Uncompromising... Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the face of a fiery furnace, Eleazar staring at some pork ... each one says, "NO. I will NOT." A powerful statement. "Be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods..." (Daniel 3:18, emphasis mine). You can torture us. You can kill us. But we will not.
I can see how important it is to create and know such boundaries. When and to what will you say "NO," with no buts? What I wonder, is how important it is to know when and to what you will say "YES," no matter what? If you can be uncompromising by saying "no, I will not,"the you can also be uncompromising about saying "yes, I will;" about doing something, not just not doing something. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego say "No, we will not worship your gods." Daniel, on the other hand, says (in chapter 6), "Yes, I will pray to my God... and you can threaten me, you can torture me, and you can kill me... but I will."
Judith is also committed to action. She doesn't just say "no," to foreign domination, to surrender, to loss of faith and identity, but she says "yes" to doing something. She is willing to die, it is true, but she will die keeping her dual commitment -- refusing to accept foreign rule (saying "no"), and actively protecting her people (saying "yes").
Judith and Daniel's commitment to action makes me reflect on my own commitments. It is one thing to draw the line and play defense. To wait for a threat and define your identity based on that-- on where you are not willing to go. But what if I were to play offense? To be proactive about my identity, especially in areas where I may not face the challenge to draw a line in the sand? What if, for example, I made a commitment, not just to say "no" to injustice, but to do justice? Or to 'do' kindness? Or to listen? To eat well? To exercise? To do my best? To smile at people? To be defined by what I do, and not just what I don't?
I have to say, I think I'm on to something. It's like a diet... what you do eat is equally, if not more important than what you give up. If no one ever pushes those boundaries; if you never face Antiochus IV shoving pork down your throat, you might not have to really think about your identity. But I think we ought to think about it... and in a proactive way. I want to choose, not just who I am not going to be, but who I am going to be. And, more specifically, what I am going to do. I am going to be like Judith; I'm not just going to wait around for someone to push my limits, I am going to do something.
The author of the Gospel of John writes of Jesus, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." (John 1:5) The poem/hymn he adapts was probably originally about wisdom. Either way, I want it to apply to me. I am not referring to proselytizing. What I mean to convey is the way in which I want to develop a simultaneously uncompromising and proactive identity. I don't want to just leave the light on, I want to turn it on. It may or may not be dark, but I choose to be light.
So get ready! The things I would say "no" to might be theoretical, but what I say "yes" to is not.
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