Esther 4:1-4
April 6, 2002
There’s a story about a girl who had an interesting experience in her Sunday school class one day. When she came into the class, she knew they were in for a fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. The teacher told the students to draw a picture of someone they disliked or someone who had made them angry and he would allow them to throw darts at the person’s picture.
This girl’s girlfriend drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend drew a picture of his little brother. Another drew a picture of a former friend, putting a great deal of detail into his drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. All were pleased at their efforts.
The class lined up and began throwing darts, with much laughter and hilarity. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. This girl looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when the teacher called time out and asked the students to return to their seats.
As she sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn’t have a chance to throw any darts at her target, the teacher began removing the target from the wall.
Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus.
A complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered his face and his eyes were pierced.
The teacher said only these words, “In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40)
No other words were necessary; the tear-filled eyes of each student focused only on the picture of Jesus Christ.
In such a time as this after all of the hope-filled resolutions and prayer-full commitments when the beginning of the new millennium happened just over two years ago, our world is still filled with violence. Have you thrown any darts lately?
Destruction of the Jews
Haman, the enemy of the Jews persuaded King Ahasuerus that this certain people who were scattered in his kingdom followed their laws and disobeyed the king’s laws. And that the Jewish people were different in dress, diet, and language. A decree was sent out to every province to destroy, kill, and annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month and that it was okay to plunder their possessions. It was a potentially violent time.
When people don’t conform somehow to the majority, all groups suffer from prejudice and violence. Dislike and fear of the unfamiliar grow sometimes unnoticed into hatred. Differences in customs, appearance, and speech are not always as welcome in the midst of the Christian community as they could be. We may feel just as threatened as Haman did by those who did things differently.
The book of Esther said that while the city of Susa was thrown into confusion when this decree was read, the king and Haman sat down for a drink. They drank with the sense of a job well done.
In Sackcloth and Ashes
Learning about this impending doom, Mordecai goes into the ritual acts of mourning, tearing his clothes and wearing the garments of grief and humiliation, sackcloth and ashes. He does not go about this silently but makes a good deal of noise with his wailing over the fate that is to befall his people. One can’t keep silent in such a time as this!
Then Mordecai goes up to the entrance of the palace gate. He stays outside since people in mourning clothes are not allowed any further. The entire Jewish community joins in mourning everywhere. They fast, weep, lament, and wear sackcloth and ashes. The whole community is making a lot of noise.
When Esther heard from her servants the kind of ruckus Mordecai was causing outside, she may have been afraid for her cousin’s safety. Or she was more worried that his protest was attracting too much attention on her and that their relationship and her secret identity will be revealed. So Esther sends Mordecai some regular clothes to change out of his sackcloth and ashes. But he refused to accept them.
Although wearing sackcloth and ashes is not something we do today, there isn’t any shortage of troubling concerns facing us today. In the weeks and now months following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States, we are wearing sackcloth and ashes mourning the lost of thousands of lives and the suffering and grief of many more. In the war against terrorism, we are wearing sackcloth and ashes as both US servicemen and servicewomen are in harm’s way and hundreds and perhaps thousands of innocent Afghans have been killed and maimed.
Now it seems that the escalation of violence of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye is a daily part of life in the Middle East. We are all shocked and dismayed over how desperate the situation might be for an 18 year-old Palestinian teenage girl to serve as a suicide bomber who killed a 17 year-old Israeli girl. As members of the global society, we are wearing sackcloth and ashes and praying that reason and reconciliation may once again become an important part of the conversations between Palestinians and Israelis.
For such a time as today as young Christians, we too must refuse to accept new clothes and stay wearing our sackcloth and ashes. When we protest and mourn for the death and violence we see in the world, we are answering God’s call for us in such a time as this.
What Can We Do?
Now you are saying to yourself, “Wearing inching rice bags and putting ashes on our selves might work for people in Mordecai’s days but I can’t go to school like that in Terra Haute!” Although you might imagine that people in San Francisco dressed weirdly, I can’t go around looking like that either!
So what can we do today? We can begin to participate in things that might not seem particularly important at this time but eventually may become important later in life. We can use the time we have today and trust God that these experiences will prepare us for even greater challenges in the future.
First, we can learn more about today’s issues and problems and stay connected with the world. When Mordecai refused Esther’s clothes, she sent one of her servants to Mordecai to find out what was happening and why. Mordecai told him about how Haman was going to pay the king for destroying the Jews and then gave him a copy of the decree to take back to Esther.
Esther understood Mordecai’s protest by learning about the impending doom. Eventually she became committed in helping to save her people. We can learn a lot more about world and national news. I know we all like to read the sports page—I read that section first too—the Red Sox are in last place! But we must not neglect reading the front page and the world news too. When we are more knowledgeable of the world around us, we become less prejudicial and more concern for others.
Secondly, we can take a stand on issues that threaten shalom and peace. Mordecai and the entire Jewish community wore sackcloth and ashes before destruction happened. The result of their loud protest of weeping, bitter crying, and lamenting led to a different ending. When we speak out for peace and justice, it is not only an American right in the Bill of Rights that our country is built on, but it is an American Baptist principle of Baptist freedom! When we speak our conscience based on the discernment with others of biblical truths, we become faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ in the world.
And finally, what we can begin to do today is to do the little things in life that makes life meaningful. Recent statistics reveal that about every two hours a young person in the US between the ages of 15 and 24 dies of suicide. The suicide rate for young white males tripled between 1950 and 1994, and it doubled in that period for white females. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for college students after accidents.
Statistics like these are catastrophes with the tears wiped off. Behind each suicide statistic is a young life cut abruptly short, friends bereft, a family shaken to its roots, and survivors are left asking, “Why?”
I tried in my ministry to learn the name of every person in my congregation—from the youngest person to the oldest. When I shake hands while people are filing out after worship, I asked for their names sometimes repeatedly and plead “senior moments” when I forget. You can help me to remember “Shannon” who comes to church with “Elton.”
Last Sunday while I was going to the YMCA’s annual Easter pancake breakfast, I saw two of our youth at church early. So I treated them to a $5 all-you-can-eat pancakes. You and I can do little things that would lead to affirming each other that God loves you and that Christ died for us so that we may have life everlasting. Imagine what it would be like if we all knew each other’s name! I’m going to try to learn all of your names in the short time that we have!
Esther probably did a lot of little things as the queen that eventually prepared her to stand up for her people at the end. We can all begin in small ways to do kind things to each other that will make a difference in the long run.
Jesus Is Coming
Someone sent me on the internet this story that I like to share with you.
Ruth went to her mailbox and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again.
There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter:
Dear Ruth:
I’m gong to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I’d like to stop
by for a visit.
Love Always,
Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. “Why would the Lord want to visit me? I’m nobody special. I don’t have anything to offer.”
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. “Oh my goodness, I really don’t have anything to offer. I’ll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner.” She reached for her purse and counted out its content. Five dollars and forty cents. “Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least.”
She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.
A loaf of French bread, a half a pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk…leaving Ruth with a grand total of twelve cents to last her until Monday.
Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm.
“Hey lady, can you help us, lady?
Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn’t even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags.
“Look lady, I ain’t got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and well, now it’s getting cold and we’re getting kinda of hungry and well, if you could help us. Lady, we’d really appreciate it.”
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to.
“Sir, I’d like to help you, but I’m a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I’m having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to him.”
“Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.”
The man put his arm around the woman’s shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley. As she watched him leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart.
“Sir, wait!” The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them. “Look, why don’t you take this food. I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.”
She handed the man her grocery bag.
“Thank you lady. Thank you very much!”
“Yes, thank you!” It was the man’s wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering. “You know, I’ve got another coat at home. Here, why don’t you take this one.” Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman’s shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street…without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
“Thank you lady! Thank you very much!”
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn’t have anything to offer him.
She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox.
“That’s odd. The mailman doesn’t usually come twice in one day.” She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.
Dear Ruth:
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you,
too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always,
Jesus
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.
Seeking Repentance
What Ruth did was to follow Jesus’ teaching. Whenever we see someone who is hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we helped out, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”
We still live in a time such as today that requires us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with the Lord.
Wearing sackcloth was not just a symbol of protest by Mordecai to the decree of persecution by the king, wearing sackcloth also points to repentance. Maybe Mordecai felt responsible for causing or setting in motion this disastrous doom. We don’t really know.
But what we do know about ourselves is that we wear sackcloth and ashes because there are parts of us that need repenting. We wear sackcloth because we may not have spoken out against violence and injustice when we have seen it. And we feel sorry for that and ask God for forgiveness.
And like the repentant thief who was crucified with Christ, we too ask for God’s forgiveness and have the faith that we are made whole to serve him in such a time as this.
Let us pray.
O Merciful Lord, we seek your forgiveness when we have come up short in living out our discipleship. We pray for peace and the end of war and violence knowing that what we have done in the world saddens you. Teach us to love one another. Bless us with healing and wholeness in our lives. In the Spirit of Christ, we pray and serve. Amen.