Esther
4:1-17 Esther
Leads
When
Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on
sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter
cry; he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the
king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. In every province, wherever the king’s
command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with
fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
When
Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply
distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his
sackcloth; but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of
the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go
to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. Hathach went out to Mordecai
in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, and Mordecai told
him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had
promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their
destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her
to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.
Hathach
went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and
gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ‘All the king’s servants and the people
of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside
the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be
put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may
that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for
thirty days.’ When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them
to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any
more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this,
relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and
your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal
dignity for just such a time as this.’ Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai,
‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and
neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also
fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law;
and if I perish, I perish.’ Mordecai then went away and did everything as
Esther had ordered him.
****
Every story has its turning point;
that moment when “push has come to shove”, where the “line has been drawn”, the
“day of reckoning” has arisen and it is for “such a time as this” that Esther
now faces.
Most of our days seem to be filled
with choices. Think about all the
choices that you have made so far today - what to wear or what to eat,
decisions related to work or family.
Some of those decisions or choices may be made by others, whether we
like it or not. We may our own decisions
upon whims or well thought out plans. We
may make them to benefit ourselves or others.
But most of them are just every
day decisions, ones that will have little overall or even long lasting impact
on ourselves, much less anyone else.
Esther has come to “such a time as
this” and must make a decision, one that will not only affect her own life, but
the lives of her people. While she may
be the queen, still her life is controlled by the king and his decisions. She can choose to let life happen to her and
her people or she can seek to influence the king’s decision.
In calling for a fast among her
people, she is seeking God’s guidance and strength for what she must do. (NOTE:
God is never mentioned by name in this whole book). The time has arrived and a decision must be
made – and this will affect her own life as well as so many others. And she’s not going it alone – but by and
with the grace of God.
We are called, like Esther, to
look at all of our decisions in light of who we are as God’s beloved
people. How might the choices we make
reflect God’s love and grace in the world?
How might even those day to day small choices reflect our faith and
trust in the Lord our God?
Years earlier, Joshua challenged
the people “choose this day whom you will
serve” (Joshua 24:15). Our choices
reflect whom or what we serve daily.
Esther could have given in to the choice of fear that paralyzed her
actions, but instead she lived out her faith, seeking the life that God had
entrusted to her in “such a time as this”.
Pastor Jen Boyd, pastor of Trinity
Lutheran Church (Brewster, NY)
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