Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—a.k.a. Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (Dan. 1:6)—are put to the test in today’s First Reading. They are willing to die rather than betray the Lord through idolatry. So into the fiery furnace, they go. But not only does God preserve their lives, he also mercifully lets wicked King Nebuchadnezzar witness it, and the king has a remarkable conversion:
Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” “Assuredly, O king,” they answered. “But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed,
“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God” (Dan. 3:91–92, 95).
Conversion
The preservation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is certainly miraculous, but we also shouldn’t overlook the king’s conversion, which is a reminder to pray for our persecutors that they too may also be converted (Matt. 5:43–45). Such is only possible in the Lord (Matt. 5:48), which the Lord himself models for us in redeeming the world (Luke 23:34).
As we know, Jesus permits us to endure suffering instead of preempting it as he died for our friends in today’s reading. But Jesus will ultimately deliver us if we remain docile to him, as he did for St. Maximilian in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz and so many other saints. Indeed, God’s power will reach perfection in our weakness if we permit it (2 Cor. 12:8–10). Much easier proclaimed than lived, and yet Jesus reminds that “with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).
