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Our First Reading, which appears only once in the Lectionary and as an option for today, is taken from the First Book of Maccabees. This passage is particularly appropriate for Independence Day, because its context is the Jewish Maccabean revolt against the pagan Empire of the Seleucids at the beginning of the 1st century BC. The lesson of Mattathias and his sons is there for every true Israelite to learn: namely, that fidelity to the law, and faith in God, achieved more than the size of the army or the strength of the arm. Through Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, agents of a merciful Providence, relief from pagan oppression came to Judaism. Their efforts won independence and a kingdom, and prepared the way for God’s future intervention by a Messiah in the fullness of time.
The point is that all Israel should look to their example. In the few verses we just heard, their father, the priest Mattathias, recalls on his deathbed the faith of Abraham, Joseph, Phineas, Joshua, and many other heroes of Judaism, and urges his sons to emulate these heroes of the people. He tells them: “Be zealous for the law and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers. Remember the deeds that our fathers did in their times, and you shall win great glory and an everlasting name…. Consider this from generation to generation, that none who hope in the Lord shall fail in strength.”
Today, we too look to our national forefathers, who heroically struggled to achieve our country’s independence and set the course for American democracy. Much has been written recently about how fragile and at risk our democracy is (as well as democracies all over the world). It is for us to look again to the great figures in American history who left us a great legacy. Great, because these are leaders who didn’t divorce politics from moral values, and who believed in God’s Providence to guide our national history through ever-changing circumstances and challenges.
I think that we as a community have had a wonderful preparation for this 4th of July during the past month by listening each day in the Refectory to Jon Meacham’s book, And There was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle. Surely Lincoln is one of our most extraordinary national heroes who has much to say to us at a time when American democracy is itself palpably at great risk; our country is undeniably torn by polarization and division to the point of paralyzing political dysfunctionality. The violent insurrection in the nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021 was a shocking wake-up call for even the most oblivious. It is timely, then, to heed the wisdom of 1st Maccabees and be re-inspired by such a great American figure as Abraham Lincoln. He showed that honor and love of country are virtues we forsake at our peril. He understood the power of personal example and physical presence. He knew how words can inspire deeds—give shape and purpose to them—so that the deeds may, in turn, vindicate the meaning of words. How rare these traits have become among our politicians, many of whom playact as statesmen so that they may ultimately become celebrities. They tell the people what they want to hear. This results in the eradication of conscience, the neglect of the poor and marginalized, and the diminishment of everyone.
What made Lincoln so different? I think Meacham put his finger on it when he came to the pivotal conclusion: “Lincoln saw the world as informed by Providence. He believed that the world was not random and that morality—right and wrong—could never truly and finally be divorced from politics, his chosen life. To Lincoln, people were obligated by conscience, informed by scripture and by experience, to pursue the ideals of love and of generosity—and each person would be accountable for action or inaction to the extent one undertook or impeded this pursuit. The lives of individuals and of nations were thus defined by a moral drama. Lincoln viewed the world not as mechanistic but as moral. Conscience and character were not incidental to human affairs, but instrumental.”
With Lincoln, the time was always ripe to do that which was right and that which needed to be done. He kept America’s democratic project alive. But he did not do so alone. He was keenly aware that innumerable ordinary people made sacrifices, even to dying, to preserve the Union against the designs of the rebel South. But, as Meacham points out, “Lincoln was essential, and his ultimate vision of the nation—that the country should be free of slavery—was informed by a moral understanding. To him, America ought to seek to practice the principles of the Declaration of Independence as fully as possible, for the alternatives were so much worse…. Abraham Lincoln did not bring about heaven on earth. Yet he defended the possibilities of democracy and the pursuit of justice at an hour in which the means of amendment, adjustment, and reform were under assault. What if the constitutional order had failed and the Union had been permanently divided? What would have come next?”
I think Jon Meacham is nothing less
than prophetic when he makes this summary observation: “In life, Lincoln’s
motives were moral as well as political—a reminder that our finest presidents
are those committed to bringing a flawed nation closer to the light, a mission
that requires an understanding that politics divorced from conscience is fatal
to the American experiment in liberty under law. In the years of peril, he
pointed the country toward a future that was superior.”
At the time of his assassination, Lincon carried in his pocket a leather wallet in which he kept a collection of newspaper clippings. One article included an excerpt from the Liverpool Daily Post that said: “Absolute truth, stern resolution, clear insight, solemn faithfulness, courage that cannot be daunted, hopefulness that cannot be dashed—these are qualities that go a long way to make up a hero.” Certainly, Lincoln had claim to all these. According to Mattathias in his appeal to his sons from his deathbed, these are qualities characteristic of Israel’s “heroes” going back to Abraham, all through salvation history, culminating in the Maccabees eventually attaining independence in the year 134 before Christ.
Today, 158 years after Lincoln’ death, we have much to be grateful for, and much to pray and work for, as we celebrate the independence and freedom we continue to enjoy. Let us commit ourselves to building up the Common Good, by being zealous for the values that define our democracy, and, in the words of 1st Maccabees, by being “faithful to the covenant of our fathers.”