Scripture Reading

Esther 4:13-16

The Book of Esther

The book of Esther is a very interesting one: it is the only book in the Bible that has no mention of God.  Yet it was included because the Jewish people believed it had something to say about their faith in God.  As I studied this book, it became apparent that indeed, the movement of God is behind the story of this book.

This is a fascinating story.  The king of Persia is on his throne.  This is the mightiest empire that the middle eastern world had ever known.  His empire stretched from India to Ethiopia, a vast stretch of land.

There’s a huge party and celebration going on.  People from all over the kingdom have come to celebrate and pay homage to this mighty king.  There is singing, dancing, and a lot of drinking.  He wants to display his beautiful queen for all to see, but she refuses to be paraded around like a trophy.  In his anger, the king banishes his queen.

But he is lonely, so his advisors suggest a search throughout the whole empire for a new queen.

This is where the main characters of our story come in – Mordecai and Esther.  Esther is an orphan.  Mordecai is her much older cousin, who has looked after her since her parents died.

Mordecai is a fourth generation Jew from the exile.  His ancestors were taken away from Jerusalem to Babylon.  He has never known the land of Israel and lives in the capital of Persia.  Through his guidance, Esther the orphan, who was very beautiful, becomes the new queen of the empire!

We next meet the villain of the story, a powerful man named Haman.  He is the king’s main military man, and he becomes the powerful second in command of the whole empire.  Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman.  Haman became filled with hate not just for Mordecai but for all of this people – the Jewish people.

He orders a mass purge and killing of the Jews throughout the empire.  The Jews everywhere are thrown into panic, turmoil and despair.  

This is where we come to today’s passage.  

Mordecai has thrown himself into mourning and fasting.  Esther inquires why he is so sad and in despair.  Mordecai explains the situation and tells Esther to directly ask the king to save the Jews.  

Esther knows the law of the land: anyone who enters the king’s presence without being first summoned is sentenced to death!  Any initiative taken by Esther is done with great personal risk to her!

It doesn’t matter that she’s the queen, hasn’t the king already disposed of the previous one?  And besides, it’s been over a month since she had seen her.

Mordecai responds to Esther: “God will save the Jews with or without her help, but if she remains safely in her palace, she will not remain secure and safe.”  

Then comes his climactic statement:

“Who knows?  Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

With that, Esther makes her commitment to do everything she can to save her people.  

“I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish”.

There is a lot more to the tale, but in short: Esther does indeed go on to save her people, and Mordecai takes the place of Haman and obtains enormous power.

Commemorating the March 1 Independence Movement

This coming Wednesday is March 1.  Do you know what day this is in Korean history?

Koreans had been under the oppressive colonial rule of Japan since 1910.  On March 1, 1919, protests began around the nation.

(Played from 1:15-4:30)

Yoo Kwan Soon was such a young person.  She was barely older than most of you.  

She too felt a call to stand up for her nation, to answer the call to mobilize her fellow citizens.  She knew what was in store for those who rose up against the Japanese authorities.  But in the end, she too made a decision to go ahead and said, “if I perish, I perish”!

Responding to God’s Call in Our Lives

From today’s passage, I see a specific flow going through it:

We see God – through Mordecai – calling on Esther to act on behalf of her people.  She responds at first with understandable fear – if I go to the king uninvited, I will surely die!  But Esther is then told that God’s will happens with or without her.  If she decides to stay in the safety of her palace, that is only a false illusion of security; she will surely die.  

God speaks through Mordecai: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this!”

Despite her fears, she responds with obedience.  I will go and do God’s will, and if I perish, I perish!

What courage!  Her faith in God’s ultimately destiny gives her the courage to proceed.

This flow applies to our lives too.  

Our call in today’s society is to first discover, and then to live out, our unique, authentic identity.  We are all given our unique personalities, passions, gifts, life experiences and even difficult moments that have shaped us.  We need to discover how all of this makes up who I am at my innermost, authentic core.

However, we often respond in fear.  What if others don’t accept my deep, authentic self?  What if my parents don’t fully accept who I really am?  What if I can’t find a job if I am truly my authentic self?  Our instinct is to protect ourselves and often hide our real self.  This makes us feel safer.

God desires us to be our authentic selves and thereby contribute our unique self to this world.  But it’s not that God NEEDS us – God’s will will be done regardless.  

But God’s will is for us to be our authentic self, because that is the only way we will really live and experience life.  We will be more free and joyful people, and we will also make this world a better place by our unique contribution.

Trying to be someone or something other than our real self may seem safe and protect us.  It might protect us from rejection or sense of failure.  But in the end, we just end up miserable and our souls are destroyed.

We come to God with these fears, our insecurities, our brokenness.  God takes all of this and hears our hearts.  God feels our pain.

And then God invites us to come back to who we really are – for just such a time as this.  When we have come to God, God will give us a burning sense of what this time means.

For just such a time as this.  My friends, this is an important time.  For those of you who volunteered at the KCWA gala, I hope you got a glimpse of what is going on out there in society.  There is a lot of brokenness. There is a lot of uncertainty.  Who knows?  Perhaps you have been called to this place, in this time, for just such a time as this.

For some of us, it is to bring healing to a pocket of brokenness.  For others, it is to fight for justice where there is an injustice.  For others yet, it is to create workplaces where integrity and fairness are the norm.

All we simply do at this stage is to respond in obedience to God’s call.  We realize that living an authentic life is more valuable and important than living a falsehood.  We see no other way.  Even if I perish, I perish!  May God’s will be done in my life, and may I live a life that’s truly authentic in accordance to what God has created in me.

What a life, what a message!  
Amen.