Proper 21B/Ordinary 26B/Pentecost 18 September 27, 2015 • Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 and Psalm 124 • James
5:13-20 • Mark 9:38-50
We all like to have opinions about what is just and fair,
and some of us will go further and actually speak up for Justice. But I’m wondering what it would take for
any of us to stand up for our people if it means risk to our own lives?
Our readings today take us to the story of Queen
Esther. She was a Jewish girl who won
the favour of the King and became his Queen after the previous Queen was
deposed for refusing to bow to the whim of the King at a social event. In
many ways the deposed Queen was a modern and liberated woman, but then came
Esther the submissive Queen. At this
point the king was recovering from the embarrassment caused by the deposed
Queen and so Esther could well have been put to death for speaking out of turn
to the King.
Esther 7:4 “For we
have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.
If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my
peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king."
Esther was not someone who spoke out for people. Instead she was very attentive and even
submissive to the advice of others. But
her uncle who had raised her, urged her that this was not a time for quiet
submission. This was a time that
required bravery and advocacy for people.
This is a story that reminds me of those super-hero movies
where it is quoted, “with much power, comes much responsibility”. Esther was the Queen. It was a precarious position at that moment
in history, but her people were going to be annihilated unless she could
advocate for them to the King.
We live in times that are very tense and times where
opinions are many and varied. In foreign
countries our brothers and sisters in Christ are being annihilated. And what do we do? We shuffle between the fear of it reaching
our own shores, and the desire to be seen as politically correct and non-discriminatory
to anyone.
The real answer and the lesson we can learn from our
readings is actually, I believe, in the part of the reading that is not read,
but which is shown in our other readings…
We read from James:
James 5:13-18 “Are any among you suffering?
They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for
the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil
in the name of the Lord. The prayer of
faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has
committed sins will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so
that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and
effective. Elijah was a human being like
us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six
months it did not rain on the earth.
Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its
harvest.”
Before Queen Esther went to the King to advocate for her
people, she requested days of prayer and people to pray with her. I believe that prayer is the key and the
message within our readings. I believe
that I have a lot to learn about how to pray, and I believe that I’m not the
only one.
Prayer reminds us that God is in control and it enables us
to see the issue in a way that focuses us such that we can let go of the things
we can’t control. It isn’t that we don’t
do the hard yards of working through the problem, but more like a road map
through a land littered with land-mines.
Our Psalm reminds us that if we are truly searching God and
desiring His will, then we know that God is on our side.
Psalm 124:6-8 “Blessed
be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of
the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made
heaven and earth.”
The Psalmist repeats a phrase as if incredulous, that we
would have perished if the Lord had been against us and we see a similar phrase
in our Gospel reading from Mark 9:40 “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
However the reading from Mark is about people who were
casting out Demons in Jesus name. The
disciples were concerned because these people didn’t seem to be followers of
Jesus. Is this pertinent to us
today? I hope not… I hope that we never
experience anyone being thwarted in their desire to minister in Jesus name
because they do not seem to be “one of us”.
As I read this Gospel reading I realized that over the years
it may have been misunderstood. It
speaks about how it is better that you cut off your hand, your foot or put out
your eye if any of these things cause you to stumble. We generally think that this is trying to get
us to see the severity of sin…. But just what is the severe sin that Jesus is
warning about????
Not what you might think….!!!! It is
actually the sin of causing those “Little ones” to stumble, or to find yourself
stumbling in the same way… and that particular stumbling, i.e. SIN, is to be
thwarted in your desire to reach out to people in Jesus name and to set people
free.
You see, at the beginning of the passage the disciples are
wanting to stop a group of people who are setting
people free by casting out demons in Jesus name. Jesus assures the disciples that these are
people who are “for” him and continues in Mark
9:42 "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones
who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung
around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” He is talking to those people who would have eldership in the church about how
they were to treat others.
The passage ends with the mysterious analogy about salt and
how we need to have salt in ourselves and be at peace with one another. Sadly, we belong to churches that war against
each other and cut people down instead of releasing and empowering them into
ministries where they are free and can in turn set others free. And this is why our churches are dying and
why there are so many disharmonies. In
our jealousy and suspicion we disable anyone who stands out and begins to do
any good and finally all that is left of the church is the walking wounded or
bitter and twisted people who’ve never understood the heart of God.
Traditionally the church has denounced anyone different, calling
them evil and sinners, forgetting that Christ has dealt with sin. This is what we see the disciples hinting at
in the Gospel reading. They see
themselves as the hierarchy in the Kingdom of God and so they feel they must
control and stop these evil others. What
is most concerning to God is not the deeds of the people “OUT THERE”, but the
attitudes of our heart and what we do with our free will. Most importantly His concern is that we love
and empower each other to spread His love to all.
The King in the story of Esther can be seen to mirror God’s
heart as we notice his willingness to protect and promote Esther.
Esther 7:2-3 “On the
second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther,
"What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is
your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled." Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have
won your favour, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me --
that is my petition -- and the lives of my people -- that is my request.”
Esther’s request should be the same one that we make to God…
“Let my life be given me, and the lives of my people…” Esther does not set herself apart from her
people. We need to get serious about the
ministry that God has called each of us to and get about it, praying that God
enable us in this life. When we disable
others in ministry, we are setting ourselves apart from each other. Remember that we are the body of Christ and
it one part hurts we should all be hurting and if one part is doing well then we
should all be rejoicing.
Through prayer and petition we do not react to the
precarious circumstances that present themselves in our lives, but instead we learn
to respond to them in a way that is most effective and most adulating to God.
If we were to align ourselves with someone in the story of
Esther, I wonder who we’d all choose. Do
you see yourself as Esther? She is one
who is in a place of privilege, but risks her very life because she is so
connected to her people. Or do you see
yourself as Mordecai? He is the one who
teaches, encourages and gives the information to those with the power to effect
change. Or perhaps you are those who
fasted and prayed…. Hopefully you are
not Haman whose hate for one man drove him to devise a plan which nearly saw
the annihilation of all God’s people…. In the name of God, many of God’s people have
been destroyed. It is important that we
honestly search our hearts.
One thing is for certain; through prayer and petition and
unity and support, God is victorious and His people with him.
