Rolf Jacobson (0s): Welcome to, I Love to Tell the Story, a podcast on the Narrative Lectionary. I'm Rolf Jacobson. Kathryn Schifferdecker (8s): I'm Kathryn Schifferdecker. Joy J. Moore: And I'm Joy J Moore. Kathryn Schifferdecker: And this is the podcast for the second Sunday of Advent, December 4th, 2022. And we're moving to the book of Esther, which may be unexpected in Advent, but it, it's a Narrative, it's an important, really lovely Narrative in the Old Testament. So we're including it in the Narrative Lectionary. And it just chronologically speaking fits here because we've moved from Herba, which again, we don't know exactly the date of, but sometime did we say in the six hundreds. And we're moving to Esther, which again, we don't actually know when it was written, but the, the, the Narrative chronology of it is in the Persian period. So of course, after the Babylonian empire fell, the, the, well the Persians overtook the Babylonian empire, conquered the Babylonian empire, and created what at that time, was the largest empire that the world had ever seen. That spread that, that one end was in India, what is now India. And the other end moved all the way past Egypt into what is Sudan and Ethiopia, so the Persian Empire. So we're talking sixth century bce, right around, what was it, 5 49. The Persian Empire begins and continues into the fourth century till about 3 33 bce. So that's the chronological time period of the Book of Esther. Though we don't know exactly when it was written, sometime either during or after the Persian Empire. And any case, what we have here is a court tale, a tale of intrigue, sometimes very humorous tale, sometimes a horrifying tale that ends with the slaughter of the enemies of the Jews. But we see a particular person here, the character of Esther. So Esther is a Jew born in the Persian empire, raised in the Persian Empire, who becomes Queen of Persia. We won't go into the details of how that happens. It's not, it's not the veggie details version of it, it's not a beauty contest. But she ends up Queen of Persia, and as she becomes queen, and her cousin Mordecai is in the King's court, the right hand man of the King, king Aeris is a man named Haman, who is designated in the book of Esther, the enemy of the Jews. So Haman is a, a genocidal, vengeful man who, when he's not given the respect that he thinks he's owed by Mordecai, he decides to kill not just Mordecai, but all the Jews. Now, sadly, of course, this is a story that is replayed over and over and over again, not just in the ancient world, but into the 20th century, as we all know. So there are many Hamans through the centuries that have tried to destroy God's. People have tried to destroy the Jews, but here in this story, as in all the other stories actually and in history, they don't succeed. The Jews still survive and here because of the bravery, the courage, and the, the wisdom of Esther and her cousin Mordecai. But the story we have here in chapter four, that's what we're concentrating on, is when Mordecai comes to Esther or sends messengers to Esther, to ask her to intercede with the king on her people's behalf. And she has not made known her Jewish identity to the king or to the court on Mordecai's advice. And so now she, she initially is hesitant and says, how can I come before the king? He hasn't called for me. These, you know, these, these weeks, and it's a law in Persia that you can't come before the king unless you've been summoned. And then you get this beautiful response from Mordecai towards the end of the chapter, who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this. And then Esther gathers her courage and says, I will, I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. So I've, I've introduced this long enough. I've talked long enough. What, what do you guys see in this text? Joy J. Moore (5m 4s): I see a familiarity. You mentioned how this kind of lack of hospitality, mistreatment of the other has been perpetuated historically and in contemporary society. But just in within the scriptural imagination, there's a similarity of, of the life of, of Moses and the life of Daniel. And in the life of Joseph, I got that chronologically backwards. But in, in this story here of Esther, of, of one who's in the family, the chosen family of God, who has been educated and come to leadership in the camp, sometimes known, sometimes unknown, in this case unknown. And is going to be the place where God will be named and God will be, and God will rescue God's people. So in saying that, the first thing that is noticed is that God has not mentioned at all, at all in this book, right? So, so what am I saying here? Well, the scriptural imagination recognizes that this people, the Jews are God's people. And so who it, who are this people in the larger story and in the larger story, these are the people for whom the creator God has promised to bless all the other nations. And so if this people are destroyed, then God's promise is nullified. And so even though God is not mentioned, the illusion to God is very clear, because this people, which are the promise of God, cannot be destroyed. And then another illusion that you see in this is a similarly that we've seen that was actually called out in Herba, and that is that the enemies of God's people will be destroyed by one another. And and so this, this particular story is what is set against Israel or against the Jews actually becomes haman's own destruction, not by the hand of the Jews, but by the hand of his king. Joy J. Moore (7m 45s): Yeah. Haman is hanged on the gallows that he, that, that he erects for Mordecai. There's a, there's a kind of reversal of fortune here with God working behind the scenes and through the, the courage of Esther and Mordecai. Rolf Jacobson (8m 2s): You know, the two things that strike me in addition, I mean the most famous line, you, you read it in the current translation. I like the older translation. Perhaps it is for such a time as this that you have come into the kingdom. It's, I think it is a call for all of us to wonder about what the time it is for us in our following of God in our own callings, and then the, the leaning into the gospel of Matthew as we are. We do not tell the story of herd's, murder of the innocence, but just the connection of, of, with the coming of the Messiah that it, it, it does it, a reminder that the Christmas story is easily, what shall we say, sanitized. And it's a dangerous thing for God and for God's people to send the Messiah as we find out at Easter. But it is the sole reason for hope that we have. Kathryn Schifferdecker (9m 7s): Yeah, I would, I I would just add, I think that's, that's a good take on it. I think for those of you preaching on this, this isn't an advent theme particularly, but it should be acknowledged that all, you know, that the Hamans of the world, the ones who have persecuted the Jews, have to, the shame of the church often been Christians, right? I mean, persecution of the Jews has gone on for centuries and too often at the hands of Christians, and yet, well, and the Jews survive. So I, I had the great privilege of preaching at a synagogue this last summer here in the Twin Cities. And I, I, I ended my sermon this way, and I think I, they seem to appreciate it. And it's one other thing to take from the Book of Esther, that even though God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, the sheer historical circumstances that, that it, it, or the, the story it tells tells God's faithfulness. So, you know, the Persian empire is no more, right? The Babylonian empire is no more, the Assyrian Empire is no more. We talked about that Assyrian Empire Empire a few weeks ago on Christ the King Sunday, right? The Roman Empire is no more, the Greek empire is no more, but the Jews survive through the faithfulness of God. And that is a sign to me, and I think should be to all Christians of God's faithfulness to God's people. And so we rejoice at their survival. We, we, we are grateful for being grafted into the root of Israel, as Paul says in Romans nine through 11. And we pray for more such people like Esther and Mordecai who answer the call of God for such a time as this, to to, to witness to God's glory and to work for God's kingdom.