The First Sunday in Advent, November 30, 2025
The First Sunday in Advent, November 30, 2025
Daniel 3:1 (2-7) 8-30 (John 18:36-37)
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—God present in the fiery furnace
Greetings!
Welcome to Table Talk featuring the Narrative Lectionary. For the past two liturgical years, Table Talk has featured the One-Year Lectionary that was in use when Martin Luther was preaching. Before that, Table Talk used a form of the Three-Year Lectionary. The Narrative Lectionary is a bit different. Rather than having its origin in a church body or being of ancient times, this Narrative Lectionary is primarily the work of two professors at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Drs. Craig Koester and Rolf Jacobson develop and implement the lectionary through the website www.WorkingPreacher.org. The Narrated Lectionary features a single extended scripture reading that, over the course of the four nine-month layouts, takes in the major stories depicting God’s history with his people. A short second reading is paired with the extended reading. This contrasts with previously used lectionaries that assign four readings per Sunday. Because the extended reading is so long, it will not be included in the Table Talk handout. Please use your Bible to read the text before reading the Table Talk comments. Since the scripture text is not included and there are many possible topics for comment, the Table Talk commentary will be longer than in the past.
“These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:12)
Wherever you have power, you will have sycophants to that power. Back in the days of my youth, we used to call them “tattletales.” These were the playmates who just had to run off to tell mommy or the teacher just who was breaking the rules. These tattletales considered themselves to be the eyes and the ears of the establishment. They curried favor with the established powers by ratting out their fellow playmates. From what I hear, today’s adults who act like those childhood tattletales are now called “Karens.”
I don’t suppose we can really blame them. It is a function of power to attract sycophants… to draw close those who would curry favor. That’s just the way power works. Even divine power has its sycophants, those who want to curry favor with their God and don’t mind a little extra effort, whether it’s carrying tales or performing pious practices. Those certain Chaldeans who came forward to tell the tale of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s refusal to bow down to the golden image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar already harbored malice toward those Jewish men before the king’s decree. The king’s decree made it easy for them to vent their spite on those Hebrew men. The king’s furious condemnation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to a fiery death in the blazing furnace satisfied the malice of those Chaldeans.
But neither royal fury nor Chaldean malice would be victorious over these three servants of the Most High God. Even though those sycophants had manipulated King Nebuchadnezzar’s fury into punishing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, both punishment and malice proved impotent. The Most High God joined his servants in the fiery furnace, sheltering them with his presence. Not even the hair on their heads was singed. King Nebuchadnezzar was brought to confession, “…there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way” (Dan. 3:29).
You, my brothers and sisters in Christ… you know this Most High God. He has come down to you… come down so deep into creation that (as Luther claims) his skin smokes. He has come down to you in Jesus Christ, his one and only Son. You know this Most High God as the Father of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Father in heaven announced to the Apostle Paul his solution for the problem of sycophants and tattletales, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). God uses grace, not power… a power perfected in weakness. Paul has heard his God’s announcement and is compelled to confess, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9). The power of Christ is the cross, where the glory of God was displayed before the world. The Incarnate Logos, the very agent of creation, the Word of God, was crucified at the hands of those whom he came to deliver from their sin.
In this perfect power of weakness, you have your salvation. The Father and the Son are not looking for tattletales, sycophants, or the perfectors of pious practices. They come looking for those who have faith in their hearts… faith created by the very Holy Spirit whom they have sent upon you through the hearing of the Word and the ministry of the Sacraments. They create the faith for which they search. Believe that the Most High God is in your midst! There is no other God who is able to rescue in this way!
Table Talk: Discuss weakness as a solution to the sycophant problem.
Pray: Father in heaven, grant the power of Christ to rest on me. Amen