Mordecai and Esther: In Crisis

from my message on Sept. 22, 2013, from the book of Esther

I have a preacher friend who has a daughter named Caty.  When Caty  was small, her parents would say to her, "Caty, we need to get ready to go to church."  Caty would ask, "What kind of church?  Is it sit down and behave church or stand up and have fun church?"

Today, we have what I hope is stand up and have fun church, as we have the 5th in my series on Life Coach, where we learn from God and the Holy Bible the best way to live.  Today we have the story of Mordecaia and Esthers.  Our Jewish friends tell this tale at a holiday called Purim, usually in Feb. or March.  It is told as a melodrama, with cheering for the good guys and booing for the bad guy.

Once upon a time, there was a king in Persia, name Ahasuerus.  Since I can't pronounce this name, we will call him King.  He threw a huge party, lasting not days or weeks but 6 months.  He then commanded his queen Vashti to appear before his guests wearing her crown....with the implied message wearing only her crown.  She refused, women-libber that she was.  The king was mad.  His counselors said he had to get rid of her as queen, and so he did.  After the king cooled off, the counselors said that a good way to find a replacement queen was to hold a beauty contest.  So letters were sent out to all 127 provinces to send the most beautiful candidates.

Now there was Mordecai, who had adopted his cousin, Esther, to be his daughter living in the land.  He encouraged her to enter the beauty pagent, but to keep her identity a secret, because you see, they were Jewish.  Guess who wins the contest?  Esther!  "Here she is ....Miss Persia."

About this time, Mordecai is at the city gate, where he overhears 2 guys plotting to assasinate the king.  He tells Esther, who tells the king.  The king has the criminals hanged.  The king is saved.  He is thankful, but promptly forgets who did this favor.  It is written in the history book, but forgotten.

Every story need an antagonist, a bad guy.  Ours is Haman (boo, hiss).  The king makes him the #2 man in the whole kingdom, second only to the king.  Haman (boo, hiss) likes to throw his weight around.   He expects everyone to bow to him.  Everyone does...except Mordecai, because he is Jewish.  Haman (boo, hiss) decides to destroy Mordecai, and not only that, upon finding out he is Jewish, decides to destroy all the Jewish people in the land.

Haman (boo, hiss) gets the king to issue an edict to destroy all the Jews.  He even pays money to see it happen.  The timing of the massacre is determined by the rolling of dice, the casting of lots, called Pur.  The day is set.  Letters are sent out to all the provinces that this is going to happen.

Mordecai rends his garments.  Hegoes to Esther to get her help.  She says it is risky.  One cannot just appear before the king uninvited. The king summons.  If you go in, and he doesn't like you, you can be killed on the spot.  Mordecai says it is a desperate time.  Esther cannot be protected even if she is the queen.  He says that if she cannot do anything, perhaps help for the Jews will come from another quarter.  But who knows?  Perhaps Esther has come for such a time as this.  Esther asks all of the Jews to fast 3 days.

Esther approaches the king uninvited.  The king holds out his scepter to her and welcomes her.  He says, "I'll do anything for you, even give you up to half of my kingdom."  Esther only asks that the king and Haman (boo, hiss) come to a feast she has prepared.  At the feast, Esther asks that they come back the next day for another feast.

Haman (boo, hiss) is so delighted.  He goes home bragging about the feast he had and the one to come.  He still can't stand Mordecai and has gallows built upon which to hang him.

That night the king can't sleep.  "Who was the one who saved my life from the assasins?  Look it up in the history book."  It is Mordecai.  "Did I ever thank him?"  No.  The king sees Haman (boo, hiss) walking by.  The king asks him, "What does a king do to show favor to someone?"  Haman (boo, hiss), thinking the king is talking about him, says, "Why give him one of your royal robes, and crowns and horses.  Then have someone walk before him announcing these tributes."  The king says to Haman (boo, hiss), "Right then, you do these things for Mordecai!"  (Laughter)

Haman (boo, hiss) and the king go to the feast with Esther.  The king asks, "What can I do for you Esther? I will give you anything, up to 1/2 of my kingdom."  Esther says, "Save me and my people from destruction.  For there is one who wishes us harm?"  "Who would do such a thing?"  "Haman" (boo, hiss).  The king is so angry he goes out to the garden.  Haman (boo, hiss) throws himself upon Esther to beg for mercy.  When the king comes in, it looks like Haman  (boo, hiss) is assaulting Esther.  The king has Haman (boo, hiss) hanged from the very gallows that Haman (boo, hiss) had built for Mordecai.

Esther approaches the king again.  He can't reverse the earlier edict he issued.  The Jews are still under threat.  She gets the king to write another edict allowing the Jews to defend themselves.  I wish that that was the end of the story.

What lessons can we learn in this Life Coach series?  One, Mordecai and Esther showed courage and creativity in the midst of crisis. They used everything at their disposal--beauty, honesty, risk-taking.

Two, this is a story of hope for any oppressed group.  Certainly our Jewish friends have claimed it down through the centuries, and most recently during the Holocaust.  But it is a universal story of the longing for justice, for setting things right.  The Tutsis oppressed by the Hutus, the people of Darfur oppressed by the Sudanese, the Armenians oppressed by the Turks, gay people oppressed by bullies.

Three, God is never mentioned in the story.  It nearly didn't make it into the canon of scripture because of that.  Maybe God is behind every scene in the story.  Is that the way life is?  We have to make God known by our words and actions.

Four, or is it that God wanted nothing to do with this story.  You see if you read the rest of the story, the Jews kill 75,000 Persians.  Frederick Buechner says that God doesn't want anything to do with the slaughter and so stays out of it.

Fifth,  what is a Christian response to oppression? Can we break the cycle of violence begetting violence?  What does a cross-shaped response look like?  That is our challenge in life.  Amen.