1 Maccabees 1:41-53: a reflection

41King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, 42and that each should forsake his own laws. All the nations agreed according to the word of the king. 43Many of Israel consented to his worship, sacrificed to the idols, and profaned the Sabbath. 44The king sent letters by the hand of messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow laws strange to the land, 45and should forbid whole burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the sanctuary; and should profane the Sabbaths and feasts, 46and pollute the sanctuary and those who were holy; 47that they should build altars, and temples, and shrines for idols, and should sacrifice swine’s flesh and unclean animals; 48and that they should leave their sons uncircumcised, that they should make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation; 49so that they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances. 50Whoever doesn’t do according to the word of the king, he shall die. 51He wrote according to all these words to his whole kingdom. He appointed overseers over all the people, and he commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city. 52From the people were gathered together to them many, everyone who had forsaken the law; and they did evil things in the land. 53They made Israel hide themselves in every place of refuge which they had.

Antiochus issues a decree with a seductive-sounding goal: that all his kingdom should be one people, and each give up its own customs. Unity, conformity, everyone the same. And the pressure worked: many in Israel, the text says, consented, abandoned the law, adopted the idols, profaned the Sabbath. It was easier to go along, and dangerous not to, whoever refused was to die, so the faithful had to hide.

Notice how the pressure came dressed. Not obviously as evil, but as unity, as fitting in, as everyone being one people together. That is often how the pressure to abandon your faith arrives, not as a demand to do something plainly wicked, but as the pull to be like everyone else, to stop being awkwardly different, to go along to get along. And under real pressure, many did.

But not all. A remnant would not forsake the covenant, even at the cost of hiding, of danger, of death. Their refusal to conform, when conforming was easy and safe and everyone else was doing it, is what kept the faith alive. There is a challenge in this for every age, including ours, where the pressure to quietly abandon distinctive faith and simply blend in is strong. Will you go along because it is easier, or hold to God even when holding costs you? Be among the faithful who would not forsake the covenant, whatever the pressure to conform.

Lord, the pressure to abandon my faith and simply blend in is strong, and it comes dressed as unity and fitting in. Give me the courage of the faithful remnant, to hold to you even when it is costly and everyone else is going along. Keep me from forsaking the covenant for the sake of comfort.