Too bad that Esther shows up just once in the Common Revised
Lectionary. She is surely worth more
than one sermon every three years!
Christians have often treated this text with dismissive attitude; Luther
was chief among them.
This little
book is unusual in the canonical context; it never mentions God—at least not
explicitly. It is one of two books named
for a woman, and it is a real page-turner (as is the Book of Ruth.) It reads like a romance novel with all the
trappings of a beauty pageant, seductive wiles, fancy banquets, and the
ascendance of an ordinary girl to the royal court.
The
historical setting is in Babylon where many Jews remained after the exile,
while others returned to the Judean homeland.
Thus it is a diaspora story, written to explain the origin of the Jewish
festival of Purim, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the
Persian Empire (one of only two feasts not prescribed by Mosaic law.)
An orphan
reared by her uncle Mordecai, Esther learns of the threat to her people posed
by the Prime Minister, Haman. As Queen,
she risks her life to persuade King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) to reverse the royal
edict that would have destroyed the Jews dwelling there.
Of this
tale, Kate Huey writes: God’s deliverance of the people is not “through
amazing, miraculous events but through the actions of flawed but courageous
human beings who were probably never sure they were doing the right thing.” There is wisdom in this observation. We act as best we can discern and may only
understand the providential guidance of God in retrospect.
Esther does
not act alone; Mordecai is critical to the story, as we know. Their collaboration—sharing information and
strategizing—is the means God uses to preserve the people of covenant, albeit
persons little concerned about their historic land. Together they outsmart a bumbling King and
his ambitious vizier.
Being in
the right place at the right time is essential for this story of
deliverance. The most quoted saying of
the book, “for such a time as this,” recognizes that God uses human
instrumentality in ways far beyond our imagining. When we are attentive to the currents that
swirl around us, we may perceive our role as crucial in the accomplishment of
God’s purpose.
In God’s
great mercy, flawed humans can become instruments of deliverance in our
time. Our courage matters in God’s
redemptive project with this groaning world.
Molly T.
Marshall
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