Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday September 3, 2023
Scripture: Esther 4:1-14
(During the Story for All Ages, I read the full story of Esther from a Children’s Bible so that we could hear the full story. If you aren’t familiar with the story, The Bible Project gives a fairly good summary of it.)
The story of Esther isn’t very well known, unless you have a reason to know it. It is often overlooked when people talk about the overall story of the bible – I was watching a series of Instagram Reels this week where the creator was attaching a theme song to each book in the bible, and she skipped right over Esther, going from Nehemiah right on to Job. (And I have to confess that I only caught the omission because I’ve been spending a lot of time in the book of Esther this week – before this week, off the top of my head I wouldn’t have been able to tell you where in the bible you could find Esther.)
It is also the only book in the bible that doesn’t mention God by name. The story implies God’s presence, but God isn’t named. Esther and Mordecai are ethnically Jewish, descended from a family that was taken into exile in Babylon but then decided not to return to Jerusalem when they are allowed; but even though they are Jewish, there is no mention of them being particularly observant in keeping the laws of the Torah.
And yet despite all of this, the book of Esther is part of the bible. Its inclusion in the bible isn’t even contested or debated the way that some other books in the bible are. It has a place in the story of God working in God’s people.
In the part of the story that ______ read for us this morning, we heard what might be the most well-known line in Esther. As Esther and Mordecai are trying to figure out how they can save all of the Jewish people in Persia from Haman’s plan, Mordecai says to Esther: “Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”
Could it be that God has been working behind the scenes, unacknowledged, working to put Esther into a position where she would be able to speak to the king and prevent the massacre of God’s children? If you saw my Theology Thursday post on Facebook this week, I made the connection between the story of Esther and our God Sightings that we share every Sunday. God is always present; God is always at work in the world; but sometimes we need to intentionally open ourselves up to noticing God’s presence.
And so can it be that God has been quietly working behind the scenes to put Esther into a position where she can speak to the king? Esther, as a regular member of a minority religious group in the city would never have dared to approach the king, just as Mordecai, despite saving the king’s life earlier, isn’t in a position to approach the king. But Esther as the queen is in a position to do so. She has power because of her rank, and it is up to her to choose how to use her power.
That’s not to say that it didn’t take a great deal of courage. Just look at Esther’s predecessor, Queen Vashti. Both of them had power based on their position and based on their beauty. And both of them were courageous enough to stand up for what they knew was right. Vashti refused to let the king parade her in front of his drinking buddies like an object. And Esther spoke up to the king to save all of the vulnerable Jewish people in the land.
Esther took a risk. King Ahasuerus is painted as quite an impulsive and volatile character. The end of Esther’s story could have just as easily mirrored the end of Vashti’s story. But it doesn’t. The king is able to hear what Esther is saying, and the story has an unhappy ending for Haman, but a happy ending for Esther and Mordecai and the rest of the Jewish people.
Circling back to how God is still present, even when we don’t take the time to pause and notice. God is still working in the world even when we don’t take time to pause and name God’s presence. How might our situation be similar to Esther’s? Where has God placed us – either as individuals or as the church – for such a time as this?
We don’t have to look very far to see what seems like the world collapsing around us. We aren’t facing imminent genocide the way that Esther and Mordecai were, but we are daily faced with other disasters. The cost of living is rising exponentially, leading to so many hungry people in our neighbourhood and in our world. The climate emergency is causing floods and fires right at our doorstep. The hard-won rights of LGBTQ+ people are being rolled back, here in New Brunswick and elsewhere. There are increasing incidents of violence related to racism and homophobia and transphobia and Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism.
We may not be exactly in Esther’s shoes, but there is no shortage of vulnerable people and groups in our world.
And so where has God placed us – as individuals and as the church – for such a time as this? We may not be a queen, but looking around this space, we do have other sorts of influence. Many of us have influence related to our skin colour and our economic status and our education level and by who we know. All of these things give us a certain amount of power in the world.
And so, like Queen Esther and like Queen Vashti, the question becomes, do we have the courage to use our power for good? Do we have the courage to use our position and our influence to stand up for what we know is right? Do we have the courage to stand up for people who are oppressed? Do we have the courage to create a space where the voiceless can have a voice? Even when it is risky, do we have the courage to speak the truth to those who can change the world?
For when we do have the courage to do this – courage that is given to us by the Holy Spirit – then we become part of the group of people who are changing the world for the good. When we have the courage to do this, then God is working through us by the Holy Spirit, and we are acting as the Body of Christ – participating in the work of God in the world around us.
And may God give us all the courage to do so, in such a time as this. Amen.
Watercolour by Kimothy Joy.
Uploaded to flickr with permission by Vince Reinhart.
An example of speaking truth to power, this time using the
power of art to speak on the issue of gun violence.
(Click the link below to learn more about this image.)
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