this was the first of three sermons on Esther, and then the fourth sermon is a conversation between Joseph and Esther. Esther is a terrific book. I am grateful to my daughter, who is taking a class at Union Seminary on Women in the Bible, for sharing a handout on Esther her professor Dr. Frances Gench gave her class. The handout pointed out, in particular, the correlation between Esther's world and our current world today.
When I directed presbytery camps years ago, Esther was one of the dialogue presentations I had as part of a series on heroes in the Bible, so I have enjoyed Esther for many years. i encouraged the congregation to go read the whole book of Esther to get the full story, and some might do that.
“Who Are You?” Esther 2: 5-11; 15-20; SAPC; Denton; October 30, 2022; Richard B. Culp
Esther 2: 15-20: 15When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was admired by all who saw her. 16When Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, 17the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers—“Esther’s banquet.” He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality. 19When the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20Now Esther had not revealed her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.
Introduction: We move to three weeks in the book of Esther,
including November 13th when our visiting artist for Fall Festival of Faith will join us in worship and share how her gift of visual arts helps her engage God’s Word and invites us to engage in visual art and discover new insights as well;
we finish the fall preaching series with a conversation between Joseph and Esther.
then, Advent will be upon us!
Move 1: Esther may have been written in 4th century BCE, but the context in which Esther lives, in which her story plays out, seems similar to our world today.
a. We notice the multicultural context in which Esther lives.
1. The book opens with the vision of a vast Persian kingdom of 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia (1:1).
2. Lots of people from all sorts of backgrounds were thrown together under the authority of the Persian king.
2. the picture painted is one in which everyone seemingly gets along.
3. Go back and read about the party the king throws - An ideal of non-coercive unity emerges (e.g., every man drinks freely at the king’s party, speaks his own language, procurement of young women from all the
provinces of the empire).
4. But, as biblical scholar Esther Menn notes, “This seeming tolerance and multicultural inclusion collides with subsequent themes of ethnic identity, difference, scapegoating, and genocide.” (Esther Menn, The Ralph W. and Marilyn R. Klein Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago; found in handout from Dr. Gench, Union Seminary class on Women in the Bible)
5. the world in which we live is becoming more diverse and multicultural every day.
6. We often lift that up as a positive - how varied people and backgrounds can work together.
7. But, we also know the underlying tensions between cultures and the struggles that come with those differences.
b. Esther’s context also reveals a world that revolves around who has the power.
1. a patriarchal world where the men in power can command whatever they want.
2. For example, the king is frustrated with his wife so he can hold a beauty pageant to find his next wife.
3. We have our own structures that put some in power and others, not in power.
4. Some might argue we see less patriarchy that in generations past, but we still see the power differential between those with lots of resources and those with limited resources; or those with connections and those without connections.
5. The disparity of power and abuse of power seen in Esther’s world is also found in our world today.
c. Battle of values
1. Beauty pageant to choose the next wife?
2. We cringe at the idea that looks and beauty is the primary factor in making a choice.
3. as we look at our world, we see an ongoing struggle to decide what values we should lift up as meaningful and helpful.
d. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Esther’s story plays out in a time when people are struggling to figure out to see the divine in their midst.
1. Or, as some commentators describe, Esther reveals a divine absence. (Esther Menn, The Ralph W. and Marilyn R. Klein Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago; found in handout from Dr. Gench, Union Seminary class on Women in the Bible)
2. part of Esther’s story is about how God was at work in their time.
3. A time when there were no strangers appearing like they did to Abraham and Sarah.
No angels wrestling with Esther or Mordecai like the angel wrestled with Jacob.
No burning bush with the voice of God speaking like God did with Moses
no lifting of the staff to part the Red Sea like Moses did.
4. Esther’s story is about how God is found in the world through the actions of ordinary people, who sense their need to act on God’s behalf and do so.
5. If you have ever thought, “I wish God would just send an angel or a burning bush,” then you are in Esther’s shoes - a person who discovers that for God to work in her world makes a demand on her, perhaps a demand on you!
Move 2: Esther has to know who she is.
a. She is Jewish
1. One of God’s people in a world where God’s people are a distinct minority.
2. In fact, she is instructed by her cousin Mordecai, her cousin who advises her, to hide who she is.
3. Esther may hide her identity from others, but she still has to know who she is.
4. I suspect as Mordecai converses passes by every day and sees her, he whispers to her, “Remember who you are!”
5. In the multi-cultural world in which she lives; in the power plays that take place in the royal palace; Esther has to be grounded in her identity as one of God’s people who has been given gifts by God to be used for God’s purposes.
b. I am reminded of King David before he became King David, when he was a shepherd who offered to do battle with Goliath.
1. Remember what happens as they try and prepare him for battle?
2. They put him in armor and give him the usual weapons.
3. He is so weighed down, he can barely move.
4. He tells them - I am not a solider, I mama a shepherd, and I’m really good with my slingshot.
5. Let me be who I am, and I can take down Goliath.
6. So, with no armor and just his skill with a slingshot and God’s presence, David takes on Goliath. just before he goes into battle with Goliath?
c. Know who you are.
1. You are a child of God.
1. at Baptism, we gather around the baptismal font;
then at our death, we gather again around the baptismal font.
Recognizing that our identity in life and death is found in the God who claims us as children of the covenant.
2. part of our responsibility in this community of faith is to help Rhett and each other know that we are each a child of God and to help us claim the gifts God has given to us.
d. The question Esther has to answer. The question we have to answer.
1. Which of our identities ultimately shapes our lives?
2. Are you first and foremost a parent?
3. Or a Texan?
4. Or An American?
5. Or a Republican?
6. Or a Democrat?
4. Or a child of God?
As we gather around the waters of baptism we proclaim that the identity which matters most for each of us is that one - a child of God.
Move 3: Finally, Esther has to connect who she is with whose she is.
a. don’t want to spoil next week’s sermon, but as Esther’s story unfolds, she will have to see the connection between who she is and what God is doing in the world.
b. Esther was probably written in the 4th century BCE among Jews who had been displaced from Israel.
1. the story gives hope to Jews who had no power in the Persian-Hellenistic structure and struggled in their identity.
1. The hope they discover is their hope in God.
2. As we see Esther link herself with that hope, we look at our own lives to discover how we, as children of God, can connect ourselves with what God is doing in the world?
conclusion: Read Esther; laugh a little; perhaps shake your head, but notice how who she is preparing her for what she is going to be asked to do.
And imagine how who you are is preparing you for what God might be asking you to do.
And come back next week to see how Esther “steps up!”
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