Advent 2 (NL1) John B. Valentine
Esther 4:1-17 December 4, 2022

“FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS .... “

Quick trivia test before we begin the sermon this morning.

How many books are in the Bible? Sixty-six ... right???

And how many books in the Bible are named for women? Two ... Ruth and Esther.

And how many books in the Bible contain not even one mention of God? One ... the Book of Esther.

Seriously ...

• There is no mention of God anywhere in Scripture lesson that Donald just read us ... or anywhere else in the whole of the Book of Esther for that matter ...

• There is no mention of Jesus anywhere in this morning’s Scripture lesson or in the whole of the Book of Esther for that matter ...

• And there is no mention of the Holy Spirit anywhere in this morning’s Scripture lesson or in the whole of the Book of Esther for that matter either!

In fact ... there actually isn’t even so much as a reference or an allusion to anything that might be considered even kinda sorta ‘religious’ in the Book of Esther at all!

But Esther is still in the Bible ...

And Esther chapter four is the lesson for today.

And since ... for better or worse ... you have called me to be one who expounds upon the Word of God among you ...

Which means that you have handed over to me (and Pastor Pam) the responsibility for taking this Word of God stuff ... and make it a Word of God for you ... even this seemingly “godless” stuff from Esther Chapter Four ...

So let’s get on with it!

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Actually ... earlier this week ... I was asked by someone how and why it was that the world has become SO petty and SO evil in recent days.

And the first thought that flashed through my head was that this person to whom I was talking didn’t know their history and that they didn’t know their Bible ...

Because it would appear that we human beings have had a penchant for the petty and the evil for quite some time!

Take ... for instance ... that recent rash of antisemitism that has reared its ugly head in the news in recent days:

• A former president inviting an unabashed white nationalist and antisemite to share a meal with him ...

• A musician who goes by the name of Ye somehow deciding it is okay to super-impose a swastika on a Star of David and call it “art” ...

• An NBA basketball player issuing a classic non-apology for his support of a so-called ‘documentary film’ that claims that Jews control the media and that the Holocaust never happened.

It is appalling ... it is petty ... it is disgusting ... it is evil to be sure. But it hasn’t ‘become’ that way just recently.

No ... tragically ... lamentably ... it has been that way for a long LONG time.

Antisemitism has a history that is both deep and wide ...

SO deep and SO wide in fact ... that it led Tevye to remark in Fiddler on the Roof ... “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”

Seriously ...

• Long before Kanye West and Kyrie Irving and Nick Fuentes ...
• Long before Adolf Hitler and Auschwitz and Kristalnacht ...
• Long before the antisemitic treatises of Martin Luther in the 1500's
• Long before the expulsion of all Jews from France in the 1300's ...
• Long before the massacre of a Jewish community by Muhammad in the 600's even ...

There was a fellow named Haman ... who may go down in history as the first recorded anti-Semite.

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You see ... the Book of Esther which Donald read for us from ... is set in the country of Persia ... Iran as we call it right now ... some four or five hundred years before the birth of Jesus ... and it tells the story of ... lo and behold ... a woman named Esther!

It’s a story which begins with this total blow-out of a royal party thrown by the Emperor ... that lasts a full one-hundred-and-eighty days.

And at one point during that party ... the emperor holds his own rendition of a Miss Universe pageant to find himself a new wife.

And ... as it turns out ... the Emperor finds himself smitten with this beautiful Jewish orphan lass by the name of Esther.

And so Esther becomes the Emperor’s new wife ... but ... at the advisement of her uncle Mordecai ... she doesn’t reveal that she is a Jew.

Meanwhile ... there’s this fellow by the name of Haman ... that same fellow I referenced earlier ... who gets himself appointed Viceroy by the Emperor ...

Which means that he is the chief deputy of the Emperor ... and can do just about anything he darn well pleases.

And so everyone is the capital lives in fear of Haman and his decrees.

But Mordecai ... Esther’s uncle ... gets crosswise with Haman ...

And things escalate lickety-split ... and by the end of chapter three ... Haman has gotten the Emperor to a decree ordering the execution of ALL the Jews in the Empire ... young and old ... men, women and children ... on one particular day.

A one-day event that will bring about the end of the history of the people of God.

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Now ... to this point in the story ... what we have is this potent, potent reminder of just how petty and how evil people can actually be.

Power has gone to Haman’s head ... or ... as Lord Acton duly noted ... power corrupted ... because absolute power corrupts absolutely!

But don’t be deceived into thinking that it is just truly ‘evil’ people like the Hamans and the Hitlers of the world who would act this way ...

No ... there are “good church people” who have turned a blind eye to all sorts of injustices over the years ...

• accepting slavery ...
• inflaming hatred ...
• fomenting fears ...
• accommodating abuse ...
• tolerating atrocities ...

And our inaction in the face of all that injustice has brought judgment rightly down upon us.

But what follows in this story is how people REACT and RESPOND in the face of such horrific realities.

You see ... Mordecai ... for his part ... refuses to quietly submit to the powers of the age ... and he challenges his niece to do he same.

To which Esther responds in a way that is frighteningly familar to some things that I have said over the years ....

“Come on, Uncle Mordecai ... do you HAVE to put up such a fuss? Can’t you do this in a less confrontational way? Let's be reasonable here .... ”

It’s like Esther is channeling that famous quotation from a fellow named Martin Niemöller ... who was a Lutheran pastor theologian in Germany during the time of the Third Reich:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out ... because I was not a socialist.

“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out ... because I was not a trade unionist.

“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out ... because I was not a Jew.

“Then they came for me ... and there was no one left to speak for me."

But Mordecai refuses to be silent … and pleads with his niece Esther to speak up as well ...

Arguing that even though it might not feel safe to her to speak up ... that her silence will ultimately mean her own death sentence as well.

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It’s really a fascinating interchange that we have ... that we heard ... as this morning’s scripture lesson.

On the one hand ... you have Mordecai ... arguing with his niece ...

• that she has to stand up ...
• that she has to speak out ...
• that she has to confront the evil that has been planned.

On the other hand ... you have Esther ... dear Esther ... this bewildered young woman ... who feels herself to be utterly powerless. After all ...

• she’s seen just enough to know that she’s a woman living in a man’s world ...

• she’s seen just enough to know that the only thing she did to get to where she is was to have won a beauty contest ... and caught the Emperor’s eye ...

• she’s seen just enough to know that the power plays in the palace are WAY beyond her paygrade ... and that the Emperor has a track-record of ridding himself of wives who question his decisions.

Mordecai is bold ... Esther is cautious ...

Mordecai is decisive ... Esther is hesitant ...

Mordecai is all in ... Esther is still counting her chips.

But then Mordecai says something that re-frames the conversation ... that memorable ... unforgettable ... line:

“Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

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Secretly ... I kind of hope that those words make your stomach tighten and your breath falter just as much as Esther’s must have when Mordecai spoke them all these years ago.

“Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Perhaps you have been given these skills and experiences which you have ...

These gifts and talents ...

These resources and privileges ...

This particular place in life ...

So that at just this very moment

You could do what no one else could do ...

You could be what no one else could be ...

You might make happen what no one else can make happen ...

That God made you just as you are because God wanted someone just like you.

That perhaps you have come to this place ... to this moment ... to this time ... to this challenge ... for just such a time as this.

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Mordecai’s words found a place in Esther’s heart.

May they find a place in ours.