1 Maccabees 2:19-26: a reflection

19And Mattathias answered and said with a loud voice, “If all the nations that are in the house of the king’s dominion listen to him, to fall away each one from the worship of his fathers, and have chosen to follow his commandments, 20yet I and my sons and my kindred will walk in the covenant of our fathers. 21Far be it from us that we should forsake the law and the ordinances. 22We will not listen to the king’s words, to turn aside from our worship, to the right hand, or to the left.” 23When he had finished speaking these words, a Jew came in the sight of all to sacrifice on the altar which was at Modin, according to the king’s commandment. 24Mattathias saw it, so his zeal was kindled, and his guts trembled, and he vented his wrath according to judgment, and ran and killed him upon the altar. 25He killed the king’s officer, who compelled men to sacrifice, at the same time, and pulled down the altar. 26He was zealous for the law, even as Phinehas did to Zimri the son of Salu.

When the king's officers demand that everyone abandon the worship of God and follow the king's decree, Mattathias makes a public declaration that rings with resolve: Even if all the nations in the king's realm obey him, forsaking the faith of their fathers, yet I and my sons and my kindred will walk in the covenant of our fathers. Far be it from us to forsake the law and the ordinances. We will not obey the king's words to turn aside from our worship. Though the whole world go one way, Mattathias declares, he and his house will not.

Notice the shape of his resolve: even if everyone else complies. Mattathias does not make his stand conditional on others joining him. He says, in effect, whatever everyone else does, however many go along with the king, I will not. His faithfulness does not depend on having company in it; he is prepared to stand alone, with his own household, against the whole tide. That is a rare and costly resolve: to be faithful even when everyone else is going the other way.

There is a challenge here for the moments when faithfulness means standing against the crowd. It is one thing to hold our convictions when others hold them too; it is another to hold them when everyone else is complying, going along, abandoning what we believe. The pressure of a whole tide going one way is immense. Mattathias models the resolve to say, though all the nations obey, yet I and my house will not. When faithfulness requires standing against the crowd, even standing nearly alone, ask God for Mattathias's resolve: to walk in the covenant even if everyone else forsakes it.

Lord, when everyone was pressured to abandon the faith, Mattathias declared, though all the nations obey the king, yet I and my house will walk in the covenant. Give me that resolve. When faithfulness to you means standing against the crowd, even nearly alone, keep me from making my faithfulness conditional on having company in it. Help me say, whatever everyone else does, I will follow you. Strengthen me to walk in your ways even when the whole tide runs the other way, and to stand firm even when I must stand alone.