AN UNLIKELY EASTER STORY - Lent 5#
Martin Luther said about the book of Esther, ‘I am so hostile to it that I wish it did not exist’. Indeed, poor Esther has been an embarrassment both to Jews and Christians through the centuries. The problem is that this part of the word of God doesn’t have a word from God. God’s name isn’t mentioned in the book, and He isn’t even spoken about.
But the story of Esther does speak to us. Indeed, the very fact that God’s name is absent is not an accident. Rather, the LORD is hidden behind all the events of His world.
The book is really a powerful statement about the presence of God in a world where He appears to be absent.
In 538 BC, after the Exile, the Jews returned to the ruins of Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the city. But not all returned. Many stayed on in Babylon, and settled permanently in different parts of the Persian Empire. Some Jews lived in Susa, one of the main cities of the empire. It is here that the book of Esther takes place.
Esther, a Jewish girl, is forced into marriage to King Ahasuerus. ‘It just so happens’ at that time her uncle Mordecai overhears two of the king’s officers plotting to kill the king. He tells Esther who informs the king, who deals with them appropriately. This event is recorded in ‘the chronicles of the king’ (Esther 2:23).
In chapter 3 it’s about nine years later, and the king appoints Haman to be Prime Minister. All Susa kneels down to pay him homage. ‘But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor’ (Esther 3:2). The vain and self-serving Haman is so furious he plots to destroy not just Haman but the entire Jewish race (3:13). He convinces the King that there is a people within his realm who are disloyal, and receives approval to organise their extermination. (N.B. This continues today, towards Israel.)
Now our story is in motion. The only hope for the Jews appears to be Esther. Mordecai tells her she must plead with the king and beg for mercy. Yet what can she do? Not only is this law irrevocable, none can come before the king unless the king summons them, including the queen. To try and set her people free could cost Esther her life. Yet she bravely and faithfully affirms, ‘If I perish, I perish’ (v 16). A 'messianic mirror'.
Esther appears before the king unannounced. Enchanted, no doubt, by her beauty he invites her in and offers her anything she desires in the kingdom. Curiously all she asks for is that the king and Haman come to a banquet she’s preparing for them that night. In the meantime, Haman has erected a 75-foot gallows, confident his enemy Mordecai will hang there the next day.
Then a marvellous series of coincidences roll again. It just so happens the king couldn’t sleep that night. It just so happens he is given ‘the chronicles of the King’ to read, which recorded that Mordecai saved his life. The king then commands all the city to honour Mordecai, and instructs Haman to lead the procession. At dinner, in front of her enemy, Esther exposes Haman’s malevolent plot to the king, and Haman is impaled on the gallows prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7).
Esther & Easter:
People look at Esther and don’t see God; but God was active, working to save his people. People looked at Golgotha and couldn’t see God. Yet, the ‘absent’ God, well hidden in a picture of suffering, death and defeat, was working out His loving purpose to save His people, as He has always done through the evil, selfish machinations of the Hamans, Herods, Iscariots and Pilates of this world.
POSTSCRIPT:
The book of Esther is an example of how God’s people should live as aliens and exiles in a foreign land. We are called to be loyal citizens, respectful of the governing authorities. But these authorities have two faces. On the one hand the state is God’s servant appointed by God to maintain peace and justice (Romans 13). On the other hand it is the beast which serves the dragon and makes war against the saints (Revelation 13).
#Today's SoulSnack of Lenten Devotions was originally published by Youthworks Media and written by Rev Mike Raiter of The Centre for Biblical Preaching. It contains SoulSupply edits.
ENJOY this Lenten series:
LENTEN DEVOTIONS - Introduction
- THE CROSS IN THE GARDEN
- "It is Life acknowledging life"
- The Cross - as ridiculous as Gideon's army?
- WHEN GOD BELLOWED SILENCE