Readings: Daniel 2:31-45; Resp: Daniel 3; Luke 21:5-11.
Many of us have probably learnt that the biblical Daniel had the gift of interpretation of dreams. However, a closer study of today’s First Reading reveals that God gave him a gift that was more than just an interpretation of dreams. Daniel was able to narrate people’s dreams – something like a revelation.
Nebuchadnezzar had a mysterious dream, a coded revelation of the future. He was troubled and he narrated it to all his sages, enchanters and magicians. They in turn could not make sense of the dreams because their gods simply could not comprehend what the God of gods had revealed. Daniel was brought in. He didn’t ask to be told the dream; he narrated the dream and then gave a lucid interpretation with compelling precision.
There are two things I want us to ponder on today.
I. You are created to be a solution:
Reading this story, one cannot but marvel at the gift that God gave to Daniel. Moving beyond admiration to truth, every one of us has also received our own portion of God’s grace and gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11; Ephesians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10).
God has bestowed His gifts and graces upon us because He intends us to be a solution to a problem in someone’s life and to the world. We are created to be the ‘Amen’ to someone’s prayer. Daniel was meant to be a solution to problems in people’s lives. He received his gift because there was a need for it in someone’s life. Without “a Daniel”, Nebuchadnezzar would not have been able to solve this divine riddle and this would have left him distressed all his life.
Dear friends, let us keep in mind that we are not created to be a problem in the world but to be a solution to problems.
We have all received graces, gifts and power from God in order to help others. These gifts are not to be hoarded; they are not for boasting or self-gratification.
II. Nothing is stable in life:
From the interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, we learnt that kingdoms will rise, become powerful and fall and so the sequence will be recurrent until the throne of the Messiah is established and it will never pass away.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus told the people that the temple in Jerusalem which was the pride of the Jews and the glory of Jerusalem, would one day be destroyed. I can imagine how this news would have left the people.
These revelations of Jesus and that of Daniel should lead us to ponder on a fundamental truth of human life – nothing is permanent in life. Situation or condition of existence, identity, mood, the character of people, status, age, health, position, time, civilisation, fashion, taste and ultimately life itself changes.
This means that we cannot be too comfortable in any position. We cannot rely too much on anything or anyone in this world. We should not rejoice too much in any state or be too sad in any phase of life.
Only God is unchanging and so only He is absolutely dependable. His truth is immutable and only in His kingdom shall we experience stability.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on November 23, 2021.