We continue our series on Esther titled, “For Such A Time As This.” Living the vision is this week’s emphasis. The vision is to live a faithful life in an unfaithful culture. Living the Vision in kindness and generosity is significant in making a positive, hopeful, joyful, and non-anxious impact in society and the lives of others. As you recall, Esther is the story of the Jews protecting themselves from persecution during the Babylonian Captivity. It is a story filled with suspense, conspiracy, and bad decisions all being used for God’s purpose. It’s a story of a people delivered. It was a complicated time.
Thinking about living the vision is important. But actually living the vision is most important. Thinking about the vision develops new attitudes and expands one’s worldview. Living the vision puts attitudes and worldview into action. Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man. In her book Quiet Strength she writes:
When I sat down on the bus that day, I had no idea history was being made. I was only thinking of getting home. But I had made up my mind. After so many years of being a victim of the mistreatment my people suffered, not giving up my seat—and whatever I had to face afterwards—was not important. I did not feel any fear sitting there. I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up—or in my case, sit down. So I refused to move.[1]
Living the vision of being free, a person created equal to everyone else, caused Rosa Parks to live such a vision in kindness, compassion, and non-violently. Remember, the purpose of the book of Esther is to help us understand that God is active in all aspects of life. The Book of Esther helps us see that God positions each one of us to accomplish God’s will. Now what is the vision God has for us through the life of Esther?
King Xerxes, Haman, and Esther Have Dinner Together (Esther 5:1-8)
Esther 5:1-8 articulates the vision God placed in the heart of Mordecai and was implemented by Esther. That vision is living a faithful life in an unfaithful culture. Esther takes the initiative to raise the issue about the Jews and Haman’s plot against them to King Xerxes. Esther takes the lead and Mordecai takes a step back. Esther dons her regalia as queen and enters inner court with the throne room door open. Queen Esther catches the king’s attention. The king asks Esther what her request is and he states she could ask for half of his kingdom. She asks Xerxes that he and Haman join her for a banquet that she has prepared. King Xerxes is delighted with the plan. At the banquet, Esther does not make the accusation against Haman. The plot is thickening. Instead she answers the question about whether she would like half of Xerxes’ kingdom with this: “If I have found favor with the king, may Haman and the king come again tomorrow for another banquet. There I will answer the king’s request of me.
Haman Becomes Ill (5:9-14)
Esther 5:9-14 describes Haman leaving the banquet. When he passed Mordecai at the Palace Gate, Mordecai did not kneel before Haman. Mordecai never knelt and bowed to Haman. He was faithful to God and kept his integrity intact. Haman went directly home. When he arrived home, Haman’s expansive ego took over and he rages on about Mordecai and his disrespect by not bowing to him when he walked by. Haman’s friends and wife instructed Haman to build “gallows” some eighty feet high. The Hebrew is literally translated “a tall tree trunk or pole”. Yes, this is how the Persians disposed of their enemies. By impalement. The friends and his wife tell Haman to build the “gallows” first and then tell King Xerxes to hang Mordecai on it. Impalement adds an additional component of disgrace. Haman was implementing his plan. He could no longer be patient. Mordecai was already a condemned man but the edict would not take effect for a year. Haman wanted Mordecai disposed of now. With this plan, Haman had his damaged ego placated. He could now go to the banquet the next day with the king in good spirits.
Christians can learn much from the journey that Mordecai and Esther undertook of living the vision of being faithful in an unfaithful culture. Mordecai, Esther, and the Jews in captivity in Persia, known as “the Diaspora”, learned how to live a productive life in such a time of threatened extermination.
How do we live the vision of being faithful in an unfaithful culture in North America? Daily, North American Christians must deal with the tensions that arise between the full Gospel and our individualistic and consumeristic culture. Daily, we have options. We can deny there’s any tension in this regard and become like “the nations”. Do we cut ourselves off from contact and relationship with outside influences, becoming isolationist? Or do we seek and discover a compromise, which adapts to the culture without losing the integrity of our faith, just like Mordecai and Esther?
Think with me now. Yes, limited control is the key. It’s like steering a canoe only from the front. It can be done, but it is exhausting. Mordecai and Esther were steering from the front. Neither of them steered the government from the back. Yes, Esther was queen and Mordecai was the king’s right-hand person. Esther and Mordecai had limited control. And they remained faithful in an unfaithful culture.
God has purposed a vision for us to live having limited power. Why, so we remain faithful to the One whose name is YHWH, “I am who I am”. Lean into God when you feel out of control, because you are. Trust Jesus when trusting yourself isn’t working, because it isn’t. Take Jesus’ hand for it is strong and reliable, because the hand of an individualistic and consumeristic cultural promise is weak and unreliable. Bank your hope on the One who knows you the best and loves you the most. Amen!
This sermon was preached the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday,15 September 2024
by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Sanctuary
at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas
Copyright Ó 2024
Steven M. Marsh
All rights reserved.
[1]Today in the Word (Spring 2002), 19.
