Esther Sermon - 5

Behind the Seen: Defining Moment

Esther 4:1-17

1. Introduction – Chapter 4 begins a lot like the scene last week. Mordecai once again learns about the inner workings of the Persian court – only this time he’s powerless to stop it.

a. Remember last week, we studied chapter 3, where a plan was put in place to have all the Jews throughout the Persian empire executed on a single day – that day, however, was not for another year.

i. But even though the day of the planned massacre was almost a year away – here’s Mordecai wearing sackcloth and putting ashes on his head.

1. The fact that he’s doing this well before the event took place, shows just how doomed the Jews think they are.

b. Sackcloth and ashes were mourning attire – many people throughout the Bible tore their clothes and put on sackcloth as a sing of distress and anguish.

i. When Mordecai hears of the decree to have his entire people killed – his is the appropriate response.

c. One can’t help but notice the stark contrast of chapter 3 with the previous 3 chapters.

i. Up to this point clothing and cosmetics have been festive and luxuriant. But in chapter 4, fine linens are replaced with course sackcloth.

1. Beautifying cosmetics and oils are replaced with ashes, and decadent feasts – replaced with fasting.

a. So here we have Mordecai – torn clothes, sackcloth on his body, ashes on his head.

i. We are told that as word spread through the empire about the demise of the Jews, Jews throughout the empire join him in weeping and the wearing of burlap

1. And then there’s Esther – seemingly oblivious to the whole thing. Apparently 6 years in the king’s court has completely cut her off from her people and from the news cycle.

d. When Esther hears that Mordecai is at the king’s gate in sackcloth – her initial response is to send him clothes in an effort to help him not make a scene.

i. Esther has no clue what has happened, but she must know it’s serious if Mordecai has started wearing sackcloth.

1. And what the rest of the chapter details for us the conversation that followed between Esther and Mordecai – a conversation that will eventually lead to them putting a counter plan into action.

2. First/Second Exchange – so first, Esther sends Mordecai clothes, he refusing to change into them.

a. So, Esther sends her most trusted eunuch, Hathach to have a heart to heart with Mordecai to find out what is going on with him.

i. Remember, Esther is in the king’s harem and she cannot leave; Mordecai is wearing sackcloth – funeral clothes – and he can’t go into the king’s court because the Persian kings didn’t want their cushy lives interrupted by people who were mourning.

1. They had no direct contact with each other, so they needed an intermediary to have a conversation – enter Hathach.

b. At the gate, Mordecai tells Hathach the whole story – the plan to kill the Jews, the bribe Haman gave the king…all of it

i. Mordecai goes as far as giving Hathach a copy of the royal decree to give to Esther, just to show that he wasn’t exaggerating at all.

1. Once again, Mordecai is a man who has his ear to the ground. In chapter 2, he discovered a plot to have the king killed. He told Esther, Esther told the king and the plan was thwarted.

a. In chapter 4 he learns not only about the very public decreed, but also about the very private bribe. But unlike the previous chapter, in this scene Mordecai is powerless to stop it.

c. Mordecai ask Esther to step in and fill the gap. He asks Hathach to tell Esther to go the king and beg for mercy for her people.

3. Third Exchange – in the third exchange, from verses 10-12, we get another glimpse of what Esther’s life was like as Queen.

a. It was a well-known Persian law that kings needed their privacy.

i. It was known throughout the empire that you can’t go uninvited into the king’s presence – if you did you’d most likely die.

1. One had to first request an audience with the king – which would probably be denied or ignored.

b. There were 2 exceptions to the immediate death rule. First, there were seven advisors who had direct and unlimited access to the king – they didn’t need to make an appointment to see him.

i. The irony of this story is that Haman was one of those 7 advisors. Haman had direct access to the king, but Esther didn’t

1. The second exception was if the king extended the royal scepter to an unexpected guest, the person would receive a pardon from the death penalty.

c. You can almost hear how apprehensive Esther was with Mordecai’s request…and with good reason.

i. First, Esther was apprehensive because she hasn’t been summoned by the king for 30 days.

1. Apparently 5 years of marriage has cooled the king’s desire for her. And don’t think for a second that a self-indulgent king like Xerxes was sleeping alone that whole time.

a. Esther was afraid that since the king didn’t call on her as much as he once did, Esther was afraid for her life.

i. She didn’t seek to make an appointment with the king, probably because she was certain it would be denied. She appearance before the king would end with her predictable death.

d. But, there’s an unstated, but equally valid reason why Esther was so apprehensive about Mordecai’s plan.

i. If she went to the king, if the king allowed her to come into his presence, if she then begged for the lives of the Jews, her people, she would have to reveal the fact that she is a Jew – something that she has been hiding for the whole time she lived in the palace.

1. Esther knows she is disposable. She was chosen queen because Vashti defied the king. She hasn’t been with the king for 30 days, and he’s most likely had a different girl in bed with him each night.

a. She knows she’s disposable, that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of girls in the harem – and a search for a new queen would begin before her body was even cold

ii. Vashti was disposed because she refused to go to the king when she was summoned; Esther was going to attempt to go to the king without begin summoned – and she was going to reveal something about herself that she had been deceptive about.

1. Esther, having not seen the king for 30 days, seems to have little leverage with the king at this point. She has no heartstrings to pull; she only has Xerxes’ temper to enrage.

a. Notice that Esther doesn’t refuse to go – she simply states that it will be an exercise in futility and will most likely result in her death.

4. Fourth Exchange – And what we have in the 4th exchange, in vv.13-14, is perhaps the most famous verse in the whole book – and this becomes a turning point in the story.

a. As we’ve seen throughout – God’s name isn’t mentioned at all, but he is working – and it seems as if the characters of the story are beginning to take notice.

i. In this exchange, Mordecai reminds her that the decree doesn’t differentiate between Jews outside the palace and Jews inside.

1. Mordecai also tells Esther that either she can be an active participant in delivering he people, or she can be a passive bystander, and passively watch deliverance come from somewhere else.

b. And then Mordecai speaks the most famous words in the book – for such a time as this.

i. Mordecai’s words suggest that there is something, someone, bigger at work here.

1. Perhaps there is something larger, something purposeful, something providential and divine at work.

a. Perhaps Esther wasn’t gathered with the other virgins by chance. Perhaps she didn’t just appeal to the king.

i. Perhaps the fact that she, a Jew, is queen at this particular point in time is not accidental at all.

ii. Perhaps there is something bigger at work here than Agagite hatred and the fate of lots. Perhaps there is a deeper divine plan at work that has placed Esther in this position – for such a time as this.

1. And even though he is not mentioned, perhaps God has placed Esther right where she is in this place so that she might be the means through which her people are delivered.

5. Fifth Exchange – And in vv.15-17, the final exchange, Esther asks for some community support as she agrees to go and see the king on behalf of her people.

a. Now, I thought about preaching this whole sermon on fasting – figured it would be appropriate on Thanksgiving weekend, but just a couple important things to think about.

i. First, notice the contrast again – while the king and Haman are feasting and have a good time – the Jews are fasting, and preparing themselves for destruction.

b. And, as we’ve seen previously, the king likes his women well fed and all dolled up – hence the year of special diet and beauty treatments.

i. But notice that Esther agrees to go to the king only after 3 days of fasting – which will most likely influence her physical appearance.

c. And from this chapter to the end of the book, no longer is Esther swept along by circumstances beyond her control. No longer is Esther a passive on looker.

i. Up to this point, Esther has been the object of verbs – taken to the harem, taken to Xerxes’ bedroom.

1. But after this exchange with Mordecai, Esther becomes the subject of verbs – putting a plan in to place and acting in order to deliver her people.

6. Defining Moment – In chapter 4, our title character is faced with a dilemma.

a. She has hit a fork in a road – a defining moment of her life. What was she going to do? Was she going to stand idly by and let her own people be annihilated?

i. Or was she going to risk her own neck and align herself publicly as a Jew – and go the king uninvited?

1. Was Esther going to do the easy thing and save her own skin or was she going to the hard thing, the right thing, and seek to save her people?

b. She was at a fork in the road, a point of no return. Esther was a defining moment in her life.

i. And people of faith often find themselves in similar situations, though the stakes aren’t always as high.

1. But how we respond in these moments of life reveal a lot about our character.

c. Every one of us faces moments like this. The most fundamental crossroads comes when we hear the gospel of Jesus for the first time and we must decide how we are going to respond to it.

i. The gospel confronts us with the decision to continue living like the rest of the world or change our course of action and live by identifying ourselves with God’s people.

1. But that is just the first of many defining moments, because we will face many more such moments throughout the life of faith.

a. The teenager must decide if he or she is going to stand up and be identified as a Christian at school – or blend in and go with the flow of everyone else around them.

i. The university student must decide if he or she is willing to count the cost and stand up for the ways of God or be assimilated into the surrounding culture.

ii. The business person must decide if he or she is going to stand up to corporate injustices and risk being fired – or allow them to happen and keep quiet.

1. As Mordecai remind Esther – taking the path of least resistance may work in the short term, but in the long run, it doesn’t work it.

d. Constantly we are faced with doing what is easy and will save our own skin, and doing the hard thing, the right…the God thing.

i. Do you know who else faced this kind of crossroads? Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane – before he went to the cross – he begged and pleaded for another way.

1. And there’s some real tension in that passage. What was he going to do? Take the path of least resistance and save himself at the expense of humanity?

a. Or was he going to allow himself to be arrested, unjustly tried, beaten and crucified.

i. Was Jesus going to lose his own life so that he could save the lives of his people?

e. Ultimately Jesus chose to do the will of God the Father – and Jesus endured rejection, ostracism, punishment and death – so that his people could receive eternal life.

i. Thankfully, Jesus didn’t choose the path of least resistance.

1. And because our Saviour experienced those things – and came out victorious on the other side, because he promises to give strength for his people to endure…

a. Like Esther, the teenager at school can stand up for the ways of God and say, “If I’m ostracized, I’m ostracized.

i. The university student can stand out from the crowd and stand up for the God and say, “If I’m ridiculed, I’m ridiculed.

1. The business person can stand up for ethical behaviour, can align him or herself with the ways of God and say, “If I’m fired, I’m fired.”

f. Whatever our defining moment may be, we can act with courage and conviction by saying, “I will cast myself into the hands of my Saviour – hands that have held the cup of bitterness; hands that were pierced with nails at Calvary.

i. When faced with defining moments, we either chose to do the right thing at great personal cost, like Esther – or we choose to do the expedient thing for our own benefit, despite the cost to others.

7. How do you react? – So, when you are placed in a defining moment of a difficult situation…how do you react? What path do you choose?

a. Least resistance? Or the right thing?

i. What’s your perspective when faced with these moments? Do you focus on how to get out of it as easily and as painlessly as possible? Kinda like Esther did initially?

b. Or do you have Mordecai’s perspective – that maybe, just maybe, God has placed in you a certain place at a particular time with the right people around you – so that you can be an instrument of God’s grace towards others?

i. Think about where God has placed you… in your family – how can you minister to your family members?

1. In your work place – what is it that God wants you to accomplish at work for your good and his gory?

a. In your neighbourhood – how can you be an instrument of God’s grace to your neighbours?

c. In this church? God has placed us all here – in this church, with these people, at this time; it’s not a coincidence that we’re all here.

i. What is it that God wants you to do in this church? How can you serve your brothers and sisters here in this place?

1. And a larger question – what is that God wants us to accomplish together as his people?

d. Who knows, this time. This place. These people. This situation. This position. Maybe, just maybe, God has placed you right where you for such a time as this – to work and move in and through you – for your good and ultimately, for his glory.

8. Next Week – for next week, read chapter 5. Get familiar with how this chapter furthers the story and we’ll study it in detail next week.