Meditation

 Meditation, July 26, 2022

By Reverend S. DeWolf

Today’s readings from the Common Lectionary:

Psalm 55:16-23

Esther 6:1-7:6

Romans 9:30-10:4

The Book of Esther is a reminder that the Bible is a rich collection of various types of literature, written for diverse purposes over a span of approximately 1500 years.  It contains historical accounts, testimonies, letters, lists of laws, commentaries, poetry, songs, proverbs, parables and stories.  The Book of Esther, while set in a historical time and place, should not be misunderstood as an historical account.  It is a dramatic story, at times very funny, at times full of suspense, at times shockingly violent.  It was written as a background for the festival of Purim, an annual event in Jewish culture at which the enduring identity of the Jewish people is celebrated.  There have been some Jewish and Christian biblical scholars, including Martin Luther, who have considered the Book of Esther to be secular literature and therefore have questioned its inclusion in the biblical canon.  Nevertheless it has been included as part of the inspired and inspiring word of God, just as we have Jesus’ parables and other stories in our Bible that are there to teach and open our minds to truth.  

So how should Christians read this story?   

The scene we read in today’s passage is the literary climax of the book.  There is a hilarious moment where the pompous overconfidence of a villain backfires against him. Tension has been building up in previous chapters as the clever queen ripens the king's mind for accepting Haman's treachery, and now the tension finally bursts as she reveals her true identity and purpose. The king submits to the demands of this orphaned Jewish girl who has become queen,  her people are saved, her ill-treated adoptive father Mordecai escapes the gallows and inherits the prime ministership, and even the brutish behaviour of the king towards his first queen Vashti seems to have been avenged by the humble Esther. The most obvious message here is that victory eventually comes to the oppressed and the oppressor will one day be brought down.  But is there anything more here than a Hollywood-style tale that would lend itself to a blockbuster movie?  

Three stimulating questions that this book might raise for our reflection as we walk our faith journey today...

1. The first is the question that Esther’s adoptive father Mordecai raised with her when she was hesitant to risk her life by pleading with the king for the salvation of her people: Who knows but that you were brought to this situation, in this very place and time, for this purpose (chapter 4:14)? On the surface Esther appeared to be living a life of luxury and pleasure and privilege far beyond what any orphaned child of a foreign captive family could ever hope for.  But in fact, as the apocryphal material that accompanies this book brings out clearly (chapter 14), she was utterly miserable and inwardly raging.  Impoverished by lack of opportunities and choice, she was barely more than a child, imprisoned as a sex slave for the pleasure of the most powerful man in the kingdom, forced to hide her true identity and to sever ties with her people, living under a false name, hating her life.  And yet within her seemingly impossible situation were the seeds of transformation.  God never abandons us. God always provides opportunities for justice and righteousness to flourish. We are always under God's call to be instruments of God's salvation wherever we find ourselves in a broken and dysfunctional world.  Like Esther, it is often by fulfilling that mission in the darkest of times that our true identity becomes clear.

2. It is significant that nowhere in the Book of Esther is the name of God overtly mentioned and instead the story focuses our attention on human endeavour. So is God the Lord of all history, or is the human story merely an outcome of our own wisdom and courage occasionally derailed by stumbling mistakes?  The overarching message of the Bible directs us to place our faith in God's unfolding purpose. The psalms refer consistently to God's steadfast faithfulness as a historical reality. The gospels urge us not to be anxious because our lives are in God's hands. The epistles teach us to rely on the grace of God's that cuts through human error.  The New Testament ends with a powerful vision of the New Jerusalem that we believe God intends for humankind. And yet as we read this Book of Esther we recognize the powerful effects of political intrigue and human intellectual judgment in shaping the direction in which history moves. At times we find ourselves trapped in a historical moment so urgently in need of transformation that we either give up and wait to be transported to the next world, or we scramble desperately to take control. There is one moment in the Esther story that gives us guidance as we seek the answers to this question. When Esther was faced with the overwhelming task of seeking deliverance for her people, the first thing she did was to call her people to join with her in a 3 day fast. This was not the kind of fast where the people beg God to fufill their request, foregoing all self-indulgence in order to prove to God how much they deserve to be heard. No, this was a sack cloth and ashes kind of fast. The people came to God to humble themselves, to confess their sin, to feel the pain of their own wrong doing, to seek cleansing, knowing to they could not find the right way forward if their minds were filled with their own desires, their own agenda. Is this not the only way in which we can rise to our feet and boldly take up our historical responsibility with the assurance that we are moving in the direction God intends for history to move? 

3.What does it mean to gain victory over injustice, to correct the power imbalance between people that robs people of freedom and dignity ?  Although the Book of Esther ends on a happy note with the Jewish people celebrating their freedom from oppression, there is a sinister and disturbing side to this story.  To reverse the injustices committed by Haman, the story says that all of his former powers are given over to Mordecai, who not only inherits Haman’s position and privilege, but also his capacity to hate and destroy.  A new wave of terror is unleashed under a new royal edict that allows the Jewish people living in the kingdom to turn against their neighbours with revenge. 75000 men, women and children are slaughtered. Queen Esther herself plays a lead part in this reverse injustice. An exaggerated story? Perhaps, but it cuts close enough to the realities we live with to pierce our conscience. Clearly, getting rid of the Hamans in this world does not make conflict go away.  Jonathan Sacks, the late Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, spoke often of an important interpretation of freedom from oppression and dignity that he found in the laws of Moses: a collective freedom which requires both responsibility and constraint.  "We need less 'I' and more 'we' in our understanding of freedom" he wrote - because what freedom is there to celebrate if our reference point continues to be our traumatic past, an indication that we have failed to create something new? 

Prayer:

O Lord our God we thank you for your inspiring word that disturbs us and challenges us to seek your will more clearly for our world. Make us worthy to serve you in your acts of salvation. Amen.