A sermon preached at Old South Congregational Church, United Church of Christ,
Hallowell, Maine, October 1, 2006.
Text: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
The Book of Esther was not accepted into the Jewish and Christian canons
without controversy. A feminist interpreter explains how Esther, sometimes
called "the most secular book of the Bible," caused problems for
Israel and the church: "The reason for the difficulty that the book had
in achieving canonical status is its perceived lack of religiosity. Most glaring
is the complete absence of any mention of God....concepts of law and covenant
are absent...there are no prayers."
- Sidnie Ann White, in The Women's Bible Commentary, Newsom and Ringe, eds.,
Westminster/John Knox, 1992, p. 125.
So, we don't talk about or deal much with Esther. To help us get a handle
on Esther:
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a king who ruled over the world from India to Ethiopia, his name was Ahasuerus. He decided he needed a queen, so he ordered that the most lovely women from his 127 provinces be brought before him that he might choose the loveliest as his queen. He chose Esther.
Though the king did not know it, Esther was an orphan, a Jew in the care
of her uncle, Mordecai. Mordecai advised Esther to marry the king, even though
he was not of her faith or her people. Besides, Esther was a poor nobody,
a woman, and Ahasuerus was a king and in the socio-economic-gender based-class
dependent politics of the day, what could she do?
Now, in the king's employ was a wicked, toady named Haman, who wasn't only
a bureaucrat - similar to those who work today in the Department of Motor
Vehicles - but he was a bad bureaucrat. Haman plotted to kill all the Jews
in all the king's lands, seeing these foreigners as troublesome aliens who
would never be loyal subjects.
Haman set a date for the mass executions. Then, in good little toady, bureaucratic kiss up fashion, Haman slithers up to the king and says, "Dear King, it has come to our attention that there is a certain ethnic group in your kingdom who consider themselves above your laws. Although multiculturalism and ethnic diversity is an otherwise good thing, a rule is a rule. Allow me to help my king by obliterating them."
This sounded good to the king. A rule is a rule. Ahasuerus agreed and ordered that on the thirteenth of Adar all Jews would be slain.
The Jews were distressed by this horrible news. Mordecai sent news of the plan to Esther up in the palace, begging her to help. "Who knows?" asked Mordecai, "maybe you have been put in the palace for a moment such as this."
Now a word about palace etiquette. In those days, it was hard to get to see the king, even if your were a successful business person looking to make a fat donation, you couldn't get in. Even the queen had to ask permission. If she showed up unsummoned by the king, even the queen could be killed.
Esther reminds Mordecai of the rules. Bother the king when he doesn't want to be bothered, be a dead queen. Mordecai reminds Esther that she is the only hope her people have.
Esther is in great fear. She lies awake in torment for three days. Finally, she decides that she will go, saying "If I die, I shall die.
Esther entered the throne room. She was terrified. Yet the king bid her to speak.
"Dear King," she said, "would you grant to me just one little favor?"
"Just name it," said the king, "even half my kingdom, whatever." (She had obviously caught him in a great mood.)
"Would you and your trusted lackey, er, uh, I mean advisor Haman due me the honor of attending a great dinner with me?"
Haman, when he learned of the invitation, was even more full of himself, so proud that he was being invited up to the big house for a great party. He was obviously in tight with the king and the queen. Passing old Mordecai on the way to dinner, he told him to get ready to swing from a rope by morning.
Esther spent the whole next day wondering how in the world she was going to talk to the king about Haman's plot against the Jews. The banquet was a great affair, but Esther couldn't bring herself to speak to the king about her people.
At the end of the evening, Esther said that the food and the wine had been so great, the dinner table conversation so scintillating, that she was going to give another dinner tomorrow. Would the king and his toady...advisor be good enough to come?
They agreed. Next night, maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the beef wellington, but King Ahasuerus blurted out, "Esther, you are such a great queen, tell me what would make you happy."
Esther finally got the courage to say, "Dear King, there is an evil man in this palace who wants to kill me and those whom I love. Let me and my people live; that's all I ask."
"What?" asked the king. "Tell me who this scoundrel is."
"He's over there," she said, "the fat one just finishing his chocolate mousse."
Was Haman shocked! He didn't even know Esther was Jewish! He was even more shocked when the king ordered him taken out and hanged on the very gallows Haman had been preparing for old Mordecai.
And that's how the people of Israel were preserved, even to this day. A savvy woman, laying aside her own safety, speaking up in behalf of her people, saved them in a foreign land.
I expect that this is the first time most of you have heard this story of Esther. This is the first sermon I have preached on it. Esther has never been one of the top ten books of the Bible. For one thing, Esther is a woman, and most of history is most interested in the actions of men. For another thing, some Christians have been a little perplexed by Esther's morality, becoming the mistress, then the queen of a pagan.
For yet another thing, God is never mentioned in the entire Book of Esther. God doesn't speak, or intervene, nothing.
So why should I tell you this story, and on a Sunday, and in church?
Esther was a hero, but a reluctant one. And, as such, she serves as an interesting kind of model for us. Eventually she did a great deed for her people, but she took small, hesitant steps on the way there. She assimilated herself into the dominate culture, so much so that most of her people probably thought that she had given away the store, had allowed herself to be so co-opted by the pagan culture that she was no longer a Jew.
As a woman, she was powerless, even though she was queen. Yet Esther used what power she had, maneuvered skillfully within the limits imposed upon her by the culture, and did a great thing.
What she did was not particularly spectacular but that's good because, let's face it, most of us are not very spectacular ourselves. We are often hesitant about acting; we often stumble even when the good that needs to be done is quite obvious. Fortunately, most of the good that God needs doing is not too spectacular. Some day, some one here may be required to die for the faith that you profess, but not likely. More likely you will be given the opportunity, or the dilemma, of summoning up the courage to speak out at some elegant dinner party, to put in a word to the boss in behalf of someone who can't speak for himself. Not large. Not grand. But still good.
Today's story is about that. As Christians and Jews we live in a world that, on the whole, neither worships nor obeys our God. The motto of our age is not, "What doth the Lord require?" but rather, "What do I have to do to get along?" In such a climate we are tempted to let ourselves off the hook too easily, to say, "I'm no martyr, I'm just one little guy, what can I do?"
This story is for us. In little, ordinary, unspectacular ways, the Kingdom of God, is being defeated or advanced through us, the battle is being lost or won on the basis of our little words, gestures, and acts. Though "such a time as this" sounds like a grand moment in our lives, "such a time as this" is a theme to be practiced in the small, everyday little moments of our lives. To do good, even when we afraid. To do good, to find that courage, even when we are hesitant.
Esther is a story about that. Amen.
[This sermon is adapted from a sermon titled "Unspectacular Faithfulness," by William Willimon. It is available at: www.duke.chapel.edu.]