Scripture Daily

Context No. 1853 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

Context · Reflection

1 Maccabees 14:21-27: in context

21The ambassadors who were sent to our people reported to us about your glory and honor. We were glad for their coming, 22and we registered the things that were spoken by them in the public records as follows: ‘Numenius son of Antiochus, and Antipater son of Jason, the Jews’ ambassadors, came to us to renew the friendship they had with us. 23It pleased the people to entertain the men honorably, and to put the copy of their words in the public records, to the end that the people of the Spartans might have a record of them. Moreover they wrote a copy of these things to Simon the high priest.’” 24After this, Simon sent Numenius to Rome with a great shield of gold weighing one thousand minas, in order to confirm the alliance with them. 25But when the people heard these things, they said, “What thanks shall we give to Simon and his sons? 26For he and his brothers and the house of his father have made themselves strong, and have fought and chased away Israel’s enemies, and confirmed liberty to Israel.” 27So they wrote on tablets of brass, and set them on pillars on mount Zion. This is the copy of the writing: “On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the one hundred seventy-second year, which is the third year of Simon the high priest,

The record tells of alliances renewed and honors received in the days of Simon, the last of the Maccabee brothers to lead. And it records the gratitude of the people. When they consider all that Simon and his family have done, they ask, what thanks shall we give to Simon and his sons? For he and his brothers and his father's house have stood firm, fought off Israel's enemies, and secured the people's freedom. And they inscribe their thanks on tablets of bronze, set on pillars on Mount Zion, a lasting public record of their gratitude.

The people's response to Simon's faithful service is worth noticing: they do not take it for granted, but ask, what thanks shall we give? and then act on the question, recording their gratitude publicly and permanently. They recognized what Simon and his family had done, at great cost, for the good of the people, and they made sure to honor it, to give thanks, to set down a lasting record of their debt. Gratitude was not merely felt but expressed, and expressed in a way that would endure. There is a lesson here about honoring those who serve faithfully. We are prone to take for granted the people who serve us well, whose faithful labor benefits us, the ones who quietly bear the load, defend, provide, lead, sacrifice. Their service becomes the background we no longer notice, and we forget to thank them, assuming their faithfulness will simply continue, owed nothing in return. The people of Simon's day did better: they stopped to ask what thanks they owed, and gave it, honoring the ones who had served them. Scripture calls us to this: to render honor to whom honor is owed, to esteem highly those who labor among us, to give thanks rather than take for granted. It is worth asking who has served us faithfully, at cost to themselves, whose labor we have come to take for granted, and whether we have thanked them, honored them, expressed the gratitude we owe. The faithful servant deserves not to be forgotten but honored; and the grateful heart does not merely feel its debt but expresses it. What thanks shall we give? is a good question to ask about those who have served us well, and a better thing to act on than to leave the gratitude unspoken.

Who has served me faithfully, at cost to themselves, whose labor I have come to take for granted, and have I stopped, as Simon's people did, to ask what thanks I owe them, and to express it, honoring the faithful rather than leaving my gratitude unspoken and assuming their service is simply owed?

Sources