Back Roads of the Bible: For Such a Time as This

Transcription

1 Back Roads of the Bible: For Such a Time as This Richmond s First Baptist, September 30, 2018 The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 On this journey through the backroads of the Bible We come to the Book of Esther, just after Nehemiah and just before Job. A story shared among faithful Jews every year during the feast of Purim. It goes something like this Ahasuerus was the king of the world, and he knew it. OK not the whole world, But the part of the world that stretched from India in the East to Ethiopia in the West The 127 provinces that made up the sprawling Persian Empire of the fifth century BC Ahasuerus was king of all that and as I said, He knew it. He was proud of it! In the third year of his reign he decided to show off his enormous wealth. He invited all the dignitaries of the empire, All the noblemen and officials, the governors and the satraps, The armies of Persia and Media And for 180 days (that is, for six full months) He displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his majestic greatness. And then he threw a banquet to end all banquets Seven full days of feasting In which every citizen of the capital city of Susa Was invited to be his guest. The palace was beautiful, with purple and white curtains hanging from the pillars People reclining on couches of gold and silver, sipping from opulent goblets The wine flowed like water And every one was instructed to drink as much as he wished. The king drank as much as he wished And by the seventh day of the feast he was...feeling the effects. Someone asked him about his wife, The beautiful Queen Vashti. Was she really as beautiful as all that? Oh, even more! he said. I ll show you! 1

2 And he clapped his hands together, A signal, That the seven eunuchs who attended the queen Should bring her into the king s presence wearing her royal turban. But when they went to her with his request She did not wish to go. She was throwing a banquet of her own, Entertaining all the ladies of the kingdom, And can t you just imagine how she winked at them When she heard that the king had sent for her And she said that she d rather not go? What a scandal! Ahasuerus was furious! But what should he do? He called together his closest advisors What does the law of the Medes and Persians say About a wife who won t obey her husband? And Memucan, the oldest and wisest of them all, said, If word gets out of this? If the women find out that Vashti didn t come They ll think they can do whatever they please. You ve got to nip this thing in the bud, Ahasuerus. You ve got to put that wench in her place Before every woman in the kingdom Thinks she can get by with such a thing. Drag her down from the royal throne Make somebody else queen. And that seemed good in his eyes, it seemed fine, (His eyes, still crossed from all that wine) He snapped his fingers, said let it be so And the eunuchs told Vashti It was time to go. But when he sobered up And saw what he had done He remembered Vashti The beautiful Vashti. He began to have regrets. His servants could tell he was feeling low They tried to cheer him up by suggesting A KINGDOM-WIDE BEAUTY PAGEANT! Where the winner would be the new queen. And that made him smile. 2

3 Yes! He said. Let s do that! The sooner the better! And so word went out through the entire kingdom, From India to Ethiopia, A search for the kingdom s new queen Someone young, and beautiful, and...obedient. Now, there was a man in Susa named Mordecai The great grandson of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin A Jew, who had been carried into exile during the Babylonion deportation But he d managed to make a life for himself in exile. He used to sit in the King s gate, debating important matters of state. He had a pretty young cousin named Esther The daughter of his late uncle Abihail That he d raised since her parents had died. Beautiful? Oh, yes Young? Indeed Obedient? She did whatever Mordecai told her, as she always had. It was no wonder she ended up in this beauty pageant And when they brought her to the palace She won the heart of old Hegai, the eunuch who served as a kind of pageant coach. He picked her out as his favorite And told her just what she should do: How to walk, And how to talk, And how to hold her fork. Everything he suggested, she did She was an obedient girl. But there was one thing she didn t do She didn t tell him that she was a Jew For Mordecai told her not to And she was an obedient girl. The training took an entire year The beauty treatments The spas. Six months just for the oil of myrrh Six months more for perfumes. But at the end of that year she was ready, And when they took Esther to the king She pleased him more than any of the other young women much more! He put the crown on her head He made her his queen in place of Vashti He gave a great banquet in her honor And declared a national holiday. 3

4 But she still didn t tell him that she was a Jew Mordecai told her not to And whatever Mordecai said she would do She was a very obedient girl. As for him, Mordecai, He learned of a plot to assassinate the king Two of his guards, Bigthan and Teresh, Were planning to do him in. Mordecai told Esther, who told the king, And when he found out it was true he had those two hung from the gallows. But Mordecai didn t get so much as a thank you note. Not then, anyway. But he was a patient man. He believed good things come to those who wait. Sometime later Ahasuerus promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite And made him second in command over the entire kingdom. Everybody bowed down to him, but not Mordecai And when others asked why he wouldn t say But he did say that he was a Jew. They told Haman This Mordecai, this Jew: He says he won t bow down to you. It made Haman furious He began to suspect that these Jews were trouble People who wouldn t follow the rules of the kingdom, Who wouldn t bow down to its chosen leaders. Him, for example. Drunk with power he rolled the dice, the pur, To determine on which day the Jews would die. He came to Ahasuerus with a plan: There is a people scattered throughout your kingdom Who do not abide by your laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. If it please your majesty, let an edict be issued to destroy them. I will put 10,000 talents of silver into the royal treasury to cover the cost. (two-thirds of the gross national product!) But the king took off his signet ring Handed it to Haman and said, Keep your money, 4

5 And do to these people whatever you wish. So Haman started sending out edicts On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month there will be a wholesale slaughter Of every Jewish woman, man, son, and daughter. The messengers scurried forth with the king s edict While Haman and Ahasuerus sat down to eat and drink The whole city of Susa was in an uproar! Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, began to grieve publicly. All the Jews were weeping, fasting, wearing sackcloth Esther sent proper clothes to Mordecai But he wouldn t wear them. Don t you see? You re a Jew, too! You should go to Ahasuerus, tell him to spare your people. I can t do that! He s likely to kill me! Don t think you ll be spared just because you re the queen You will die one way or another Even if you live, something inside you will die. Who knows, maybe this is why you became queen Maybe this is your moment! Esther said, Tell the Jews to fast for three days And then I will go see the king If I die, I die. Three days later she went to see the king She stood in the antechamber of the throne room where he could see her Her heart was pounding. What would he do? Is that you, Esther? and held out his golden scepter She came and touched the tip of it. What do you want, my sweet? I want you to come to my banquet, and bring Haman with you. So they came, and ate and drank, and the king said, I ll give you whatever you want, up to half my Kingdom. I want you and Haman to come to the banquet I m giving tomorrow. Haman went home very pleased with himself. But Mordecai didn t bow down to him, and it filled him with rage. He told his wife, Zeresh, and his friends about all his recent successes His fabulous wealth, his ten handsome sons, But all of it was spoiled, he said, by the fool Mordecai Here s what you should do, they said Build a gallows 75 feet tall, where everyone can see, and let him swing from it Haman liked that idea. That s just what he did immediately! That night he could hardly sleep for the sounds of construction. 5

6 But the king couldn t sleep either. He was thinking about Esther. Remembering that she had come to him about some matter He called for the records and remembered that her cousin Mordecai had saved him from an assassination attempt What was done for Mordecai? Nothing So when Haman swaggered in the next morning, ready to propose Mordecai s execution, Ahasuerus asked, What should be done for someone I wish to honor? Haman thought, Whom could he wish to honor more than me? Bring a robe the king has worn And a horse the king has ridden Let the man be paraded through town With someone leading the horse and shouting This is how the king treats the one he wishes to honor! Great, said the king, do that...for Mordecai. Oh, what a miserable time Haman had Leading that horse through the streets of Susa Shouting that despicable decree! When Haman reported back to his wife and friends they said, Uh-oh. This doesn t look good for you! And then the eunuchs came to take him to Esther s banquet. The king said, What is your request, and what is your petition? My request is for my life, And my petition is for my people. We have been sold to destruction, Slaughter and annihilation! If it were only slavery I would have kept quiet, but this! And the king said, Who did this? Esther pointed and said: This wicked Haman! Haman was terrified Ahasuerus was enraged He went out to get control of himself Haman threw himself on Esther s mercy, and on Esther! The king came back in, saw him on her couch, and said, What? Are you going to assault the queen right here in front of me? Harbona, one of the king s eunuchs, said, This villain just built a gallows to hang Mordecai. I say we hang him from it! Do it! Said the king And that is how Haman came to a miserable end. 6

7 And how Esther, Mordecai, and all God s people were saved. Every year at Purim that story is shared among faithful Jews. They dress up in costumes They read all the parts. They clap and cheer for Mordecai They boo and hiss for Haman. It s a lot of fun, Purim is, but it has a serious side. Someone has said that every Jewish Festival is about the same thing: They tried to kill us, We survived, Let s celebrate. Purim is about that, But for us it raises another kind of question. Esther didn t know, when she became queen, That she would have to risk her life to save her people. And none of us know what will be required of us. These ae interesting times. The challenge of the Book of Esther is this: When our time comes, Can we find the courage To take great risks For the sake of love? Esther stood in that antechamber with her heart pounding. She knew what the king was capable of. How he operated on impulse And whatever seemed right at the moment. If she had caught him in a bad mood, If she were seen as an interfering nuisance, It would be the end of her. And yet she was able to take that risk Because of her love for Mordecai, and for her people. Courage is a function of love. It comes from the Latin word for heart. The more you love someone or something, the more you are willing to risk. So who, or what, do you love more than anything, more than your own life? For whom, or what, would you be willing to risk it all? 7

8 I think of Jesus in that upper room Sharing a last meal with his disciples on the night he was betrayed. Surely his heart was pounding. Surely he knew what was coming next. What gave him the courage to do what he did? Love. His love for those disciples. His love for us. He said so himself: This is love, he said, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And you are my friends. Even as he said it, The blood of his ancestor Esther was running through his veins. Great love can inspire the courage to take great risks. So, what do you love that much? Whom do you love that much? And will you be ready, To do what s required, When you come to Such a time as this? Jim Somerville