Women of the OT, Part 4: Esther

 WE GATHER 

PRELUDE 

BRINGING IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST 

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS 

*HYMN Majesty, Worship His Majesty UMH# 176 

*CALL TO WORSHIP 

L: Praise be to God who has called us together. 

P: We come here seeking healing and hope. 

L: Open your hearts to God’s redeeming love. 

P:Help us to hear your words, O Lord, and follow your ways. 

All: AMEN. 

*OPENING PRAYER (IN UNISON) 

Eternal God, long ago you spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets; but in these last days, you have spoken to us by a Son. May we become again like children and receive your kingdom in our midst, that we may walk in your ways without faltering, and trust in your Spirit without wavering. Amen. 

*HYMN Where the Spirit of the Lord Is FWS# 2119 

WE PROCLAIM GOD'S WORD 

CHILDREN’S CHAT 

OLD TESTAMENT READING 

Esther 4: 6-8, 12-16 

6 Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, 7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and to entreat him for her people.

12 When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, 13 Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” 15 Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

MUSICAL INTERLUDE AND OFFERING 

NEW TESTAMENT READING 

Mark 10: 2-9 

2 Some,[a] testing him, asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,[b] 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Reader: The Living Word of God for the people of God. 

People: Thanks be to God. 

MESSAGE “Women of the Old Testament, Part 4: Esther” 

Friends, we’re now up to the fourth part of this sermon series I put together where we’re looking at stories about women in the Old Testament, and holding them alongside the teachings of Jesus supplied by the Gospel. Today’s valiant OT heroine is the reason I wanted to do this sermon series, the brilliant femme fatale better known as Esther. When a segment of her story happened to pop up in the lectionary, I realized we could lift her up, as well as some other notable OT ladies, and have some fun learning more together.

Esther is the adopted daughter of a man named Mordecai, and they both live in Persia as a consequence of the Babylonian Empire sacking Jerusalem and taking many Jewish people, including them, as prisoners of war. They live under the leadership of King Xerxes and Queen Vashti. Fun tidbit about this story: Esther is one of only two books in the Bible where the word “God” is never used. The other is Song of Solomon. Also, if you have Jewish loved ones you may know that Purim is celebrated annually in honor of Esther’s story. I’m going to spend more time than I usually do on summarizing the story itself, because my experience has been that our Jewish friends know this story well, but most Christians don’t.

The book opens with King Xerxes throwing a huge, multiple days long party. The hard stuff is being poured in every empty cup, with an unlimited supply at the bar. Every time a plate gets licked clean, a new entree is placed in front of the guest, like the Never Ending Pasta Bowl special at the Olive Garden. And in addition to getting stuffed and hammered, everyone at this party is wearing their prettiest clothes and eating off of a solid gold place setting.

The gluttony and pride of this party are clear, and it’s as if Xerxes throws these parties so he can check off all seven deadly sins in one week, because the next one on the list is lust. He summons his wife, Queen Vashti, who I guess has been in the back somewhere eating 99 cent Ramen while folding his laundry. He demands that she join the party, not to eat and drink and have fun with everyone else, but to be eye candy, because Xerxes wanted to show off beautiful wife. She apparently tells the servant who summoned her, “No thanks, I don’t feel like being shown off like a Kobe beef steak at the market today, and besides, Dancing with the Stars is on.”

Well that was the wrong answer, and King Xerxes’s next move is to get rid of Queen Vashti, and to put out an APB for other attractive young women to audition to fill her place. This, of course, is debasing, but does come with the power and wealth of royalty, so the hopeful young ladies start lining up to be contestants on The Bachelor, and among them is Esther. The women spend months getting beauty treatments and perfumes so they can get dolled up before Xerxes chooses one of them, and ultimately Xerxes gives the final rose to Esther, and she becomes Queen of Persia and Xerxes’s new trophy wife.

But any time you find a foothold of power, and especially when you’re like Esther, a woman from a foreign land, someone around you will be tempted to challenge that power. This challenge comes in the form of the main villain in this story, Haman, a wealthy nobleman who was just given high regards by King Xerxes. Because of Haman’s status, King Xerxes orders everyone in Persia to bow down and worship Haman. Even folx who find that idea ludicrous choose to obey the King to stay out of danger, but there’s one holdout who bruises Haman’s ego: Mordecai, Esther’s adoptive parent. Mordecai is Jewish, and won’t worship some dude. He only worships God.

Once Haman gets angry enough, he decides to plot revenge on Mordecai. Since King Xerxes has no idea that his new wife is Jewish, and Mordecai’s daughter, Haman takes advantage, and has King Xerxes sign orders to kill the Jewish folks in Persia. Word gets to Mordecai that his life is in danger, and he goes into mourning and sends word to Esther: help. If Haman comes after the Jews, eventually he’ll kill you, too, royal or not. And maybe you were put in this position for such a time as this.

Esther takes her time, and utilizes her royal position, and her favor with King Xerxes, to save her people. We need to bear in mind that she may be the queen, but that still puts her far beneath Xerxes in power. If she so much as tries to talk to him at the wrong time, he can have her killed for it. Esther grieves, and prepares for the possibility that she may even have to give up her own life to save others’.

She approaches Xerxes gently, and asks that he join her for a banquet. After all, the beginning of the book established that Xerxes never turns down a party invite. Esther invites both Xerxes and Haman to her dinner. At dinner, Xerxes asks her what favor she wants, leaving anything on the table, and she tells him to come back for tomorrow night’s dinner party and she’ll tell him then. You have to admire how aware Esther is of the social nuances of this system, and how strategic she is in playing the long game.

The next night at dinner, in the presence of Xerxes and Haman, Esther is made aware that Haman has put a pole on his front lawn to show off Mordecai’s dead body after he kills him. Huh. Weird lawn decor, bro. Xerxes asks Esther again, what favor does she need? She picks this moment, when King Xerxes is stuffed with two days worth of party food, extra giddy on drinks, and the most pliable, to drop her truth bomb: Haman wants to kill the Jews, including her dad, Mordecai. King Xerxes reverses the order to kill the Jews, and kills Haman. The Jews kill those who wanted to harm them, and Queen Esther and Mordecai throw a big party, the very first Purim, with Mordecai now the right hand of the king.

Switching gears for a sec, today’s Gospel reading is Jesus’ marriage theology, commonly quoted at weddings, including my own. Back in the days of Moses, men held all the cards, and reserved the right to divorce their wives at any time, for any reason. Jesus challenges the men around him to change that toxic behavior and be loyal to their wives. Don’t tear apart what God has put together. This advice obviously applies very naturally to married couples, but is really for all of our relationships, and all of life. Don’t destroy what God builds. Love one another, don’t harm someone just because you can, and stick up for the people closest to you.

Esther shows us how to model this behavior in our communities to protect the most vulnerable among us, even when it threatens our own standing and well being. We may be small fish in a big pond, but we’re not powerless. We may not be able to change many minds and hearts, but if we can influence even the one person closest to us, like Esther does with King Xerxes, then we can start a domino effect that keeps the good will going. Where have we exercised compassion, kindness, and sacrifice lately? Where in our lives have we felt like Esther?

However, before we do the comfortable thing here, and identify solely with Esther, and tie a nice bow around this sermon, there’s a piece of commentary I read a while ago that I want to share with you, penned by Erna Kim Hackett, a feminist and womanist theologian:

"White Christianity suffers from a bad case of Disney Princess theology. As each individual reads Scripture, they see themselves as the princess in every story. They are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, but never Judas. They are the woman anointing Jesus, never the Pharisees. They are the Jews escaping slavery, never Egypt. For the citizens of the most powerful country in the world, who enslaved both Native and Black people, to see itself as Israel and not Egypt when it is studying Scripture, is a perfect example of Disney princess theology. And it means that as people in power, they have no lens for locating themselves rightly in Scripture or society -- and it has made them blind and utterly ill equipped to engage issues of power and injustice. It is some very weak Bible work."

It’s never easy for white Christians like me to hear that, but sometimes the things we need to hear the most are the things that make us wince. As we take a look at our moments of heroism, of compassion, of strength and valor, we need to be willing to examine the moments when we fall short, our Haman moments where our ego drives our decisions, or our Xerxes moments where we’re tempted to treat the people around us more like means to an end than like equals. 

Most importantly, how do we tell the difference? How do we distinguish an Esther decision from a Haman decision? Ask yourself: am I taking apart something God put together? Am I coming between people and causing conflict and division? Or am I respecting God and others,  building something new, and putting what’s right over what’s convenient? The whisper inside of you that tells you to do the latter is Esther. Listen to her.

Amen.

*HYMN I Love to Tell the Story UMH# 156 v 1, 2 

WE RESPOND 

APOSTLES CREED (UNISON) UMH# 882 COMMUNION 

THE LORD’S PRAYER 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. 

JOYS & CONCERNS 

PASTORAL PRAYER 

Eternal God, we are ever so aware of our ties to the biblical world as we have today entered the world of Esther. We regret that so little has changed in our public life since then.

• There is still intrigue in high places.

• There are still unholy alliances.

• There is still the dynamic of the fearful trying to do away with, or at least to get out of the way, perceived enemies or threats to their power.

• There is still the problem of evil in the guise of good.

• There is still deceit used to gain selfish ends.

So it will be, world without end. Yet we ask your aid as we go about building our lives, our nation, and our world in this twenty first century.

• May we not be disillusioned because of the deceit of peoples’ hearts.

• May we not lose faith in people because of the faithlessness of the few.

• May we not fail to see this as your wonderful world or be dispirited.

• May we not lose a faithful and expectant spirit which is expectant for good, expectant for hope, expectant for triumph.

• May we not lose hope in the ultimate triumph of good over evil.

As in Esther’s day may we not forget to make days of feasting and thanksgiving and gladness and give you thanks for your goodness to us. Be with us, O God, who turns sorrow into gladness, weakness into strength, defeat into triumph. Give us triumphant spirits. Amen

~ written by Richard Einerson, and published in Prayers of the People.  http://www.richardeinerson.com/einerson_007.htm  

*HYMN I Sing the Almighty Power of God UMH# 152 

SENDING FORTH WITH BLESSING 

POSTLUDE