Risk

New Testament: Luke 9:18-27, 51
Old Testament: Esther 4

Before we read the passage from Esther, let me give you a little background to the story, because we’ll be jumping into the middle. First, some history: you might remember that Israel was conquered by Babylon and many of the Jews were forced into exile. About 40 years later, the Persians conquered Babylon and some of the Jews returned to rebuild their homeland, while others remained spread throughout the newly-Persian empire.

The book of Esther is set in Persia, with those who remained, about 50 to 75 years later, when the Jews have developed an identity as a “holy people centered around a holy book” – rather than a holy land. The Jewish main characters in this story – Esther, an orphan, and Mordecai, the uncle who raised her – belong to “a people out of place, a people away from their ancestral home, a people scattered, looking for something that would give hope.” [1]

The story begins with the Persian king, Ahasuerus, who, at the end of a weeklong banquet displaying his wealth and power, calls for his Queen, Vashti, to come entertain his buddies. Knowing her husband (and his taste for wine) she refuses. The king’s men suggest that, if word of this gets out to the other women in Persia, they might have a feminist uprising on their hands. What if all the women start disobeying their husbands? Obviously, Vashti has got to go.

But soon enough, the king gets lonely, and decides he’ll have a yearlong national search for the most beautiful young woman to be his wife. It’s kind of a cross between “The Bachelor” and “America’s Next Top Model.” This is where Esther comes in. Mordecai gets her into the competition, but makes her swear she won’t reveal she’s Jewish. Her religious background would, in all likelihood, disqualify her.

During the year of preparation, Mordecai spent most days in the courtyard of the king, keeping his ears open to learn how his niece was doing, and sending messages to her when he could.

Finally, it was time for Esther to meet the king. “When she was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace,” the story says, “he loved her more than all the other women; of all the young women she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers—‘Esther’s banquet.’ He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.”

For some time, Esther lived “happily ever after” in the court of the king. Mordecai continued to hang around the courtyard to keep tabs on her. Unfortunately, one day, King Ahasuerus’ right-hand-man Haman commanded Mordecai to bow to him. As a Jew, Mordecai refused to bow to any human authority. This incensed Haman, who was a megalomaniac, and felt that it wouldn’t be enough to punish just one man – he wanted to punish every single Jew in the land. Haman went to the king saying, “There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued for their destruction.”

In case you hadn’t noticed, the king was very easily manipulated, and he gave in to Haman’s demands. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day: the thirteenth day of the month of Adar.

Mordecai stumbled upon a copy of this decree, and that’s where our reading begins.

Esther 4

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, [he] tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; ²he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.³In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. ⁶Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, ⁷and 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. ⁸Mordecai 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 entreat him for her people.

9 Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ¹¹‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden sceptre to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.’¹²When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, ¹³Mordecai 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. ¹⁴For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, 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.’ ¹⁵Then 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.’ ¹⁷Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

At the point Mordecai brings Esther news of this plan to exterminate the Jews, it’s hard to really imagine how much has changed for her. She grew up as an orphan living in a minority culture; now she is the queen, living a life of comfort, luxury, and safety. And then she discovers her people are in danger. In order to help them, she knows she may very well have to give up everything.

“If I perish, I perish.” These are words of extreme bravery from a woman who is probably not even twenty years old. Esther knows that what she’s being asked to do – disobey the king’s command – is exactly what got Queen Vashti deposed in the first place. There is danger to her just in approaching the king, let alone revealing she is a Jew. No one knows exactly what the king will do – he’s unpredictable and prone to drinking – but a smart person could guess.

A smart person could also guess what would happen to Jesus if he entered Jerusalem. I wonder if he was thinking of Esther when he “set his face” toward that city as he does at the end of our gospel lesson for today. Jesus was, of course, a faithful Jew. From other gospel stories we know that he was familiar with the Hebrew Bible – he mentions the stories of Jonah and the Queen of Sheba, he interprets the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue, he quotes the Psalms from the cross. So it makes sense for him to know Esther’s story.

It makes sense for him to know that the Jewish leaders were upset with him for the things he’d been saying: he critiqued their hypocrisy, their lack of compassion toward the needy, their greed, and their lack of humility.[2] He also ate with tax collectors, claimed to forgive sinners, and didn’t exactly follow the rules for fasting and Sabbath-keeping.[3]

It makes sense for him to know that the Roman authorities would’ve wanted him dead. They saw him as seditious, as challenging the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. The historian Reza Aslan puts it clearly: “Crucifixion was … a symbol of what happens when you defy the will of Rome. [It was] a punishment reserved … solely for the most extreme crimes, crimes against the state.”[4]

And so, as he set his eyes toward Jerusalem and toward what was likely to be his doom, I wonder if the words of a young woman trying to save her people echoed in his memory: “v’c’asher avdoti avdoti” – “If I perish, I perish.”

"Queen Esther" by Edwin Long (1879)

Esther’s bravery is astounding. To get a sense of the danger she faced by approaching the king, imagine a teenage, Muslim, Syrian refugee jumping the White House fence to get President Obama’s attention. Esther did this because she recognized a call. But a call from whom?

I wonder if you’ve noticed the one person – the one entity – that I haven’t yet mentioned in Esther’s story (or in this sermon): God! Actually, God is never mentioned in the entire book of Esther – nor is prayer. This is a big part of the reason why the book was almost excluded from both the Jewish and Christian canons – and why Esther is the perfect role model for those of us in 21^st century America who are trying to hear God’s call.

Moses had a burning bush from which he heard God’s voice saying, “Bring my people out of Egypt!” Isaiah had a vision of heaven and the Lord seated on the throne, saying, “Whom shall I send?” Mary had the angel saying, “You have found favor with God!” Paul had a blinding light and a voice asking, “Why do you persecute me?”

Esther didn’t have any of that. There were no miracles, no divine appearances, no booming voices from heaven for her. Just her uncle, and a piece of paper spelling doom for her people.

And the thing that burned was her conscience.

If I had to guess, I’d say most of the people in this room experience God’s call in a similar way. If you’ve recently gotten magical instructions on how to build an ark, PLEASE let me know. Otherwise, I’m going to assume you’re struggling like me to understand what God wants us to do.

This church is at a turning point. You’ve discerned God’s call to bring a full-time minister for the first time in recent memory. Not only that, but you’ve called a pastor with more than 30 years of experience in ministry and a heart for social justice! Gary will help you as you seek to discern what God is calling this church to be – but it won’t be without risk.

Of course, there’s the financial risk. A full-time salary means an increased budget. An increased budget requires more generosity. Can you make this community your number one giving priority?

There’s also the risk to your comfort level. Growth means change, and change is hard. What if more young families start coming? What if their kids make noise? What if we need more volunteers to teach Sunday school? What if worship begins to look different? What if the people in worship look different?

And finally, there’s the risk to your lives. When we listen for God’s call, we can find it changing us in so many ways. It takes us places we never would’ve gone on our own; it makes us reorder our priorities; it introduces us to people we never would’ve met; it changes the way we see the world; it reshapes our lives.

And if we perish, we perish.

But read the rest of Esther’s story – she didn’t perish!

Remember Jesus’ story – even death could not stop him.

Look at your own story – God’s not done with you yet.

So let’s go to the king. Let’s set our faces toward Jerusalem. Let’s risk everything, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus!

And who knows? Perhaps we have all come here for just such a time as this.

Amen.

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[1] “I Love to Tell the Story” podcast for November 30, 2014. www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_podcast.aspx?podcast_id=562

[2] Hypocrisy – 11:39, 42; Compassion – 11:43, 14:7; Greed – 16:14; Humility – 10:29.

[3] Tax collectors – 5:30, 7:34, 15:1-2; Forgiveness – 5:21; Fasting – 5:33; Sabbath – 6:7, 14:1, 3.

[4] Reza Aslan, Fresh Air interview, July 15, 2013.
www.npr.org/2013/07/15/198040928/christ-in-context-zealot-explores-the-life-of-jesus