Daniel 9:13-19: Prayer in the Desert
Third Sunday of Easter, May 5, 2019
Just a few weeks ago we took a look at this chapter of Daniel but on that day we were reflecting on God’s messenger Gabriel and thinking about the times that God has sent us messages in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. The message that we ponder today is Daniel’s famous penitential prayer on behalf of the community. In this Eastertide we have been examining the state of exile and captivity, and we have given thanks for God’s abiding presence despite our despair and loss. We have reflected on how to suffer well . . . and how to trust God when there is nothing and no one else to trust. Through our Lenten journey we pondered how to best search our souls and how to best ask forgiveness. Today we might come together as an ethernet community to pray these words together. They are words that we see again in Ezra (9:6-15) and Nehemiah (1:5-11 and 9:6-37) when the priest and the administrator rebuild the Jerusalem temple after Cyrus allows the Jewish people to return from exile. This chapter tells us of the sad day when the Jewish people are told that their exile will last much longer than they had anticipated . . . not 70 weeks or 70 years, as they had thought and as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. No, they receive word that their captivity will really end in 70 x 70 years, 490 years . . . which is precisely the amount of time until the arrival of Jesus . . . the Liberator and the Redeemer of all . . . for all . . . for all time.
The HARPER COLLINS COMMENTARY tells us that this prayer is not seen so much as a petition from the people who obey God; but rather, it is seen as an appropriate act of piety from a people who have erred, from a people who have disobeyed. And so we might pray it together today . . . in an admission of our own willful act of waywardness and disobedience, and in gratitude for blessings and graces received. (Mays)
We recognize that we spend much of our lives in the desert; we acknowledge that we are often held captive; and we also acknowledge that during these dry and lonely times we are not actually alone . . . we are accompanied by God. And just as the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel to bring him the news that God abides, so too, does he comes to us to remind us that God is with us, that God is good, and that we are loved by this eternal God.
Today we read Daniel’s prayer and we pray as the Jewish community prayed with Ezra and Nehemiah when they returned to their ruined city. We pray as we ponder the ruined places in our lives . . . and we give thanks.
God of Heaven, God of Earth, Spirit Dwelling Among Us,
Guide us . . . and grant us the faith to follow,
Be glad in us . . . and grant us the hope to rejoice in you,
Love us . . . and grant us the grace to grow in you.
We wish to turn . . . we wish to return to you.
For you are the beginning, the end, the all.
We are your servants.
May we serve you well.
Amen.
A re-post from April 20, 2012.
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. Print.
For more reflections and a wonderful poem about footprints in the sand, click on the image above or go to: http://celesteanima.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/poem-footprints-in-the-sand/
For more on Gabriel’s visit with Daniel, go to the Gabriel Comes to David post on this blog at: https://thenoontimes.com/2012/02/07/gabriel-comes-to-david/
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