I want to begin my sermon this morning with complete honesty – yours, not mine. Here is the question: How many of you glance, not read or buy but glance at the tabloids when you in the Supermarket checkout? How many of you read the tabloids’ headlines?
I saw one that read:
• Royal Couple Splits
• Prime Minister at the End of his Rope
• Polygamist Marries Again
• Orphan Girl Makes Good
If you want to read the full, scintillating story behind these headlines you’ll have to pick up your Bible. You’ll find it all in the strange little book of Esther. Its tucked away in the Old Testament just before Job. It was read in our hearing this morning.
I must warn you right away that this is not a book to read if you are seeking to know how a man should treat his wife; this is not a book to read if you are interested in studying the names of God – fact is, the word God is not found once in the entire book of Esther.
But if you want to see the sovereignty of God in the affairs of men than you’re in the right book. If you want to see how God can use good people in evil situations than you’re in the right book. If you were hoping to learn something about the faithfulness of God than turn with me to the book of Esther.
This book introduces us to King Xerxes. The time is about 480 BC. The setting is the fabulous winter palace of the Persian kings. History tells us that Persian Empire at that time stretched from Ethiopia in Africa through the Middle East, around the Fertile Crescent for 1000’s of kilometers to what today is Pakistan.
Secular history also makes it very clear that Xerxes was a cruel, capricious, and carnal man. We are not surprised therefore, to learn that such a person had many wives and concubines.
But there was only one Queen. And her name was Vashti. We don’t a great deal about Queen Vashti but we are told in chapter 1 that one day she got fed up jumping every time Xerxes said, jump. So the king in his anger divorced her. He was livid so he let her go.
One psychiatrist has said: I can’t think of a single human emotion that is more dangerous than anger. In fact, anger is the greatest single cause for divorce.
And Xerxes got angry at his wife. And with anger comes depression. He was depressed. However, the depression didn’t last too long. He was soon onto plan B. They would have a Worldwide Beauty Contest and find Xerxes a new Queen.
I suspect that many of us find the idea of a Beauty Contest repulsive. For a Christian the problem is this: whenever we equate physical beauty with worth we are going down the wrong road. Whenever someone is rewarded for good looks we have moved outside the spirit of the New Testament. The Bible teaches that all human beings are created in the image of God.
Whenever we judge a person’s value based on beauty or brains or bank account we run cross grain to the heart of the New Testament message. The Bible makes it clear that all of us are one in Christ, brothers and sisters.
So what is a beautiful God-fearing girl like Esther supposed to do? Buy an ugly mask and live among the aardvarks? Of course not!
We must give our strengths to God. We must give our best to God. What is it that you can do better than the average person? Give it to God. Use that gift to the glory of God, let that money, let that shapely body, let that high IQ let that talent be used to build God’s kingdom.
This is what Esther did. She gave her very best to God in the culture she found herself and God blessed her beyond her wildest dreams. Esther is an unlikely heroine. She was a Jew, a girl from a persecuted minority, she was woman, an object with little or no rights in that culture. She was an orphan. Esther had lost her Mom or Dad, she was raised by her uncle, a man by the name of Mordecai.
There was a lot to keep Esther from entering the contest – even if you ignore the fact that she would be marrying a polygamist. Did I mention that that was the prize? This was not an easy step for her to take. But she did. And she won.
Now that would be a lovely story and we could say “And they lived happily ever after” and go home. It’s a wonderful story, sort of, but it hardly accounts for its inclusion in the Holy Cannon.
The reason why Esther is in the Bible is not because she won a beauty contest. The real reason why this book is in the Bible is because it shows yet again that God keeps His word, God keeps His promises, God is faithful. God had promised Abraham “I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make you great and you will be a blessing… all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”. God keeps His word.
You see there is an ugly side to this story. The ugly but important part of the story centers around the Prime Minister of Persia, a man by the name of Haman. This man was an anti-Semitic. He wanted to kill every Jew – man woman and child - on the face of the earth. Plans were drawn up, wheels were in motion, death camps were set up.
Needless to say, Haman was not successful. God used Esther to deliver her people and defeat Haman’s diabolical plan. Esther lived to see Prime Minister Haman die on the gallows.
It was a day of victory, of celebration. To this day Jewish people, the world over remember this deliverance with the Feast of Purim. It’s a very happy time. Lots of noise. Lots of noise makers. Whenever there is any mention of Haman’s name they drown it out with the noise makers.
Jews love to celebrate their enemies. One day an astrologer told Adolph Hitler he would die on a Jewish holiday. Which one? Hitler asked. So the astrologer replied: Any day you die will be a Jewish holiday.
Why does the devil hate the Jews? Why in their long history have Jewish people suffered so much? Why even today is Israel surrounded by hostile neighbours? Why this long trail of suffering? We all know about the holocaust. But what about the Jewish trail of blood across Europe during the Middle Ages. And how many Sons and Daughters of Abraham were butchered in 70 AD when Titus pounced on Jerusalem. And how many perished during the Maccabee uprising?
Other people, other religions, other races have suffered of course but it seems that no people have suffered so much for so long. Why does the devil hate the Jews?
1. The devil hates the Jews because they were chosen by God to deliver the Word of God to humankind. The Bible is a Jewish book. Almost every one of the 40 human authors were Jews. It was God’s plan that the seed of Abraham should deliver His Holy Word to the world. If the devil could murder the delivery boy than no one would get the message.
2. The devil hates the Jews because they were chosen by God to bring the Saviour into the world. Our Lord and Saviour would be a Jew. If the devil could destroy every Jew before Mary came along than there could be on Christ Child. And finally,…
3. The devil hates the Jews because they are living proof that God is faithful. The Amorites, the Jebusites, the Hittites and all the other its are gone from the face of the earth but the Israelites are still there because of a promise God made to Abraham nearly 4,000 years ago.
God promised Abraham that as long as the earth stood his seed would remain. Every time I have visited Israel I have been reminded of the sure promises of God. Every time I meet a Jewish person I am remined that God keeps His word.
Years ago, I had a Jewish dentist in Winnipeg. Every time Dr. Cohen put that drill in my mouth I remembered the faithfulness of God. I love many of Leonard Cohen’s songs. Every time I hear him sing Hallelujah I remember the faithfulness of God.
God keeps His Word. God will not fail us. God is forever faithful.
Help us Father to focus on your faithfulness today. In a world of broken promises, You are forever faithful. You keep your word.
We pray for your chosen people Israel today. We ask that the Revelation of Jesus Christ will come to them and all Israel will be saved. We also pray for your Holy Church that we might be faithful unto the end.
Help us to be like Esther and give you our best gifts. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen
