"You may keep your gifts, O king"

Today’s first reading (Ezra 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20) tells of the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem with revenue allocated by the ruler of the empire that dominated that part of the world in those days.

King Darius did this because of his own policies and his vision for the Empire. His actions may have coincided with the will of God and in doing this he may have been an instrument of God’s will de facto, but he had his own ideas and agenda.

Other rulers would be not so benevolent.

So we have seen in the millennia since: it is easy to take the Emperor’s gold, but the Emperor’s gold almost always comes with strings attached – sometimes subtle (yet nevertheless deadly) and sometimes long after the fact.

A great example can be found in the words that the prophet Daniel spoke to another ancient potentate (Daniel 5:17):

You may keep your gifts,
or give your presents to someone else;
but the writing I will read for you, O king,
and tell you what it means.

Daniel faithfully declared the truth that comes from God. He ended up taking the King’s gifts, but would have just as happily let them be taken away forever.

So too for us – as a Church, as believing citizens in society, as individuals in a community – we should be detached and ready to detach from the good-feeling things governments and people want to give and should always be faithful to what God has spoken and written.

You may keep your gifts,
or give your presents to someone else;
but the writing I will read for you, O king,
and tell you what it means.