In one Peanuts cartoon, Lucy is primping her hair in a mirror, and Charlie Brown is says Lucy never forget that beauty is only

Transcription

1 The Queen of Beauty and Courage Esther 4:1-14 In one Peanuts cartoon, Lucy is primping her hair in a mirror, and Charlie Brown is says Lucy never forget that beauty is only skin deep Lucy is furious. She turns around and says, I deny that My beauty is not only on the surface, it goes down deep layer after layer after layer. She looks back in the mirror and says, Yes, sir I have very THICK beauty. Today as we continue our journey through THE STORY, we meet a young woman named Esther, who, we will see has beauty that is far more than skin deep. Esther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention the name of God. At least, it doesn t mention God explicity. Yet, it is a very powerful story and it must have a lot to teach us, or it would not have been included in the Bible. 1

2 To learn from Esther, we really need to understand the story of Esther. There are 5 key people to the story: 1. King Xerxes. He was the king of Persia, which is modern day Iran. His kingdom stretched from India to Ethiopia. 2. His first Queen, Vashti. 3.Mordecai. Mordecai was one of the Jews whose ancestors had been deported from Israel many years before and now Persia was his home. 4.Esther, who was a cousin of Mordecai. Esther s parents died at an early age and Mordecai adopted his beautiful younger cousin. 5. Haman, the evil right hand man of King Xerxes. Haman is the villain of the story. The story goes like this. King Xerxes throws a banquet, but Queen Vashti refuses to attend, so he banishes her from his kingdom and decides to look for a new queen among the young women of his kingdom. Esther, without revealing her identity as a Jew, is chosen 2

3 to be part of the king s harem. And the king is so taken by her beauty and charm that he chooses Esther to be his queen. Haman, the King s evil right hand man, hates Mordecai and all the Jewish people. In fact, one day Mordesai infuriates him by refusing to kneel at Haman s feet. So Haman deceives the King into issuing a decree to exterminate Mordecai and the entire Jewish population of Persia. Mordecai, desperate to save his people, sent word to his cousin Esther asking her to beg King Xerxes for mercy. But Queen Esther feared for her life. Because in this time and place, even the queen could not enter the king s presence without being invited in fact, to do so, could mean death. Esther sent word to Mordecai saying to do what he asked would be like a death sentence for her. Mordecai s immortal words persuaded her. He said: Do not think that in the king s palace you will escape any 3

4 more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise up for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father s family will perish. Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. Esther, we are told, was moved by Mordecai s words, and she replies with great courage: Go and have all the Jews in Susa fast and pray for me. When this is done, I will go to the King, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. Esther goes to the King and exposes Haman s plot to annihilate all the Jews. Haman himself is executed. The king allows Esther and Mordecai to send out a new edict throughout the land that will preserve the Jewish people. And so it is, each year in Jewish synagogues, to this day, the Feast of Purim is celebrated, as the people recall the story of 4

5 Esther and remember God s amazing deliverance from the brink of extermination. Perhaps you can see why it seems that although God s name is not actually mentioned in this story, God s presence is everywhere in it. So what lessons can we learn from the story of Esther? To help us answer that question, I want us to consider three questions: First, how would our lives look different if we just did what we knew was right, regardless of the cost? This was the place that Esther came to. At the beginning of the story, Esther seems to be quite timid or passive. Even when Mordecai begs her to tell the king, she is reluctant to stick her neck out to take the risk. But when the word comes to her, when she knows she knows. 5

6 Oh, she stops to fast and pray. She asks for the support of her community good things to do. But when she knows what is right, she boldly says: If I perish, I perish. And then she acts with courage. Not every decision that we make in life is going to be a matter of life and death, like this one was for Esther. Yet, there are moments in all of our lives when we are challenged to do the right thing. + Perhaps you are called to stand up against an injustice or inequity in the community + Maybe you are in a position to stand up against a bully at school or in the workplace + Or perhaps you know you need to take a position of conscience in your workplace, where you values are being challenged Like Esther, we know deep down inside what the right thing to do is. I believe that God actually speaks to us just like he spoke to Esther. God may speak to us through the words of 6

7 others, or through our conscience, or through God s whisper (the still small voice through which the spirit speaks) to let us know the right thing to do. What would our lives look like, if like Esther, we had the courage to do what we knew was right, regardless of the cost? A second question for us to consider: How would our lives look different if we quit believing in coincidences and would open our eyes to see God s hand at work in our lives? The more we talk about things happening by coincidence or pure chance, the less likely we are to see God at work in our lives. Mordecai tried to help Esther see this when he said to her: And who knows, but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? Look at the story of Esther and all the things that had to line up just right for the Jews to be saved: 7

8 + there had to be a vacancy for a queen + Esther had to be the right age and beauty for that moment + Mordecai had to discover the plot against King Xerxes + Esther had to approach the king at the right time On and on. Any of these events could just happen at random, of course, but when you line them all up, it is easy to see that the hand of God was involved. All of us have had things like this happen. You are struggling, and an old friend calls or drops by at just the right moment. You have a serious medical problem that is only discovered because you had a test for a minor, unrelated issue, and it saves your life. You have a last minute change of plans and you find yourself in the right place to meet someone who will change your life. It is sometimes difficult for us to determine whether to credit something that happens to God or to our own decisions. (That s a whole separate sermon). But if we quit attributing so many things to mere coincidence, we may be able to better see 8

9 God s hand at work in our lives. The last question for us to consider is this one How would our lives look different if we believed that God had placed us right where we are to use us to bring about his good purpose? Who knows? Mordecai said, Perhaps you have come to royal position for just such a time as this. It is not very likely that anyone in this room will ever be in the right place to save a nation. But it is very likely that you will have a number of opportunities to be the right person at the right time to make a significant difference in someone else s life. Who knows? Perhaps you are in a job or a workplace because God wants to reach someone through you. Who knows? Maybe you ve been able to achieve a position of responsibility so that God might work through you in a particular way? Who knows? Perhaps you are in a position to influence a child who one day will make a difference in our world. 9

10 Who knows? And since we don t know we need to be watching where God might be at work. I wonder how often you and I could be the right person at the right time, if we are just aware of what is going on around us and how we can help. Ron Dykstra wrote about a young business executive who was driving his new Jaguar through sort of a sketchy neighborhood, when, suddenly, a brick smashed into his car s side door. He slammed on the brakes, backed up and jumped out of the car, saw the boy who had thrown the brick and he shouted: Are you crazy? He shouted. This is a new car and that brick is going to cost your parents a lot of money The boy said, Please, mister please, I m sorry, but I didn t know what else to do. I threw the brick because no one else would stop. 10

11 Then with tears streaming down his face, the boy pointed to a spot just around a parked car. It s my brother, he said. He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can t lift him up. Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He s hurt and he s too heavy for me. The driver followed the boy to the side of the road and care- fully lifted his disabled brother back into the wheelchair. Then he took out a handkerchief and cleaned the boy s scrapes and cuts. The brother seemed to be okay. The boy thanked him and he watched, amazed, as the boy pushed his wheelchair-bound brotherdown the sidewalk toward their home. Ron Dykstra said that it was a long, slow walk for that young businessman back to his car. And he added that the man never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: Don t go through life so fast that 11

12 someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention As I read this story, I decided we could give that brick a name. I named it Mordecai. And I wonder who or what will be my Mordecai? Or your Mordecai? Who or what will get your attention to say, Perhaps, just perhaps I am right here, right now for just such a time as this? Amen. Pastor Brent Campbell February 23, 2014 Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Madison, WI 12