The Invisible People

The Story So Far...

(dismiss children to childrens church)

We continue our study through the book of Esther. This week, in many ways, we reach a key turning point in the narrative, that I am sure many of you know. But just to recap.

We have met the main protagonists of the story

Esther - the orphan turned queen, and if anything, the one presented as the Heroine of the narrative.

Mordecai - Esther’s cousin and adoptive parent. Not only did Mordecai take Esther in when her parents died, he then ensured she was well presented before the king, and gave good advice throughout to Esther. In many ways, he is a key reason why Esther is our heroine. Mordecai, as we will continue to see, is either financially well off, or is high up in the administration of the kingdom - despite his ancestry. Either way, he appears to be a competent figure, who is often found guiding the narrative through its stages.

Haman - Ahh, Haman. The guy who offered a gigantic bribe to the king to kill all Jews, and definitely has a high opinion of himself. We won’t see much of Haman today, but his actions to date define what happens next.

Who else do we find? Today, I think we will find a collection of invisible people, many who are extremely important to our narrative. As we read through the text, keep an eye out of these invisible people…

So, we have reached a turning point in the story. 5 or so years since Esther has been taken as Queen, Haman has started the process to eliminate the Jewish people.

Turning Points

So, before we dive too deep in, what is a turning point?

In his book Turning Points, Mark Noll highlights 14 different major turning points for Christianity, both in the west and the east - from the conversion of emperor Constantine to the nailing of a list of debate topics to a church door by some monk called Luther.

Each one of these events, in some way, changed the course of the world around us in measurable ways.

We all have them in our lives too. I’ve certainly got plenty.

I remember once working an IT job, next to a guy who was always so busy he was literally pulling his hair out. Being not as busy, I asked him to show me the basics of what he did so I could do the simple stuff - and leave him to the harder things. That choice - and that knowledge - has become the foundation of my career over the last almost 20 years, and led to many career changes and country moves. A simple decision became a turning point.

Another one was when I was looking for a new church, and upon walking into one, found a very cute girl playing guitar up the front. I’ll let you guess the rest of that story...

So lets dive in shall we.... Turn with me to Esther 4, and we can look at the first three verses.

Sackcloth and Ashes

Esther 4:1–3 “When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.”

There are some interesting details in here already. The first is that Mordecai had a loud and bitter cry - along with tearing his clothes and putting on sackcloth and ashes. All signs of great mourning that we recognize, even if we don’t participate it them in our western culture. Add to that, this was happening across the city and nation, as people found out and read the decree from chapter 3.

Furthermore, Mordecai went up to the Kings gate, but did not enter.

Mordecai’s torment is public. He weeps in public, he still goes to the kings gate - a key place of trade and power - but he goes there in his mourning attire - then cries out with a loud and bitter cry. This isn’t private mourning or upset - this is very public, and intended to be public. He is mourning for sure, but he is also highlighting the situation to anyone who would care to notice - Mordecai has begun a public relations offensive.

The law may have been set in stone, but that does not mean something cannot change the situation. He clearly thinks that it can be changed, and starts to act in ways to bring about attention. Unsurprisingly, Esther hears about it. Lets keep reading.

New Clothes

Esther 4:4 “When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.”

Esther has heard about what is happening - and her first response appears to be one of discomfort.

How many of us are uncomfortable when others are upset around us? I know I am - But what I have to remember is my discomfort is nothing to what has occured to those who are truly upset! We want to hide, to not engage - but we also know that to show love and care we need to come around those who are struggling, those who are mourning, and be there for them.

What is Esther's response? Oh, I see you tore your clothes, um, here, have some new ones.

Esther is ‘deeply distressed’, but also clearly doesn’t know how to respond.

If we go backwards a little in our narrative, we might start to see part of Esther’s problem - we read in Esther 2:20 - “Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.”

Esther is not only distressed, but she has spent the last five or more years hiding her ancestry. Her husband, the king, doesn’t even know she is Jewish. Her support groups don’t know - only Mordecai does. She is suddenly thrust into a situation that she has to reconsider who she really is - is she Esther, queen of Persia?

Or is she Esther, the Jewish orphan?

Identity

Let’s keep reading.

Esther 4:5–11 “Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

What is life as a princess or a queen? Let’s take a quick aside.

With apologies to the Disney corporation - this is often our view of life as a princess. Pretty dresses, wandering around being nice and solving the worlds problems.

Or, if you have watched Frozen, maybe just being angry, but having enough resources to build your own introvert palace and hide away from the world.

In this view, princesses are privileged members of a society, often free to be themselves, sing clever songs, and do whatever pleases them. All you need do is find a king to marry, or be born into the family line…

I’m pretty confident this is not the life of a princess, let alone Queen Esther in 480 BC. When we look at her life and compare it to our society, we may see problems. An orphan who competed to be the next beautiful queen, she had to prepare herself for 12 months, isolated from society, and was then sent ‘in to the king to see if she pleased him’.

Very much not what we expect.

And once married? five years down the line, she is part of the kings palace, but literally hasn’t seen him in at least a month - and she risks her life just appearing before him without a summons. She cannot even see her cousin and adopted parent, as he is a male, and no complete males are to be found with the kings, ahhh, wives.

To be Esther, the all powerful queen of Persia, who hasn’t seen the king for a month and cannot even see him without an invite - or risking death. The enviable life of a queen!!

Invisible People

It is here we start to see some of the invisible people that make this narrative stick. Esther and Mordecai have probably not seen one another in private in over five years - despite their relationship. How do they communicate then? Invisible people.

And who are they? There are Esther’s ‘ladies’ - those who attend to her, and often may be her only social company. In reality, they are most likely slaves, there to make sure the Kings great beauty is kept that way.

And then there are the Eunuchs. From history, we know these were often orphans, or later children of some families, taken into the kings service. But to be a male in the kings service means certain.... Sacrifices.

Sure, living in the palace, eating hopefully well, and having a roof over your head are all preferable to dying on the streets a beggar, but the cost is high. And yet, it is these eunuchs, because of their sacrifices, who are able to come and go from the palace, because their loyalty is all but guaranteed - I have no doubt the punishment for poor service was not a poor performance review.

This is our first group of invisibles, and raises the question - who are you invisible for?

One of the keys to this whole narrative is the community of people who support those who we think are the main characters. The heroes, heroines and protagonists.

Every single one of us needs invisible people too - and we need to be those people for others. Fortunately, we don’t need to be eunuchs to be a support to another!!

Lets take a look at Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

In some ways, this is the message here - the world wants us to be the hero of heroine of our own story - to rise above, the meet the challenge, to drag ourselves up. In reality though, we all need a support network of invisible people - and we need to be that support network of invisible people.

So let me ask you - Who are you going to be the invisible person for this week?

How can you look out for opportunities to support and serve others, without regard for yourself?

Lets keep reading...

The Mum Threat

Before we get to what is often considered the turning point in the whole story with its concluding themes, there is a little side path for us to wander down.

Esther 4:12–14 “And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. ””

Is this encouragement, or a threat? You can read it both ways. I read it as the mum threat - I brought you into this world, and I can take you out again!

Mordecai tells Esther in not as many words - that God will provide, and He will deliver his people, whether you act or not.

But if you do not act, you will not survive.

Maybe a more generous reading would see this as strongly worded encouragement - either way, Mordecai comes to Esther with an encouragement to act. She may be the heroine of our story, but she also needed to be motivated to move - and maybe also resolve some of her identity distress.

Now we reach the clincher. In these final verses you will see themes of identity and community, and those important, invisible people again

For Such a Time

Esther 4:14–17 “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.”

Most of the time I have heard this passage quoted or preached, this is the conclusion. For such as time as this.

You are here for a reason, and could this not be the reason? Don’t miss the time you have been called to! Be like Esther, the hero of the story!

I don’t disagree, but I think that if that is our conclusion, we miss the real points.

The first point is Identity.

Who Are You?

In our narrative, Esther has spent the last five or more years hiding her identity. No one around her knows she is of Jewish decent, and therefore one of ‘those people’.

She is suddenly faced with a decision - does she keep hiding?

Apart from Mordecai’s threat - or encouragement if you like - there is nothing stopping her just living her life in safety as the Queen. Nothing at all really. But suddenly Esther is being asked - are you really that person? Or are you the Jewish orphan, who might just be in the right place, at the right time, with the right people around you?

What about us now? Who are you really? Are you a different person here today in church than you are at work or enjoying time with your friends?

Esther needed to rationalize her two identities - that of a Jewish orphan, and that of a princess. What about you?

You are Not Alone

When we read through Esther, we are encouraged to see her as the Heroine, the bold queen who though she struggles - not to give away what is in the coming weeks - does the needful and saves her people.

But remember those invisible people? Esther could not have done it without their support.

First there were the ladies and Eunuchs who communicated and enabled the discussion, because Mordecai could not see her, and she cannot leave the palace.

Then as we reach the climax, Esther asks for not only her close support group, but everyone in that community to pray and fast for her. And let us not forget Mordecai’s encouragement to do the right thing.

Yes, Esther is the heroine of the story, but to misquote Isaac Newton or Bernard of Chartres - She is standing on the shoulders of giants to get it done.

Without her support structure, without her community, Esther would not have been in that position to be the heroine.

And what then of our own time, and our own turning points? My guess is that for all of us, the fate of an entire nation doesn’t rest on our shoulders, or on a single decisions we can make. BUT - we are surrounded by a community of invisible people who can encourage, pray and fast with us - to help us make those right decisions and move forward with life.

Be Invisible

So as we conclude (and our amazing music team comes up), let’s summarize some things we can all take away.

Be someones support network, be that invisible person to someone. You don’t need to be the hero or heroine of the story, you just need to be there to support, in whatever that means.

Who will you support this week?

And from the other side? You have a support network. We are all surrounded by invisible people - those who care for us, pray for us, guide us, counsel us and more.

And finally, Who are you? Who are you really at your house, at work, playing golf, watching the football? Have you found those moments when your personalities collide?

These are the moments in our lives where we find out who we really are - but just like Esther, with the right encouragement and support networks, we can turn in the right direction. The world would cast you as the hero of your own story - but that misses the fact that even in a personal time of crisis and identity - we are surrounded and supported by a community of people who really are core to our lives.