Jesus’
parable of the weeds in the field is not a parable of the end of history and a
final reckoning of humanity in that distant future, but, rather, a parable concerning
the times in which he and his listeners lived. It is a parable that sees, on
its near horizon, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, after which some of the
Jews will find themselves excluded from the kingdom of heaven [1] resulting in
their weeping and gnashing of teeth; while some of the Jews will find
themselves shining like the sun in the kingdom of their Father [1]. It is a
parable that points to the vindication of the suffering church. It is a parable,
as the theologian Andrew Perriman has put it, that is concerned with a ‘crisis
of Jewish religion and identity under threat from a blasphemous and brutal
paganism’.
And
in this regard, it is a parable that parallels our first reading, Daniel 3. (and, note, both include a
fiery furnace). Whereas the Gospels are set under Roman occupation, Daniel is set in the earlier Babylonian
exile. Taken away from Jerusalem, from the land and the temple, the Jewish
exiles faced a crisis of religion and identity. To find ways of remaining
faithful to God where everything has changed beyond recognition. The
representative figures Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah [2] have been given new
names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their Hebrew names declare the praises
of God [3]; their new names, imposed upon them, attribute those praises to
Babylonian gods [4]. They have been moved from the civil service of Judah to
the civil service of the Babylonian empire. Some of their contemporaries likely
entirely assimilated themselves to the new world order. Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah do the hard work of keeping faith not only with God’s revealed past but
also with God’s preferred future. They are able to bless their neighbours—even
a deranged king—to the glory of God.
And
what of us? We live in times of crisis: of identity-crisis in what it (has
been,) is now, and will be to be England; and in what it (has been,) is now,
and will be to be the Church of England. We live in times where we need to
discern what is God’s preferred future for our city, our nation, our world; and
to live faithfully to that, in the hope that we are vindicated—and even if, as
the three young men understood, we are not vindicated in our lifetime.
[1]
That is, God’s reign, as it is experienced on earth.
[2]
Hananiah, Mishael, and Abednego may be fictional or at least fictionalised
persons; but even if we take them to be historical, they do not stand for
themselves alone, but represent those Jews who remained faithful in exile.
[3]
Hananiah = Yahweh is gracious. Mishael
= Who is like God? Azariah = Yawheh has been my helper.
[4]
Shadrach = (possibly) Command of Aku
(the moon god). Meshach = Who is as Aku
is? Abednego = Slave of the god
Nebo/Nabu (or, perhaps, the god Nergal).
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