Esther 8:3-17 (NRSV)
Queen Esther saves her people
Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?" Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, "See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews. You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked."
The king's secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king's ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd. By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king's command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.
Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. In every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
Reflection
The bravery of Esther to go before the king with her life is rewarded by the King's decision to allow Mordecai to write a new edict for the kingdom. Esther becomes the savior of the Jews. The new edict permits the Jews to defend themselves against those who may decide to enforce the previous edict of Haman to destroy the Jews.
I can see Jesus in these passages. I can see the Father sending his Son into the world to save us from our evil, selfish, sinful selves with a new edict. A new edict of love and life. But this is love and life at the expense of the humiliation, suffering and death of Jesus. Jesus died and rose again and stamped with eternal approval new life in God for all the world.
Like Jesus and Esther, I can step out into the kingdom day after day, as Jesus calls Billy out to play and serve in this new life by feeding others in need, standing with the sick, and visiting the imprisoned and daily taking the love of Jesus to all that God gives to me day after day. Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Lord, I give you thanks that you visit every day. You visit in the face of the most unexpected. May you visit through me this day as Your love is shared throughout all the world by all your people ... today ... tomorrow ... and forever. --- Amen
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