16 July – Additional Notes

ESTHER 4: ROCKING THE BOAT

The storyline in today’s chapter takes place around 450BC and yet it still holds principles and truth that can be applied to our lives even today. The opening scene shows a man named Mordecai tearing his clothes then, weeping and wailing through the city streets, he collapsing into sackcloth and ashes at the king’s gate. [v1-2] But although all this melodrama makes for a good read to entertain someone on a rainy summer’s day, can it really be relevant today?

As I read this story, I remembered driving with friends some years ago through an exquisite, leafy neighbourhood in Berlin. The winding streets were adorned with stunning early 19th Century mansions, previously owned by upper-class Germans. Then our hosts pulled the car over and pointed to a gorgeous home set back off the road, “This house,” they said, “was the house where a dinner party was held and after eating and drinking, an agreement was signed by Hitler and his guests for the annihilation of the Jews.”

Looking back through the back window as our car pulled away, I wondered how it was possible that such a horrific event could have germinated in such a delightful, stable, cultivated, educated, class-conscious neighbourhood. Our detour took us past the neighboring homes – all equally elegant in that picturesque suburb. I couldn’t help but wonder if the neighbors had any idea of what happened that night in that ‘house next door’. So, just like Esther in today’s chapter, we too can be caught up overnight in the greatest catastrophe imaginable. This may be on a national scale, an event such as that of Esther’s day, or that of a high-class Berlin home that launched a global war.

As I edit this page, Donald Trump is nursing his bullet-damaged ear after his assassination attempt in the run-up to the American elections. Such events, in addition to the speeches from either side of ‘the pond’ that fail to raise up a strong generation of young leaders, causes many people to step back, sit back, keep their head down, their mouth shut, and mind their own business. At least then, we’ll have a level of control over the stability in our own personal ecosystems.

When the storm hits a personal level, our own private tsunamis leave us fasting, weeping and wailing, or laying on the floor in silence, covered in sackcloth and ashes. [v3] In an address given to us by the head of Open Doors in Indonesia, the speaker suggested that Christian Believers in the West are not persecuted because we avoid persecution. Seeking to avoid the loss of friends, family relationships, even jobs, we keep silent though we call ourselves Followers of The Word. That Word was always a spoken word, a written word, and the Living Word of God – Jesus. Instead, modern Western Believers have lost our voice and to avoid rocking the boat, especially with our family or grown children, we keep quiet. It’s this thought that causes many of us to keep quiet and not rock the boat even though we know that what is happening is wrong! Although Esther had good reason and in law not to respond [v11], Mordecai’s words leapt from the page:

“Think not with yourself (Do not imagine) that you shall escape in the Beis HaMelech, (house of the king – the focal point for everything) more than kol HaYehudim (of all God’s People). For if you altogether hold your peace (keep silent) at this time, then shall there revach (relief) and hatzalah (deliverance) arise to the Yehudim (God’s People) from another place; but you and your bais Avicha (house of your father) shall be destroyed; and who knows whether you have come to the Malkhut (Kingdom, your royal position) for such a time as this?” [v13-14]

It’s a common misconception among Followers of the Creator God today, that we’re safe from trouble. If it doesn’t directly affect us, we can keep our head down and keep quiet today because God will step in tomorrow to avert disaster. However, this epic saga laid out throughout HIStory paints quite another picture of God’s family. In Esther’s case, she had to stand up to the highest authority that was running not just one country but an entire Empire! Just as it was in WWII Europe (or in our own countries as modern trends continue), standing up for what was clearly wrong carried with it a very high price. At best it could cost Esther her marriage, her children, her role, and her position in society. Worst case scenario, this could very well end her life here. [v16] And for the sake of family, position, and not going against the crowd, people across WWII Europe kept silent.

But if the the famous statement and provocative poem “First they Came…” by Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) shows where incremental silence eventually leads, what should we be doing today to correct what’s wrong – even if rocking the boat costs us everything that we’re lucky enough to have. If we’re honest though, it’s out of fear that we keep quiet. Fear of losing the position we hold, the job we’re in, the one we love most, the friendships we don’t want destroyed. But by putting ourselves and others first, the images of God are higher than the One who created those images. Whatever our fear is in our ‘rocking boat’, two things I know are sure: fear isn’t an excuse, and only bent knees will help…

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