Scripture Text (NRSV)
7:1 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther.
7:2 On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said
to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted
you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it
shall be fulfilled."
7:3 Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have won your favor, O king, and
if it pleases the king, let my life be given me -- that is my petition
-- and the lives of my people -- that is my request.
7:4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be
killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves,
men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate
for this damage to the king."
7:5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is
he, who has presumed to do this?"
7:6 Esther said, "A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!" Then Haman was
terrified before the king and the queen.
7:9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said,
"Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose
word saved the king, stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high." And
the king said, "Hang him on that."
7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated.
9:20 Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews
who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
9:21 enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the
month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year,
9:22 as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies,
and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into
gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them
days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one
another and presents to the poor.
Comments:
Some times asking for what is best for the people around you is the
only way to access what is best for you.
Dave
Such a tiny exerpt from a magnificent story. I am preaching on
courage, but will draw on the whole story. Many facets to Esther's
courage. She was an orphan. Had she learned to stand on her own two
feet early. She needed the prayers of her people to sustain her. No
doubt she was terrified, but she went ahead anyway. God is not
mentioned but obviously Esther was counting on God to be there with
her because prayer was so important. We need courage in our spiritual
journey in order to withstand opposing forces such as Haman. How do we
en-courage one another through community life and prayer? Anyone else
have any ideas? Mary
so often we are afraid to speak up for ourselves. Women especially
struggle with the idea of raising our voices. We're taught from
childhood "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at
all." But we can find our voices and use them. This is especially true
when speaking up for someone else. As we gain the courage to speak for
our children, our neighbors, our friends, we oftentimes find that our
voices begin to speak for ourselves as well. Esther was a quiet,
"modest" woman who realized that the time had come to raise her voice.
Thanks be to God!
The title I'm using for the sermon on this text is: "Where is God in
this book?" Part of the answer is from 9:15 and 9:22--They don't
plunder, and they turn their celebration into gifts for each other and
presents for the poor. It's very human to return violence for violence
as Esther discovered. The first edict had gone out--and could not be
withdrawn. We're living in a time of continuing wars, poverty, and
disease. We can't prevent that--the first edict has gone out. But, we
can control the content of the second edict. What is our response.
And, if our response is like Esther's, if we turn to revenge, then
what? Can we not then still find God working in our lives? Can we not
turn the day into one of feasting and gladness, a day for sending
gifts? Does this sound too preachy?
I am going to preach on the courage and the need to stand up for the
things we believe in even if there is a cost pay Also the need to
stand up for those who can not stand up for selves. Sometimes we are
in the postition that Ester is in where we can use our postition to
help others. If we do not do so just as she did then we are not doing
the things that God has put us here t to do or using the postition to
it's best advantage.
Hi all.
So, do we preach about believing women when they tell stories the men
would rather not hear? If we read the entire story of Esther, we find
some illuminating points.
Esther became queen because her predecessor wouldn't do what she was
told by the king (who wanted to parade her around in front of allies
because she was pretty), so she was killed.
Also, men were decreed to be master of their own houses (to keep women
from getting any ideas).
Next, pretty virgins were sought out to join the king's harem, and
they went through an extensive,
year-long process of beautification in order to be presentable to the
king. Esther, a Jew, is brought
into the harem, and eventually becomes queen. Haman becomes chief
advisor to the king, and
because he resents Mordecai (Esther's father), he puts together a
scheme to kill of all the Jews in
the kingdom. So, Esther approaches the king to tell the him of the
danger of her people.
But, and this is important for our day, she loses her nerve at the
last minute. Will she be
believed? Or will she be thrown out like her predecessor? After all,
she is taking on the two
most powerful men in the kingdom; one of them capricious and
unpredictable, one of them scheming and self-serving. She can't bring
herself to tell her story.
She approaches the king a second time, but again loses her nerve. This
is scary stuff, because the
risks of acting are as dangerous as the risks of not acting. But she
manages to ask one more
favour.
The third time she screws up her courage and manages to tell her
story. On this occasion, she
is believed.
But things aren't made instantly better. Haman is removed, but his
scheme still moves forward,
because he's not the only one with designs on the Jews (there are
75,000 of them out there). Can you say, "enablers"? Sure you can.
In fact, things aren't really made better until Mordecai (a man) is
put in Haman's place, becomes
the royal advisor, and get's his own laws passed so the Jews can
defend themselves.
We need to be aware of the assumptions we bring to our reading of this
story. It's not just a story
of a couple of plucky people taking advantage of a lucky break (being
pretty, becoming queen,
becoming chief advisor, etc.). This is a story of inherently unjust
power structures (men over
women, citizens over foreigners, power people over ordinary people,
insiders over outsiders, etc.).
This is a story of these structures being challenged, and the
incredible risks that such challenge entails.
I think we need to preach about this stuff, friends. This is not the
time to fall back on moralisms (don't do naughty things, if your hand
causes you to sin, etc.). This is a time to talk about what is really
going on.
It's risky. It's dangerous. It will probably result in push-back. But
the risk of not saying this stuff is just as great, and if we succumb
to that temptation and say nothing, nothing will change. For anyone.
Peace...Rick
in Canada, eh?
