Esther (Greek) 7:1-5: a reflection

1So the king and Haman went in to drink with the queen. 2The king said to Esther at the banquet on the second day, “What is it, queen Esther? What is your request? What is your petition? It shall be done for you, up to half of my kingdom.” 3She answered and said, “If I have found favor in the sight of the king, let my life be granted as my petition, and my people as my request. 4For both I and my people are sold for destruction, pillage, and genocide. If both we and our children were sold for male and female slaves, I would not have bothered you, for this isn’t worthy of the king’s palace.” 5The king said, “Who has dared to do this thing?”

At the banquet, the moment finally comes, and Esther speaks. She has kept her identity hidden, safe inside the palace while her people faced destruction. Now, at grave personal risk, she reveals herself and pleads: let my life be granted me, and the lives of my people, for we have been sold to be destroyed. She could have stayed silent and probably survived. Instead she uses her position and her access to the king to advocate for those in danger, and she casts her own lot fully with theirs, I and my people.

Notice two things about her courage. First, she risks herself. Speaking up could have cost Esther her life; approaching the king unbidden was dangerous, and revealing herself as a Jew tied her fate to her condemned people. She chose the risk rather than the safety of silence. Second, she identifies with them. She does not plead as a detached benefactor; she says we, binding herself to the endangered rather than distancing herself.

There is a challenge here for anyone who has any position, access, or voice that others in danger lack. It is easy to stay safe and silent while others suffer, telling ourselves it is not our fight. Esther shows another way: to use whatever position you have to speak for those who cannot, even at cost to yourself, and to stand with them rather than above them. Where has God placed you with access or voice that could help the vulnerable? Do not stay silent in the palace. Speak, and stand with them.

Lord, like Esther, help me use whatever position, access, or voice you have given me to speak for those in danger, even at cost to myself, rather than staying safe and silent. Give me courage to risk myself for others, and to stand with the vulnerable rather than above them.