A Kingdom to Stand Forever

November 24, 2009

Memorial of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and Fellow Martyrs

By Beth DeCristofaro

(Daniel said to the king…) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people; rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2:44)

Jesus said, “All that you see here–the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” (Luke 21:6)

Piety

I will bless you Lord, praise and exalt you above all forever. I give thanks that I, a work of your hand, might praise and exalt you each day of my life. Thanks be to you, Lord, for you are good to me. Thanks be to you, Lord, for your mercy endures forever. (from Daniel 3)

Study

It was Christmas time and I was about eight when it really hit me how impermanent life is. President Kennedy had been assassinated and I remember our teachers crying as they sent us home early from school. Everyone seemed sad and outraged. But even more shocking to me was coming home from Christmas shopping with my dad (an always zany and fun adventure) to find my mother in tears. Her brother-in-law, my young uncle, had died leaving my Aunt to raise five young children alone.

Everything shifted in my world – my strong and capable mother was reduced to tears and immobility. A funeral at Arlington National Cemetery and family staying with us from out of town overshadowed the usual Christmas routine and gaiety. I remember receiving only one, maybe two gifts that year although my mother tells me that Christmas day was really pretty much the same as always at our house. My memories are of the emotions, my fractured world view and the upheaval in our lives rather than the facts.

For the Jews to hear Jesus say that the temple would be destroyed was more than shocking, it was almost blasphemous. This is the seat of God which God, in fact, had allowed to be rebuilt after its destruction during invasion. And for the king to hear Daniel’s dream interpretation was probably outrageous. Kings thought they, too, were gods.

So what is the point? Why not just give up and live a life of me-centeredness? Or why not succumb to depression and addiction? What good reason not to grab all the power and amusement that we can in our lives? Why consider others rather than ourselves? Why not follow every rule to the tiniest fraction of its letter for whatever code we choose – before all else and in spite of other’s needs? It’s all temporary anyway.

Daniel’s dream interpretation prefigures the Jesus who later stood, while looking at the temple in Jerusalem, actually embodying the temple and the kingdom which will stand forever. That kingdom, being built even now on earth, calls for us to look beyond ourselves like the widow did with her two pence. It calls us to put God’s will first – as Eleazar did and the martyrs in Vietnam did. It calls for us to put Jesus in the place of any temple, code of conduct or rules as Jesus asked his disciples and the moneylenders to do. And to receive joy in return despite pain, poverty, antagonism, temptation, distraction, ego. The kingdom will stand forever and we are welcomed into it by the King himself.

Action

Centuries later we know the names of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar we know as a king who ruled a long time ago in a culture and kingdom long dead. Daniel we know as a person whose voice remains alive and relevant today because he accepted the kingship of God rather than a man. What will people know of God because of your voice? Your work? Your hands? Your prayers?