Esther

Note: Consider reading the Common English Bible, the Message and the NRSV to compare the differences. The suggestion is to read the entire book of Esther in preparation for the sermon. You may encourage your congregation to read the entire book in the week leading up to or after the sermon.

Esther 3: 13, 4:13-17 (NLT)

13 Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews—young and old, including women and children—must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them....

13 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” 17 So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Focus Statement

“In such a time as this,” we are positioned to be agents for God.

Point of Relation

My wife Bernadette is a hero. Literally.

is a healthcare hero, a nurse who has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing Degree, or BSN.

But when I say she is a hero, I am not speaking about degrees or titles...

She has literally saved people’s lives before.

When she was working in the hospital years ago...

She worked on a Medical-Surgical floor...

Which, if you’re a nurse, you know is a chaotic floor to work on…

NOT A KUSH JOB…not that there are really any KUSH nursing jobs in a hospital...

But, outside of the emergency room, that floor is up there in difficulty/workload.

One day, after a shift was ending, her and a colleague/friend were walking out of work,

Past the labor/delivery wing.

Suddenly they heard a code go out stating that someone was having a heartattack.

Bernadette and her friend, being right there, ran in and were the first responders to do CPR...

which saved the person’s life. LITERALLY.

The person wasn’t a patient…but was family of someone who was visiting a new mommy and daddy...

And Bernadette and her friend SAVED that woman’s life…and gave that baby a grandma, aunt, or whoever to know and love.

To say I am proud of her would be an understatement…and I am proud of anyone who serves others in life or soul-saving ways.

Things to Consider

Speaking of which, let me share some key highlights of the Methodist movement.

First, John Wesley valued women as leaders in the church...

And he was no doubt influenced by his mother Susannah Wesley,

Who in the wake of her husband being in debtor’s prison and her dissatisfaction with the preaching of his substitute...

began preaching to people in the afternoons…with great success.

So, due to John and Charles’ respect for women leaders such as their mother, Methodists came to be a BIG part of the Women’s Suffrage movement.

But it does not stop there.

The earliest Methodists, starting with John and Charles, visited people in prison,

they introduced the social creed that spoke against child labor laws,

established schools and educational opportunities for the common people...

And were at the forefront of the push for public education...

They worshipped weekly and were engaged in the life of the church; they gathered in small groups...

Encouraging and supporting each other in the faith.

The earliest Methodists stood up for racial justice and fought for the end of slavery..

and I could go on and on!

If this is the voice of the original people called Methodists,

Who is God calling us to be and

what is God calling us to do today?

What Scripture Says

PROVIDE A BACKGROUND TO ESTHER...

First, God is using the right person/people

to bring about God’s justice,

even if the world or they may not see it that way.

Truthfully we need the faith to see it that way, lest we fall into seeing it as the world does.

We have to trust that God’s got things covered…

but like Esther, we also have to know that God is INCLUDING US in the plan and trust God enough to say yes

So, let’s see how God worked through Esther in this situation

Esther hid her Jewish identity and became the Queen to the Persian King.

Without knowing that “minor” detail, the King’s advisor, Haman, made an edict to kill the entire Jewish population.

In order to do this he needed, of course, the King’s approval...

and got that without being honest about his real intentions...

REVENGE against Mordecai.

It would have been very easy, I am sure most tempting, for Esther to turn her back and say nothing.

I mean, what was she…a woman…to do?

If she came to the King uninvited, per law, she could be killed.

To make matters worse, her and the king had grown a bit more distant than they once were...

making her being killed for the rebel act seemingly more likely.

I mean, for real, what could she do?

Well Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, challenged her to speak to the king on behalf of the Jewish people.

God is calling Esther to use her privilege and position courageously.

Again, for her to approach the king unrequested, the punishment was death.

Thankfully, God’s message is delivered to her through her cousin and guardian...

And Esther ends up pleading for her people’s lives,

all the while exposing Haman’s treachery...

and so the king grants her request...and has Haman executed.

Which brings me to the next point that MUST BE MADE HERE:

Nothing stops God, certainly not a human edict.

The edict was understood to be an all-encompassing, final law.

It was given with absolute human authority,

and yet God cleared a different path through Esther for God’s people.

Finally, with Esther, we see again that God’s people will not be destroyed.

Like the Israelites under Deborah’s care,

the spies under Rahab’s care,

and the church under Lydia’s care,

God will continue to work for the salvation of God’s people.

God takes hopeless situations and brings hope into and out of them.

What This Means for You

Let me ask you this:

are there groups of God’s people or areas of justice for whom or forwhich you are passionate about advocating

It could be any area…including but not limited to

women’s rights,

education,

our environment

racial justice

food insufficiency

poverty

homelessness

youth

senior citizens

mental health

etc.?

How is God calling you to courageously speak up for change in “such a time as this”?

In the week ahead, what is one way you can use your position, voice, and skillset to bring about justice?

Friends,

Justice matters to God.

So often God is called just by those advocating for and perpetuating ungodly policies and practices.

But God sees us and God knows our hearts.

JUSTICE MATTERS TO GOD because all people are created in the DIVINE image of God...

and God continually calls God’s people to care for creation and for one another,

especially vulnerable and exploited groups of people.

What This Means for Us

An illustration on what it means to do justice can be found here: https://justloveuk.com/impact/ .

Collectively, we are called to be doers of justice

Remember that MIcah tells us this in Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8 NRSV

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

As a congregation, what are your missional opportunities to engage in the pursuit of justice?

Let us together, like Esther, rise up for such a time as this...

Putting Christ at the forefront of everything we do...

Loving and serving others as Christ first loved and served us.

Let us be a people who seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly!

Amen? Amen.

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