Mark 9:38-50; James 5:13-20; Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
In late 1947, three Bedouin shepherds tossed some rocks into a cave and heard pottery break and discovered seven ancient scrolls. This was at a place called Qumran, about a mile from the north- west corner of the Dead Sea. That accidental discovery turned out to be one of the greatest archaeological findings in modern times.
Among the broad diversity of texts discovered at Qumran, about 200 of the scrolls were manuscripts from every single book of today’s Jewish Bible, our Old Testament. Every book that is, except the Book we read this morning, Esther. Seems that the Essenes, the religious Jewish sect who copied the books had no need for the book of Esther. However, they were not the only ones. The Book of Esther has been set aside not only by the Essenes but also by many scholars and interpreters of the Bible. Martin Luther is one of them. And all those who oppose this book give a number of reasons for this. Among those reasons are: One, the story takes place not in a familiar location like Palestine, Egypt, or Babylon, but among Jewish exiled in Persia. Two, the plot according to them is clearly secular, not sacred. Three, the heroes are two unknown persons; they are not prophets like Daniel, or Judge like Deborah or priest like Ezra. And four, the original book of Esther never mentions the name of God, not even the Torah, or Jerusalem, or the temple.
Moreover, when both Mordecai and Esther sent letters to the Jews in Persia to celebrate their victory, they sent it under the sponsorship of the Persian court and not of any Jewish leader; besides all these no other book in the Bible quotes the book of Esther. No wonder the Essenes and others neglected Esther.
The Book of Esther narrates the story of an orphan named Esther who hides her Jewish identity, marries the pagan king Xerxes of Persia, and become the queen. Through a series of bizarre circumstances, she and her cousin Mordecai frustrated the plot of Haman to annihilate the Jews. Later in the book, tables were turned, and it was Haman and his family who were executed and the Jews who took revenge on their enemies.
Even when this book is neglected by some scholars, the book of Esther gave origin to one of the festivals Jews celebrate today. The feast of Purim. Every year since Esther’s times, Jews around the world have observed the Feast of Purim. It’s the “month when their sorrow was turned to joy and their mourning into a day of celebration” (Esther 9:22). The feast includes two readings of the book of Esther — on the first night of Purim and then the next morning.
What can we learn from a book that has been treated as a second-class book in the Bible? We can learn a lot, but I will share two things this morning: One, God is present even when we do not mention His name, or believe He is absent, and two, we do not have to be a prophet or a judge or a priest for God to use us to accomplish his plan to redeem and protect His people.
The book of Esther begins with two banquets one organized by the King and another by the Queen. The former queen. The King -half-drunk- asked the Queen to come, so His friends could see how beautiful she was; she refuses to come, and the King is advised to look for another Queen. Esther (hiding her identity) is elected the new Queen. Everything looks fine until chapter three when Haman decided to kill all Jews because one Jew refuses to bow down before him. A decree is signed in April declaring that the next year on February 28th, all Jews will die. This is not the first time Jews have been threatened. This time like the others, Israel turned to God and fast, and cry out loud to his God; this time as they did before they dress with sackcloth and sit on ashes.
When we read the whole book, there is no doubt, even when His name is not mention, God was guiding all the events to favor and to help His people; He never forgets the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is true, for ten long months all the Jews in Persia were afraid to lose their lives. However, at the end they proclaim God’s faithfulness and celebrated victory forever.
What happened to the Jews in Persia can happen to us as persons, as individuals. Some circumstances in our lives make us ask, where is God? Is God real? Does He care of what is happening in my life? Does He see my suffering? All those are valid questions; they are not the result of not believing in God or that we doubt His promises; they are the result of the circumstances we are going through. What we have to do is, ask God for patience and wisdom so we can trust that He is working even when we do not see Him, or hear Him or feel Him. We have to trust that He is at work in our favor. At the end, we will see He was there and we, as the Jews in Persia will celebrate our victory.
The Book of Esther also teaches us that God can use any one He wants. Unlike others God used, like Daniel, who was a prophet and a dream interpreter; or Deborah who was a judge, or Ezra who was a priest, Mordecai was a simple man and Esther was a simple teenager. Nevertheless, they both were instruments God took in His hands to save His people from being annihilated.
When Mordecai told Esther what was happening her first reaction was of fear and told him she could do nothing because the King has not called her. When it comes to allowing God to use us, we react as Esther did, “I cannot do it.” And the most common reason I have heard for not responding to His call are three: I am too young and therefore, I do not know what to do. The other one is, I am too old and the third one I am too busy. For those who believe you are too young think of Joseph and David, they were young when they were chosen by God to be leader of his people; they were young when they were part of God’s plan to fulfill the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember it’s not your experience or your knowledge; it’s your desire to obey; it’s God doing it thru you.
Those who believe that they are passed the time to be used by God, just remember Mosses, he was 80 years old when God invited him to lead His people out of Egypt. He was 120 when he saw the Promised Land. God provided Mosses with the strength he needed to guide Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. If, He did it with Mosses, He can do it with any of us.
I am too busy, I do not have time is also another excuse; those who think like that remember Peter, Andrew, and John. They were working when Jesus called them; Levy was collecting taxes. God calls busy people to work with Him and for Him.
In about a month, we will celebrate our charge conference and we always need people, men, and women, young and old to work in different committees in our church. During the following days, (if they have not done it yet) I or another brother or sister will invite you to be part of our officials. Pray and ask God what area of His ministry He wants you to work in. God is always carrying a big sign saying, “I am hiring.” Remember, Esther 4:14, “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” who knows if God is calling you to lead the Church out of this post pandemic era. God wants to do great deeds with you.