Reading: the book of Esther
A quick outline
of the book of Esther.
The story of
Easter is one that you may not be familiar with. The people of Israel were in
exile. About 587 years before Christ, Jerusalem was destroyed and in the 10
years following that the Jewish elite were deported to Babylon, around the same
time many Jewish people left the land and move to a variety of places. About
539 BC Cyrus the Persian king conquered Babylon, some of the Jews went back
home, but some did not.
The book of
Esther begins with King Ahasuerus throwing a banquet, 6 months into the banquet,
[yes, a banquet that went for at least 6 months!] he calls his wife to come and
show the people at the banquet how beautiful she is, but Vashti refuses. Vashti
is no longer allowed to be in the presence of the King, and a decree goes out
that all the beautiful young virgins to come to the King's harem, and one would
be chosen to be the new Queen.
Esther was
chosen to be the new Queen.
Esther's
uncle Mordecai overheard a plot to kill the King, he told Esther who warned the
King, and his life was saved.
The King's
main adviser is a man named Haman, he does not like the Jews. Haman tells the
King that there are certain people who do not keep the King's Laws and the King
should proclaim a decree for them all to be destroyed. The King accepts Haman’s
word, and the decree is sent throughout the land. Then Esther steps in and
speaks to the King, the decree cannot be reversed, but another decree goes out
that the Jewish people can defend themselves.
There are
some oddities in the book of Esther, in its 10 chapters there is no mention of
God, the temple, the exodus, or the salvation history of the Jewish people.
Esther doesn’t see God or hear from God. Yet Esther is a role model of bravery.
She is not perfect. She would have broken all sorts of Torah rules in living in
the Palace. Yet, when push came to shove, she chose to risk her life, for the
life of her people.
The book of
Esther could easily be a soap opera or melodramatic movie. We have a fickle
King, a villain, plot twists, an unlikely heroine, war and death, triumph and
tragedy. A Hollywood directors dream. Yet this book is in the Bible. I wonder
why it was chosen to be included. What does this story of gluttony, promiscuity,
and violence have to say to us today.
Esther is
part of a religious and ethnic minority. Her ancestors most likely moved to
Persia following the fall of Jerusalem; about 100 years later Ahasuerus was
King. Even though Jewish people have been living in Persia for 100 years, their
life is still perilous, as we see from the actions of Haman, who, by the way,
is of Canaanite heritage.
How do we
see people who have a different religious or ethnic background to ourselves? Do
we treat them as worth less, more expendable, not as deserving of education, health,
work, and housing? Do we trust people from a different background less than
people who look like us and speak like us and have similar values? What do you
know about the experience of migrants and refugees?
The King is portrayed
as incompetent and power drunk. The opening scene has the king giving a banquet
for officials and nobles and governors and generals. After 180 days, the king gives
a week-long banquet for everyone in Susa in the palace garden. While this happening
the queen, Vashti, was giving a banquet for the women. As the story continues
there is much feasting and drinking. The King makes rash decisions, and relies
for advice from others, who have their own agenda.
I wonder
what we look for in our leaders, elected and unelected. I hear people speak about
the Royal Family in terms of stability, decency, dedication, and a selfless
devotion to the greater good. We do not see this in King Ahasuerus.
Esther, as
many people from minority groups do, blends in as much as she can. She joined
the other young women in becoming part of the harem. Esther was aware of what
was happening and spoke up against injustice. Not the injustice of young women
being sexual playthings for the king; but the injustice that could have seen
many people killed. In speaking on behalf of her people, Esther took a risk,
she risked her life; she could have continued to hide that she was Jewish. The King
had not noticed. But she spoke up.
When do we
speak up and speak out? Is it for ourselves or for others?
Nothing in
the story of Esther suggests that God spoke to her or gave her a sign, there is
no burning bush or voice from heaven.
So often
God's action in our life, God's activity in the world around us, is hidden from
us; not because God is trying to hide, but because God acts in what looks like
our ordinary life.
Most of us
will never entertain an Angel, like Mary and Joseph did.
Most of us will not be able to tap a rock and have freshwater flow from it,
like Moses.
Most of us will not touch the holes in the hands of Jesus as Thomas did.
We may wish
for the certainty of the burning bush, or walking through the Red Sea, but
reality is, most of us will not have those experiences.
We can learn
from Esther.
We can learn what it is like to be everyday believers.
To be the good news,
To be hope and light
to be ready, to speak, to act.
Our lives,
like Esther’s will not be perfect. We will break God’s heart at times, but God
still trusts us and calls us to act for humanity.
Poem
Esther – a woman of action;
a
role-model for the ordinary
to be
extra-ordinary;
a
role-model who took direct action.
The
rabbis have considered her a prophet,
who
neither spoke a word with God
nor
from God,
but
who risked her life
to
save her people.
Jeremiah
Amos
Jesus
Caroline
Chisholm
William
Wilberforce
Oscar
Romero
Mother
Theresa…
spoke out
against
the wrongs in their societies;
took
action
to
redress those wrongs;
to
offer the world a glimpse
of
the realm of God:
a
community
of
mutual relationship;
a
community in which
trust,
obligation, morality, common good, tradition, goodwill,
co-operation,
religious values, neighbourliness
and
more
are
valued as basic to the good health,
the
wholeness,
of
that community.
This alternative vision
is
the realm we are called to live:
to
stand with those whose lives are hurt by the prevailing systems,
to
identify
not
with the powerful
but
the vulnerable.
This is our risky journey
of discipleship.
© Jeff Shrowder, 2012. (Adapted from a sermon from
some years ago, which may have drawn on material from other, long-forgotten,
sources.)
