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Context No. 1905 of 4322 · Esther (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Esther (Greek) 4:1-8: in context

1But Mordecai, having perceived what was done, tore his garments, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled dust upon himself. Having rushed forth through the open street of the city, he cried with a loud voice, “A nation that has done no wrong is going to be destroyed!” 2He came to the king’s gate, and stood; for it was not lawful for him to enter into the palace wearing sackcloth and ashes. 3And in every province where the letters were published, there was crying, lamentation, and great mourning on the part of the Jews. They wore sackcloth and ashes. 4The queen’s maids and chamberlains went in and told her; and when she had heard what was done, she was deeply troubled. She sent clothes to Mordecai to replace his sackcloth, but he refused. 5So Esther called for her chamberlain Hathach, who waited upon her; and she sent to learn the truth from Mordecai. 7Mordecai showed him what was done, and the promise which Haman had made the king of ten thousand talents to be paid into the treasury, that he might destroy the Jews. 8And he gave him the copy of what was published in Susa concerning their destruction to show to Esther; and told him to charge her to go in and entreat the king, and to beg him for the people. “Remember, he said, the days of your humble condition, how you were nursed by my hand; because Haman, who holds the next place to the king, has spoken against us to cause our death. Call upon the Lord, and speak to the king concerning us, to deliver us from death.”

When Mordecai learns of the decree to destroy the Jews, he tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth and ashes, and cries out through the city; and the Jews everywhere mourn. Queen Esther, safe in the palace, is troubled by the news and sends to learn what is wrong. Mordecai sends her the decree and a charge: go in to the king and plead for your people. Remember, he says, the days of your low estate, how you were raised up; call upon the Lord, and speak to the king for us, to deliver us from death.

Mordecai's message to Esther is a call to act, at great personal risk, for the sake of others. Esther was safe in the palace, insulated from the danger threatening her people; she could have kept her head down, protected herself, and let events run their course. But Mordecai charges her not to stay safe while others perish, but to use her position, at the risk of her own life, to go to the king and plead for her people. She was placed where she was, he implies, precisely so that she could act now, when her people's lives hung in the balance. There is a searching call here for the moments when we are positioned to help others in danger, and it would be safer to do nothing. Often we are placed where we are, given the position, the access, the voice we have, not merely for our own comfort and safety, but so that we can act for others when the need arises. And the temptation, like Esther's, is to stay safe, to protect ourselves, to let events run their course rather than risk ourselves for others. Mordecai's charge cuts against this: do not stay safe while others perish; use what you have been given, even at cost to yourself, to intervene for those in danger. Rescue those who are being led away to death, Scripture says; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. And Mordecai points Esther to the source of the courage such action requires: call upon the Lord. The risk was real, and Esther would need more than her own resolve; she was to act, but to act in dependence on God, calling on him. This is the shape of costly action for others: to recognize that our position is given us in part so that we can help, to refuse the safety that would let others perish, and to act, backed by prayer, in dependence on God. Esther was called to risk herself for her people, and to call on the Lord as she did; and the same call comes to us in the moments we are positioned to help others at some cost to ourselves.

When I am positioned to help others in danger, and it would be safer to keep my head down and do nothing, do I stay safe while others perish, or can I hear Mordecai's charge to Esther, to use what I have been given, at cost to myself, to act for those in need, and, like her, to call upon the Lord for the courage such action requires?

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