Matthew Broyles, pastoral resident 11:00 service Wilshire Baptist Church 27 September 2015 Dallas, Texas The Irony of Power Esther 7:1-10 It s been said, Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. 1 As you know, Pope Francis came to the United States this week. Perhaps the most powerful religious figure in the world comes to the most powerful nation in the world. It s the first time a pope has spoken to a session of Congress and he made it count, discussing issues of religious freedom, social justice, and the transcendent dignity of the human being. In his opening comments to Congress he challenged them to strive for the common good and enable the country to grow as a nation. He said, A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. 2 He then put his own words into practice by forgoing eating lunch with lawmakers to eat with 300 homeless people in Washington DC. The pope could eat wherever he wants and with whomever he wants and he chose to eat with homeless people. This seems to go against all perceptions of people who hold positions of power. Oftentimes when we think of those who are in power, we think of people with money, with influence; people who worked hard to get to where they are. We think of people like the President of the United States, an executive in a large corporation, a school administrator or teacher, or the pastor of a church. There s no doubt these people have power, but when you really think about who has power, we all do. There is always someone we have influence on. There are always people who will listen to 1 Some attribute to Abraham Lincoln but likely not Lincoln who said it. 2 http://www.vox.com/2015/9/24/9391549/pope-remarks-full-text
what we have to say, no matter how crazy it may be. Think of some of the crazy people who have had so much power over others: David Koresh, Jim Jones, Hitler. It s hard to believe people with such radical beliefs could have so much power, but they did. The issue with power is not having it, but how one goes about obtaining power and how one s power is used. Do we gain power by forcing our beliefs and way of life on others? Do we obtain power by threatening people with their jobs or other consequences? Do we gain power by manipulating peoples emotions? Or do we gain power by doing what is right? By serving others and doing what s best for the whole rather than only for ourselves? The irony of power is that power packs more punch when we empower rather than when we power over. This doesn t mean we don t have ourselves in mind when we make decisions, but we think about how we can best go about making decisions that benefit all people involved rather than only benefitting ourselves. The power dynamics at play in Esther are pretty incredible. King Ahasuerus, also called Xerxes, is King of Persia. Queen Vashti gets deposed because she wouldn t come at the king s command. So Esther, an orphaned cousin of Mordecai, who helps save the king s life, becomes Queen. Xerxes has men who plotted to kill him, so he has them hung and appoints Haman to be second in command. The newly received power goes straight to Haman s head. All the king s servants bowed down to him and did obeisance to him except for Mordecai, which infuriated Haman. Because Haman was so extremely powerful in his mind, he thought it was beneath him to kill only Mordecai, so he finds out Mordecai is a Jew and decides to destroy all Jews in Persia. Xerxes, being a gutless wonder, gives the literal seal of approval with his signet ring when Haman tells him the Jews aren t keeping the king s laws. Letters are sent out to all regions of Persia letting them know the day the destruction of the Jews is going to take place. Mordecai finds out and asks Esther to go before the king and let him know Haman s plan so the Jews would be saved. This risk is 2
HUGE for Esther because if she goes to the king and he doesn t offer the golden scepter, she could be killed instantly. Fortunately for Esther, she was quite good looking and the king was a pushover so when he saw her he asked her to come to him. This is where we are in the story today. Esther risked her life and is meeting with the king and Haman to stand up for the Jews, the ones who are already exiled to Persia, the ones who have already experienced persecution because of their beliefs, the people who are about to be destroyed. Haman is using his power to gain more power, to power over and destroy. His power is selfish power and it ends up getting him hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. When power is demanded, coerced, or manipulated, it isn t power at all. True power comes when we use our position of being in power to benefit and empower others, even if it means less benefit for us personally. Esther is using her power as Queen to stand up for her fellow Jews who are soon to be destroyed because of Haman s selfish and abusive power. She risks her life to go before the king, has a banquet and keeps the Jews from being killed. She could have easily told Mordecai to back off. She was in a great position of comfort and luxury. She could do anything and have anything she wanted. They didn t even know she was a Jew before she told them. When power is used for the good of the whole, it inspires rather than stifles. It encourages rather than discourages. It speaks up rather than remaining silent. It unifies rather than divides. It embraces what is different rather than being afraid of what s different. We live in a time in our history where we can be seduced into thinking we are where we need to be because we ve come so far. We can choose to settle with where we ve come or we can choose to stand up and speak up against the injustices that still exist in our world, our country and our city. 3
It s so easy for us to just sit back and enjoy lives of luxury. It s simple. It s comfortable. It keeps us safe but when you think about it, sitting back and doing nothing is about the most un-christian thing we can do. Speaking of un-christian, has anyone noticed I haven t used the word God, yet? But what s interesting is the book of Esther doesn t either. However, it was still chosen to be in the Bible, our very carefully selected books of powerful Scriptures that were chosen to help us know about the story of God. Why is that? There are certain mentionings that seem to imply God even though it doesn t directly reference God. Earlier in the story Mordecai tells Esther, Perhaps you are here for such a time as this implying God is behind this, ordaining this whole event. But maybe it s also because it s a great example of how God works in the world and in our lives. The Spirit of God is on the move, ridding the world of racism, bringing justice to victims of injustice, loving instead of hating, sacrificing rather than living comfortably. There are events taking place all over Dallas and the world that may not have the name God or Jesus written on them and the people who are doing the acts of justice may not even identify with God. Here we see the irony of power once again. God is powerful because God empowers us to take part in God s mission. God even uses people and events that don t mention God to work behind the scenes, to let the Spirit move in peoples lives to accomplish the goal of making earth look just a little bit more like heaven each day we live. Isn t that why we have a relationship with God? To make earth look a little more like heaven? Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, came from heaven to earth to show us how to love one another. He performed miracles, healed the sick, and hung out with the sinners. He even gave up eating with the religious powers of the day to eat with homeless people. 4
Jesus was God incarnate. He could have had anything he wanted. He had all the power in the universe and chose to empower people, to serve people, rather than be served. Jesus is not a god who is sitting up in an ivory tower waiting to punish us when we mess up or threaten our relationship. People follow Jesus because he is with people, walking beside us as we live our lives. Offering us peace, love and grace, washing our feet and offering forgiveness when failure is certain. Jesus chose to use his power to benefit all of humankind. Because of his great love for us, he died so that we could live. As followers of Christ, we are called to be Esthers, to use our power to benefit the common good, not just what benefits our families and us. We are to go where he goes. We are to lead the way he leads. We are to serve rather than be served. In the Dallas Morning News this last week there was an article about the late Sam Tasby, a civil rights pioneer in Dallas who was having an elementary school named after him. Tasby, who died Aug. 16, was the main plaintiff in a 1970 lawsuit against DISD that empowered a federal court to halt policies of racial segregation in the district about 16 years after the Supreme Court ruled the practice was unconstitutional. When he was asked what he did to merit the honor he said, Oh, I did nothing. He was pressed a little more to try and figure out what he did and he simply said, I did nothing. I just did what was right. Paul Zevallos, the school s first principal, said Tasby was at the heart of the school community, appearing at school dances, Black History Month events, Cinco de Mayo celebrations and other functions. He was just always available, always there [and] wanted to do whatever he could for the school, Zevallos said. Sam Tasby could have remained silent, but he chose to speak up in the lawsuit that ended segregation. It was possible that he would have never seen the benefit. It s possible that he could have been overlooked and no one pay attention. Even so, he chose to do what was right and as a result, the schools were integrated. He 5
was 93 years old and the school was named after him. He could have basked in the glory of that honor, gloating about it, using it to his advantage, but he simply chose to make himself available. Jesus used his power to bring heaven to earth so that we could have abundant life. May we use the power we ve received to empower those who seem powerless. Sam Tasby had power. Esther had power. Jesus had power. You have power. Use your power to bring heaven to earth in such a time as this. Amen. 6