Esther and Mordecai
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the August 8, 2015
Sabbath School Lesson
“But if serving the Lord seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But
as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15, NIV
During the
winter of 1973-74, I was an Army Medic stationed at Fort Wainwright. Just outside
of Fairbanks, Alaska. In the wintertime, nights are long and cold. We did not
have much to break the tedium of long hours indoors. The local radio station
was more about those out in the bush being able to keep in touch with others
through “trap line chatter.” Entertainment was not their number one concern.
Naturally, when an opportunity presented itself for diversion, I would
participate.
Late that
winter, I discovered that a Jewish Rabbi would come up from Fort Richardson,
outside of Anchorage, to perform Sabbath Services for a small Jewish population
assigned to Fort Wainwright. Since Seventh-day Adventists also observe the
Sabbath, I decided I would attend to see what differences and similarities we
had. After the service I visited with the Rabbi. When I revealed that I was
Adventist, I was surprised when he lamented that he wished his Jewish
congregation were as faithful about the Sabbath as Seventh-day Adventists were
known to be. I didn’t know what to say to that, but I was pleased that we had a
respected reputation even among the Jews.
The Rabbi
invited me to their upcoming Purim celebration. Not sure what to expect, but
facing boredom in my room back in the barracks, I accepted. When I arrived
later in the week, I was given a gragger, similar to the one in the picture
above. I was told that they would be reading aloud the “Megillah” which means “scroll”
but is a reference to the Book of Esther. When reading the story, periodically
they would read the name of Haman, who was an evil character in the book. When
the name was read, I was to join with the rest of the congregation and spin my
gragger to drown out the name and holler, “Boo!” This made for a very noisy
scripture reading, but certainly helped one to remember the story well. Perhaps
this is similar to the visual aids and handheld objects used to illustrate the
Bible stories in the lower divisions for Sabbath School in our own churches.
After the
reading, we gathered in another room for fellowship and to enjoy a
pastry/cookie known as “hamentaschen.” Literally this means “Haman’s Pockets.” While
I am still not sure what his pockets had to do with the story, it was a
delightful treat, and I thank my Jewish friends for sharing their special
holiday with me. It still brings back pleasant memories forty years later.
The story in
the Book of Esther has special challenges for Seventh-day Adventists. While
true that her courage and willingness to be used by God to deliver her people
from condemnation (after some intense coaxing by Mordecai, her guardian), she
did so after a history of concealing her ethnic and religious identity, even,
apparently, from her husband, the king. He could easily have felt betrayed and
instead of saving the Jews, as he did later, he could have pushed forward their
destruction in response to the broken trust.
However, he
did not, and all turned out well for the Jews. But this is not the problem I am
referring to. Last week, we were examining the witness of Daniel, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. These were men who hid nothing about their faith. They
might even be said to have been confrontational about it. Daniel prayed to God
through his open window, even when such prayer had been outlawed. If we take
the example of Mordecai’s counsel to Esther,[i]
we would have expected Daniel to pray secretly. But how does one hide their
religion yet honor Jesus’ instructions about letting our light shine.[ii]
This idea of
secretiveness becomes even more controversial when we examine what that might
mean in practice. For instance, two very distinctive aspects of Seventh-day
Adventism that would make us stand out are also practices of the Jews. We and
they both observe the seventh-day Sabbath. Also, we and they do not typically
eat unclean foods.[iii]
Might it not be reasonable to conclude that if she were to refuse to eat the
roast pig served up at a feast, or if she refused to participate in feasting
and revelry on the Sabbath that it would raise questions? Questions about
things that Mordecai had cautioned her to keep hidden? The implication arising
from all of this secretiveness is that perhaps Esther abandoned the Sabbath and
the Jewish dietary practices to remain concealed, a concept just as provocative
today as it may have been then. Perhaps this has something to do with why
Esther was the very last book to be approved by the Jews for inclusion in the
Tanakh.[iv]
In any
event, the challenge for Seventh-day Adventists is “Does this mean it is OK to
fudge on matters of praxis in order to advance one’s career?” For instance, is
it allowed to stop keeping the Sabbath and to eat “whatever is set before me,”[v]
without question if I decide to enter military service? Increasingly, the
answer today for some seems to be more in line with Esther’s thinking than
Daniel’s, not only for military service but for many other secular situations
as well. Should we then decide to make an issue over this? Are we to be like Phinehas[vi]
and run through the camp with a spear skewering everyone who does not answer to
our strict definition of what is right and wrong? It is hard to deny that
Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were ultimately blessed for their strong
stance. Even Phinehas we are told was able to bring about the end of a plague
through his actions. But perhaps that is the very reason the Book of Esther
ultimately found its way into the Bible.
As we saw
last week with Peter’s denial of Jesus, not everyone is like these heroes of
the Old Testament. Maybe the lesson is that God’s grace is much bigger than we understand.
For some of us, we want things laid out clearly in black and white so we can
measure ourselves and others by those standards. Those personalities really
like things like the test of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Ten
Commandments, doctrinal creeds, and anything else that can be reduced to a
clear “thus saith the Lord.” But Disciples like Peter and books like Esther
tend to muddy those waters, and that makes the person dependent on that frame
of rules and regulations uncomfortable.
Jesus spoke
to that discomfort in a memorable parable.[vii]
He spoke of the owner of a vineyard who went out to hire workers early in the
morning. He engaged several workers, agreeing to pay them the proper wage for a
day’s work. Later he went out and hired others without setting an amount for
their pay. He did this similarly throughout the day, even hiring some shortly
before the day was done. At the end of the day, when it was time to pay all of
his workers, he gave the same wage to those who had only worked a few hours as
he gave to those who had worked the entire day. Needless to say, this made the
workers who had worked all day very unhappy. They felt that their reward should
have been greater since they had contributed more of their labor. But in the
parable, the owner of the vineyard said their pay was not based on how long
they had worked but on his generosity.
With this parable
to help guide us, we can re-examine both Esther and Peter. Although Peter
denied Jesus before the palace of the High Priest, Jesus later welcomed him
back into the vineyard.[viii]
After Peter returned to the vineyard, he harvested a great many souls for the
kingdom of God. Thousands were baptized into the church when he preached boldly
his first sermon at Pentecost.[ix]
After a lengthy concealment, Esther also returned to the vineyard in order to
save her people. As a result, they were not only saved but her guardian,
Mordecai, was elevated to a position of prominence in the Persian Empire.[x]
Perhaps as
Seventh-day Adventists in particular and as Christians in general, we should
all understand that there is a reward for being the faithful servant toiling
hard without letup in the Lord’s vineyard. However, we should also understand
that those who may have vacillated and are late comers to the harvest have a
reward as well. That reward at the end of the harvest is no less than those who
have worked all day. All work for the same wage, eternal life. How can that be
fair? Perhaps the fairness is that those who have worked long and hard for the
Lord have had the blessing of all that time in His service. He rewards all
according to His grace. We cannot work our way into that.[xi]
If we honestly examine our lives, that’s a good thing.
