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    Sep 01, 2019

    Esther: A Story of Palace Intrigue – Part 2

    Esther: A Story of Palace Intrigue – Part 2

    Passage: Esther 8:1-8

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Theology is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "religious beliefs and theory when systematically developed." Although God is not mentioned even once in the Book of Esther, the theology of the Hebrews was based on God as always being present and active. Hebrew theology, then, sees God's activity in the story.

    Do you remember that last week I said that when the king of Persia made a decree, it could not be revoked? 

    We left off last Sunday where Esther had saved the Jews and Haman received his comeuppance. Do you know what was left hanging? Yes, there was a cliffhanger worthy of NCIS or Game of Thrones. There had been a royal decree that all the Jews were to be killed – remember?

    Once again, Esther went to the king, unbidden, and begged for both attention and mercy, and he capitulated. Notice that he had retrieved the royal signet ring he had given to Haman and put it on Mordecai’s finger so that now Mordecai could seal royal orders.

    I got to wondering. Is this like Blue Bloods? How many times have you heard Frank Ragan say that he didn’t want to know something that his staff did so he could deny if necessary? I wondered if King Xerxes overturned the execution decree on the grounds that it was really Haman who decreed their deaths, but it wasn’t quite that simple. The story says that Mordecai wrote letters to every community of Jews in Persia, giving them permission to defend themselves on a single day – the very day that Haman and his posse had decreed that the Jews would die. The attacks still came, but contrary to law, the Jews were given the authority to defend themselves. And they defended themselves well, defeating every attacking force. But the scripture says they did not touch the plunder.

    They did not touch the plunder. Did that make you wonder? Why not? They won. Why not carry away some additional benefits? My first thought was that they didn’t want to dirty their hands, but that didn’t satisfy my curiosity, so I went looking. In the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible and in a couple of other sources, I found an interesting answer – something I had long forgotten:

    The Jews’ refusal to touch the plunder might be designed to demonstrate that the slaughter was not motivated by greed. But it seems more likely that their restraint reflects the fact that the conflict is presented as a showdown between Israel and Amalek. Since God had forbidden the Israelites from taking plunder from the Amalekites, they took no spoil from their enemies in this battle either.[1]

    Furthermore, this was likely related to the fact that King Saul had been judged a very poor king, and one of his faults was to attack and plunder – a trait that got worse with time and was long lamented by the Israelites.

    Imagine the relief. Imagine the gratitude. That day became another holy festival day – another event – to celebrate in the life of the Israelites. It is called Purim, and it is another day when the Jews celebrate God’s saving grace in their lives. It is called Purim because Haman cast lots to determine the day when the Jews would be annihilated – but it became the day when the Jews, through the wisdom and courage of Esther and Mordecai were again saved from disaster – an event not unlike Passover, the keystone of Jewish faith.

    It is days like Purim when the Jews remember and rehearse what God has done for them – when they thank God for saving them.

    We are coming into the fall season. There are already many fall observance products available in the stores. As I was thinking about how the Jews celebrated Purim, I realized we need to consider this: it’s not too early to prepare for Christmas – the time when we remember and rehearse what God has done for us in Jesus. How will you remember and rehearse so that your children and grandchildren celebrate how Jesus came to show us how to live? We don’t like the commercialization of Christmas. There are many who celebrate based solely on the fact that it’s a holiday and a lot of fun – and it should be! How others celebrate is really not our concern.

    But you know, it is truly up to us – those who profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ – to celebrate Christmas in such a way that we both remember and emulate. The remembering isn’t too hard. The emulating can get a little twisted up, though. When we get stuck on a romanticized idea of the Christ Child, it is so easy to live out a romanticized idea of Christianity.

    Jesus came to those who needed his love, his saving, his grace, his mercy, his freedom. He didn’t come to bless human rules or prejudices or attempts to acquire power or control or wealth. 

    Esther and Mordecai didn’t know Jesus, and their story doesn’t even mention God, but they knew how to be Christ-like. What do you know!?!

    [1] NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible.  Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.  All Rights Reserved.