July 19, 2015 Trinity Lutheran Church, Cottage Grove, OR James L. Markus For Such a Time as This Esther 4:1-17 Look at these images. (1989 Tiananmen Square. Priests during Ukraine's Jan 2014 political crisis.) Those are examples of individuals taking a stand for what they thought was right. On the other hand, studies have shown how individuals quickly back down from doing what is right when the crowd or an expert is against them. But when you stand for what is right, Jesus is standing with you. In our study of Esther, we have now come to the most famous line of the entire book. We will hear Mordecai say to Queen Esther, And who knows whether you have to come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Looking at Esther 4 page 412. When we left off last week, things are dire for the Jews, not only in Susa the capital of Persia but throughout the Persian Empire which included the land of Israel. Under the jealous influence of his high official Haman, King Ahasuerus had allowed Haman to write a decree for the destruction of an unnamed people group in his kingdom. Not only did the King not know the people he had just condemned he also did not know that it included his Queen Esther.
After making the decree, the King and Haman sat down to drink, seemingly celebrating the destruction of this people. Such a calloused and evil attitude was seen in our nation this week. An undercover camera recorded the evil intent of a doctor at a Planned Parenthood clinic which has as its purpose the destruction of so called unwanted babies. This desire to destroy human life is not some barbaric action of ancient history; nor confined to Hitler and Nazi Germany; it exists today even in our own country in clinics and city streets. And people celebrate it. How will we respond? How did Mordecai and Esther respond? Read Est. 4:1-3. You can imagine how Mordecai and the Jews felt. If a death warrant was put out on you and your people you also would weep and wail. We ve heard such wailing in our day from those who have fled their homes from the murderous approach of ISIS. We would do the same. Applying sackcloth and ashes is not part of our custom, but for Mordecai and the Jews, it intensified their mourning. It is especially now we would expect God to show up in the book of Esther. But again, He appears to be absent. But I remind you, silence does not mean absence. What is Esther s response? She doesn t know what is going on. She is so isolated in the palace that she is not aware of the decree. But Mordecai gets the attention of her servants.
Est 4:4-8 Mordecai passed on word about the decree and had a copy of the same. It was to be given to Esther with the request that she approach the King and intercede on behalf of her people so that he would change his mind. Mordecai has just outed Esther as a Jew. Est.4:9-11 Look at what we learn about Queen Esther s relationship with the King. They haven t seen each other for 30 days. Let this again remove any romantic or fairytale images of Esther becoming Queen. 30 days without any contact would suggest that Esther has fallen out of favor which explains her reluctance to approach the King. She informs Mordecai of her concern. Anyone who approaches the King without invitation could be killed. Earlier, Vashti was banished for not coming when requested. Esther may be banished for coming when not requested. In addition, she doesn t need to tell Mordecai that any law of the Medes and the Persians cannot be reversed. Why should she risk her life on a fruitless task? Listen to the dire warning that Mordecai gives to Esther. Est. 4:12-14
Mordecai makes the point that if Esther remains silent, she will be killed with the rest of the Jews anyway. And if she keeps silent, but deliverance comes in another way, she will perish presumably under God s judgment. Apparently, Mordecai is remembering God s promise to Abraham, that a great nation will come from him. In the midst of tough times, always cling to the promises of God. You might wonder why Mordecai is then lamenting and wearing sackcloth if he believes that deliverance will come. Yes, he believes that ultimately deliverance will come, but it will still come with a price and loss of human life. And then we hear Mordecai s famous line. Perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Esther had been blessed. Though orphaned and living in a strange land, she had been selected as Queen of Persia with all the perks of good food, servants, comfort, leisure. But blessed for what purpose? When blessings come your way, those blessings are not just for you. When promotions come your way, those promotions do not come so that you can simply better yourself. Any privilege you have received is the work of God. It is for a higher purpose. When you are placed in position of honor or authority some honor at school or on a team or in the workplace or in student government or community organization or the church that isn t for your benefit. It is for the benefit of others.
What will Esther do? Est 4:15-17. This is the Esther fast that Pastor Masih told us about. Three days without food and water. It is described but not prescribed. We have no command from God to undergo such a fast, but one is free too. Though not mentioned here, fasting was accompanied by prayer. People give up food and water as a statement that there is something that they need even more. Their hunger and thirst serves as a trigger to help them focus on their greater need. The people interceded for Esther that she would have courage to approach the King and that he would be favorably disposed to her request. If I perish. I perish. Esther was willing to suffer the consequences come what may. There are a number of points of application for us. In times of grief, I have never laid in sackcloth and ashes, nor torn my perfectly good clothes. In truth, I have unintentionally ripped out my pants and that is pretty embarrassing and humbling. What are we to make of this practice? In times of grief what do we do? Often times we eat. It is okay if the griever doesn t feel like eating. It is okay for the griever to embrace the pain. More important than outward shows of grief are true sorrow for sin and genuine repentance of the heart. The prophet Joel relayed God s command: Rend
your heart and not your garments (Joel 2:13). The One who sees the heart requires more than external ritual. And the command came with a promise: Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity (Joel 2:13; cf. Psalm 34:18). May God give us a broken heart for sin. Secondly, Esther was fearful of approaching the King. In our sin, we should be very fearful of approaching a holy God. It seems like people have lost the fear of death and meeting their Maker. None of us would like to stand before this congregation and have all of our sins revealed, why don t people have a sense of fear, humility shame over the thought of one day standing before God? They presume upon His grace. They presume upon His love, forgiveness and mercy. But there is only one way in which God has exhibited his grace to us. It is only in Jesus. For such a time as this. St. Paul tells us that in fullness of time, Jesus came. Jesus is the fulfillment of all God s promises. He knew what it would be like to stand before His Father in our sin. That is why he asked that the cup be passed from him; that he didn t have to be the one who suffered for the sins of the world. Jesus is the only one who could do it. But he didn t go to the cross with the attitude, Well no one else will do it.
You ve heard me say, Don t do something only because no one else is going to do it. There are times when no one else can or will do something, but that is not the reason to do it. The reason to do it is that God has called you. It is true that no one else could suffer and die for the sins of the world than Jesus. But Jesus didn t go to the cross because no one else would or could do it. He went to the cross out of love for his Father and you. He knew that he was put in that place to be the one, the only one. The only one who could intercede for us so that we do not suffer the sentence of eternal death. Because of Jesus, we can boldly come before our Heavenly Father. Thirdly, now God is at work in our lives. God uses faint hearted people. He orchestrates the events of the world and our lives to put us in the right place at the right time. Keep an eye out for the hidden hand of God. In the gospel lesson, Jesus had gotten away with his disciples for some RnR. A huge crowd shows up. They re hungry. The disciples want Jesus to dismiss the crowd. Jesus says, they are here for such a time as this and has his disciples feed the crowd (Mark 6:30 44). All of our comings and goings are lived out under God. We are part of bigger puzzle that so often we can t even see. But there are times when all the circumstances, opportunities, events have aligned in such a way that you are especially aware that God has ordained it. There are times when you think
someone should do something and you realize that you are the one. You realize that your past experiences, training makes you uniquely qualified to be used by God at that moment. It is not about you. It is not your moment. It is God s moment. While it is true that if you don t act, God will still find a way to accomplish his will, don t let that be an excuse to keep you from doing what you know you are to do. For such a time as this.