Loving God, you place your people in the right place at the right time in order to bring salvation.  Grant us an awareness of those who need our help, and grant us the courage to act when we have the chance; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            A bit of a survey question to begin today: How many of you are familiar with the whole story of Esther?...  And for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, how much sense did today’s reading make without knowing the rest of the story?...  Let’s fill in some of the blanks to give us all a better idea of what’s going on.

         The king who is mentioned in today’s reading is Ahasuerus, king of the Persian Empire.  Many of the Jewish people are living in exile in Susa and in other parts of the empire.  Esther, who is the queen, is Jewish, but she has kept her heritage hidden from her servants and from the king.  Mordecai, who is mentioned frequently, is Esther’s uncle or cousin, and raised Esther as his own daughter after her parents died.

         In today’s reading, a decree is mentioned that was issued by the king.  This decree states that on a certain day, citizens of the empire in all of its provinces are encouraged to kill as many Jews as they can.  This is why Mordecai and others are lamenting and sitting around in sackcloth and ashes.  This is also why Esther is asked to speak up for her people.

         You will probably want to know why the king would issue such a decree.  There is this other guy named Haman who is pretty full of himself.  He is one of the king’s officials, and most people bow down to him when they see him.  However, Mordecai refuses to do so, because he will bow to God alone.  Thus, Haman goes to the king and convinces him that the Jewish people do not follow the king’s laws, but follow their own laws instead. He also promises to pay lots of money into the king’s treasury in return for the destruction of the Jews.

         All of this is the situation when Esther is asked by Mordecai to go and intercede with the king. It seems fairly obvious that Esther has never thought of herself as being in a position to make a difference. She grew up essentially as a nobody – both an orphan and a female from a religious minority in the Persian Empire. It doesn’t seem that her view of herself has changed much since she became queen.  Now, however, she can make a difference, but she will need to risk her own life in order to be able to do so.

         It is significant, however, that she calls upon the Jewish people to support her through fasting and prayer.  When she goes to the king, it is not just as an individual who happens to be queen, but with the prayers of her people supporting her.

         Most of us are fortunate enough not to have been in a situation where we or our neighbours are being threatened. However, many in our world have lived through similar situations.  There is a famous quote about speaking out that comes from a Lutheran pastor named Martin Niemöller.  It goes like this:  

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.

This quote comes out of his own experience under the Nazi regime.

         For us, though, it doesn’t have to be a life and death situation in order to make our lives count. God places all of us in a certain time and place, each with different abilities and different spheres of influence. Any of us, at any time, could be in the right place at the right time in order to make a difference in the lives of other people.

         This could mean, for example, standing up for somebody who is being bullied.  This could mean challenging those who are spewing hatred toward other groups of people, or making a point of including those who are on the outside looking in.  This could mean refusing to buy in to the consumerism all around us that helps the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  This could mean allowing our faith to dictate our choices, rather than conforming to the surrounding culture. These things, and others, are what it means to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

         These are not necessarily easy things to do, but neither was it easy for Esther.  That’s why she asked her people to pray for her before she took a deep breath and plunged right in.  In fact, we also would do well to ask others to pray for us when we find ourselves confronting a difficult situation.  We can do so much more with God working through us than we can all by ourselves.

         In Esther’s case, the prayers of her people were answered.  The king held out the golden scepter to her so that she did not die, and she managed to get another decree issued that allowed the Jewish people to defend themselves and to kill any who attacked them.  This entire turn of events is celebrated at the feast of Purim, which is inaugurated at the end of the book of Esther.

         Esther put herself out there in order to save her people in that time and in that place.  This is no small thing, but Jesus has done even more. Jesus also put himself out there in order to save his people – not just the Jewish people, but all people, including us.  Jesus has saved us, not only from death, but also from the power of sin and the power of evil.  We have been set free – free from condemnation, free from fear of death, free from slavery to sin and to greed and to power.  Let us then use our freedom for the sake of our neighbours – for all who long for the love of Christ.  Amen.

Advent 2 (NL 1)                                Esther 4:1-17

December 9, 2018                           Matthew 5:13-16

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved