Sermon Tone Analysis

Esther 4:1–17 (CSB)

1 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.

2 He went only as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. 3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict reached.

They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear.

She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.

5 Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who attended her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.

6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King’s Gate.

7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.

8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.

9 Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

10 Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, 11 “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live.

I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last thirty days.”

12 Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

13 Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace.

14 If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed.

Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me.

Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day.

I and my female servants will also fast in the same way.

After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.

If I perish, I perish.”

17 So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.

The Peter Parker Principle- “ With great power comes great responsibility.”

Peter Parker was an orphaned teenage boy who lived in Queens, New York with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.

He was a shy boy, but highly intelligent and excelled in science.

He was often teased by other more popular kids like longtime nemesis Flash Thompson, but his life was soon to change on a visit to the science museum.

At the science museum, Peter was bitten by a radioactive spider.

The spider bite gave Peter spider-like powers with super strength and reflexes.

He also had a “spider-sense” alerting him to danger.

Armed with these new powers, Peter first sought fame and money before fighting crime.

He worked with a wrestling circuit and got some fame and appeared on a television show.

During a robbery of the television show, Peter has the chance to stop the thief but chose not to.

Peter later finds out that the same robber that he could have stopped at the television studio attempted to rob his aunt and uncle's residence, and his Uncle Ben was killed in the struggle.

The words of his late uncle, "with great power there must also come great responsibility,” drive Peter to fight crime instead of chasing fame.

Spider-Man was truly born.

This week’s text shines the spotlight on Mordecai and Esther either having failed to use their power and position responsibly, or being scared to try and do so.

This isn’t just a principle for queens and superheroes.

It is a passage for all Christians.

God empowers us to do Kingdom work and opens doors allowing us to join Him in that work.

Our faith determines our reaction.

Who are we scared of — who do we trust!

The Text In Its Context

Mordecai’s Clarity in Crisis

Mordecai had been trying to hide the fact that he was Jewish, and he had asked Esther to do the same.

Maybe they thought that life would be easier for them if they did so.

We can easily understand why they did it, but hiding that we belong to God is sinful so they were wrong to do so.

Now Mordecai found himself in a horrible predicament- the man he refused to properly honor had issued a death sentence to him.

Worse- he had angered a man who escalated his revenge far past getting even.

Haman was going to kill every Jew in the kingdom and steal their money.

I wonder if Mordecai regretted his actions, but he could not change what he did, and he had no idea how to fix things.

It is easier to see our need for God when our back is against the wall- AMEN?

Mordecai found clarity in his crisis and saw what he needed to do.

He needed to beg God for mercy, quitting the subterfuge of hiding his Jewish roots and openly crying out to God for help at the king’s gate, which was the commercial and legal hub of the city, a combination of marketplace and courtroom.

Mordecai couldn’t go past the gates because Xerxes lived in a bubble of comfort, beauty, and agreement.

Jewish people throughout the kingdom did the same- fasting, weeping, and crying out for salvation.

God’s name is absent from this book- but don’t you get the sense that His Hidden Hand is going to become more apparent??

Esther Challenged By Circumstances!

Esther must have thought that Mordecai had lost his mind!

Her servants and eunuchs told her what Mordecai was doing, and she sent him some clothes to put on.

She was afraid of what would happen if her ethnicity was discovered.

Mordecai refused the clothes and sent back a copy of the written decree and commanded his adopted daughter to beg for mercy on the Jewish people from the king.

Esther was scared to obey, and with very good reason.

She replied to Mordecai that his request seemed almost impossible to achieve.

If anyone approached the king in the inner court without being summoned there was only one penalty—death.

The ‘inner court’ seems to have been the entrance hall of an impressive apartment in the more private residence of the king, where he met with his councillors for the transaction of state business.

Seated on his throne at the upper end of the apartment, he could see any person in the court.

The only exemption from death was if the king pointed his golden sceptre towards the unsummoned visitor and spared their life.

The intention behind this rule was the protection of the king’s life, time and privacy.

Esther didn’t see the king every day- it had been more than thirty days since she had last been summoned to the king- so if she were to act immediately to protect her people she needed to risk death to do so.

Esther is often held up as a heroine- but her actions in the book show that she is full of fear and caution.

She sees the difficulties of her circumstances much more easily than she sees God working in those circumstance or trust in God’s promises and protections.

In other words, Esther was made of the same stuff as you and I are!

It is a great encouragement to appreciate that those men and women whom God has used in the past had the same emotions and failings as we do.

She sent the eunuch back to Mordecai and let him know about her fears and limitations.

Helped By God’s Hidden Hand

God’s name is not written in the Book of Esther.

Even so, the book of Esther is about God’s sovereignty and providence, and the certainty of his intervention on his people’s behalf.

God is always in control, even when we do not see Him working, and we can trust that God will keep His promises.

That certainty, however, doesn’t mean that believers can sit back and wait for God to work.

God may be behind the initiative we take.

John Calvin recognized that God’s providence is no reason to put aside our human responsibility for action:

‘We are not at all hindered by God’s eternal decrees either from looking ahead for ourselves or from putting all our affairs in order, but always in submission to his will … It is very clear what our duty is: thus, if the Lord has committed to us the protection of our life, our duty is to protect it; if he offers helps, to use them; if he forewarns us of dangers, not to plunge headlong; if he makes remedies available, not to neglect them.’

— John Calvin

Mordecai new clarity of thought pointed out that Ether’s being in the palace was not an accident, “perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

He didn’t say that God had put her there, but that’s what his statement amounted to.

If Esther would just take the time to review her life, she couldn’t help but see the hidden hand of God working out of sight.

Seemingly random coincidences become God’s sovereign providence.

If God brought her to the throne, then He had a purpose in mind, and that purpose was now evident: She was there to intercede for her people.

The situation is reminiscent of Joseph talking to his brothers

Genesis 50:20 (CSB)

20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

When we realize that we are facing spiritual assault or when we see the Devil working to mobilize culture and government to achieve evil goals we cannot sit back and wait for God to respond.

We are placed here to respond.

The teaching of the Bible says that we are compelled to help the vulnerable and helpless.

That means we must not get lost in our fear or weakness.

Rather, we must double down on our dependence upon God, and act in a way that brings honor to God.

We are often uncertain if God is calling us to act a particular way in a particular situation.

But we do have extremely clear revelation on how God wants us to live our life in general.

If you start to feel God calling you to act, but are not sure exactly how, that is not the time to passively - or cowardly- wait in the shadows for God to act.