Roles Reversed
Notes
Transcript
On the third day, Esther dressed in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing its entrance.
As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor with him. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
“What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.”
“If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for them.”
The king said, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.
While drinking the wine, the king asked Esther, “Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”
Esther answered, “This is my petition and my request:
If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them. Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”
That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King’s Gate, and Mordecai didn’t rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.
Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh to join him.
Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.
“What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king.
Still, none of this satisfies me since I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate all the time.”
His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows seventy-five feet tall. Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.
That night sleep escaped the king, so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king.
They found the written report of how Mordecai had informed on Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, when they planned to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
The king inquired, “What honor and special recognition have been given to Mordecai for this act?” The king’s personal attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”
The king asked, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman was just entering the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.
The king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” “Have him enter,” the king ordered.
Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king wants to honor?” Haman thought to himself, “Who is it the king would want to honor more than me?”
Haman told the king, “For the man the king wants to honor:
Have them bring a royal garment that the king himself has worn and a horse the king himself has ridden, which has a royal crown on its head.
Put the garment and the horse under the charge of one of the king’s most noble officials. Have them clothe the man the king wants to honor, parade him on the horse through the city square, and call out before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.’ ”
The king told Haman, “Hurry, and do just as you proposed. Take a garment and a horse for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the King’s Gate. Do not leave out anything you have suggested.”
So Haman took the garment and the horse. He clothed Mordecai and paraded him through the city square, calling out before him, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”
Then Mordecai returned to the King’s Gate, but Haman hurried off for home, mournful and with his head covered.
Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai is Jewish, and you have begun to fall before him, you won’t overcome him, because your downfall is certain.”
While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.
The king and Haman came to feast with Esther the queen.
Once again, on the second day while drinking wine, the king asked Esther, “Queen Esther, whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”
Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased, spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire.
For my people and I have been sold to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”
King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”
Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman.” Haman stood terrified before the king and queen.
The king arose in anger and went from where they were drinking wine to the palace garden. Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him.
Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the house?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “There is a gallows seventy-five feet tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” The king said, “Hang him on it.”
They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger subsided.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?
In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.
You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,
and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.