Why not Me?
NL Year 1 • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
I don’t envy Esther. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be placed in that kind of predicament? As a side/background note, which is important, is that her uncle Mordecai has told Esther since before she became queen she needed to hide her Jewish faith and identity. Now Mordecai is telling her she needs to speak out about the plight of the Jewish people which is mortally harmful for her for two reasons: First, is that if she does speak out on their behalf, she almost certainly will expose herself as Jewish, the very people who have been ordered to be wiped out. Second, as she very pointedly points out, is that if she does plead on their behalf and has not been summoned she will be executed according to the law. Yet, if she doesn’t speak out she will be dooming her own people. Mordecai also seems to indicate that she will be included in that doom as well even if she doesn’t speak out. The situation honestly seems like no matter what she does she is likely going to die. So the question becomes, do you risk dying for the possibility of rescuing a nation of people, or do you keep quiet and hope that you aren’t exposed and that at the very least you alone will survive this horrific act? I’m telling you, I don’t envy Esther.
While Esther has a very specific and concrete predicament that she has to sort out herself, I know that we face similar problems in our own lives. While our decisions, actions, and words may not change the fate of an entire race of people, I do believe that they can affect and change the lives of the people around us. What we say and what we do can have both large and small impacts on both friends and strangers. We have to make those decisions of whether or not we will engage with those around us that are in need. Just like Esther we can choose to help or can can choose to sit back and watch and hope that it doesn’t affect us. Or we can think that perhaps we are not the ones that have been called to act or help. Perhaps there is someone else who is better equipped or has the right skills. Maybe there is another person who knows what to say or has the right connections and that we don’t need to do anything about it. Perhaps we wait and watch for someone else to come who is better equipped for the situation.
Sometimes I think that is what we do during the season of Advent. Advent is a beautiful time where it is not yet Christmas, but it is coming. Last week if you were with us we talked about Habakkuk and in that we saw how he waited to see what God was about to do. God called Habakkuk to not just wait and watch, but to also become active in that time also. God wanted him to write down publicly what was coming so that others would be encouraged by God’s words through Habakkuk. So for him it wasn’t just waiting but engagement also. Advent is waiting, but it’s also engagement. It’s not just waiting for the light of the world to come into the world, but for us to actively be involved in sharing and bringing about that light.
I say that because we are people who live in the light and who already know the whole story. I don’t say that to try to diminish or skip the seasons of Advent and Christmas, but to give us greater perspective. We know that Christ came into this world to be the light, but we also see that Christ passed that light on to us, and that was the plan the whole time. That we were meant to do more than Christ ever could do. Jesus, as one person, could only do so much. We hear in John 14:12 “12 I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father.” And we also hear in Matthew’s great commission that we are called to go out into the world, to the ends of the earth to baptize and teach in his name.
We are called to live into and spread the kingdom of God here on this earth, not to wait for the time when Christ will come again to make that happen. I know our text says that Mordecai says someone else will come if Esther doesn’t act, but honestly who would have the same position and ability to change the outcome of the whole people of Israel other than Esther? Likewise, who are we waiting for to come and change the world around us? If not us, then who? Instead of saying ‘who’ why not ask the question, “Why not me? Why can’t it be me?” Perhaps you have been placed in a person’s life, or here at Bethlehem, or in the community you live in for such a time as this. Why not me?
I want to be so bold to say that it is you. You have been called by God, you have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and you have gifts and talents with which to serve the people and the world around you. You might not be an Esther who saves all her people. You might not be a Gandhi or a Mother Theresa. You might not be a Martin Luther King Jr. But the world doesn’t have to be saved all at once on a large scale. I know that with God you have the ability and power to affect and maybe even change the life of one person. That is enough. Even if you don’t know that you did it, that’s ok too. It’s not about recognition or accomplishment, but about knowing that you lived into, with the best of your ability, the calling of being a child of God.
As we live into this Advent season I pray that we will be transformed like Esther was transformed, knowing that God can and does work through us to bring about the kingdom of God each and every day. And if you are someone who cannot help others because you are the person who needs help then I pray that you would also take the courage and strength of God to speak up and speak to someone, so that we can lift you up as a community of faith. Knowing that through it all we have all been called to serve and help one another. And I pray that we all know that the love of God, the care of this community, and the light of Christ is meant for and available for all of us and for this whole world so that one day there will be joy everlasting for each and every person. Amen.