange. What is our vision beyond it? What is it that compels us to do those things? What is it that we hear on a quiet day? Who is God calling us to be? And how is God calling us to prepare ourselves for what is to come?
One final quote from Brueggemann, “Quite clearly, the one thing the dominant culture cannot tolerate or co-opt is compassion. The ability to stand in solidarity with the victims of this present order. It can manage charity and good intentions, but it has no way to resist solidarity with pain or grief.”
Father Greg Boyle points out that “the strategy of Jesus is not centered in taking the right stand on issues, but rather in standing in the right place with the outcast and with those on the margins.”
God’s new world is not only possible, it’s on the way. That’s not the question. The question is, where will we be standing when it arrives? May we stand with compassion, even when mercy seems strained. May we stand with kindness, even when kindness seems weak and naive. May we stand with those who the powerful mock, the victims of this present order. May we stand in solidarity with those who grieve and those who are oppressed. And as we do, may our holy vision give us a glimpse of the new world on its way. And may our eyes see the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Amen.
