Esther (Greek) 5:7-14: a reflection

7She said, “My request and my petition is: 8if I have found favor in the king’s sight, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the feast which I shall prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as I have done today.” 9So Haman went out from the king very glad and merry; but when Haman saw Mordecai the Jew in the court, he was greatly enraged. 10Having gone into his own house, he called his friends, and his wife Zeresh. 11He showed them his wealth and the glory with which the king had invested him, and how he had promoted him to be chief ruler in the kingdom. 12Haman said, “The queen has called no one to the feast with the king but me, and I am invited tomorrow. 13But these things don’t please me while I see Mordecai the Jew in the court. 14Then Zeresh his wife and his friends said to him, “Let a fifty cubit tall gallows be made for you. In the morning you speak to the king, and let Mordecai be hanged on the gallows; but you go in to the feast with the king, and be merry.” The saying pleased Haman, and the gallows was prepared.

Haman is at the height of his fortunes. He has been promoted above all the other officials, honored by the king, invited by the queen to an exclusive banquet. He goes home glad and boasts to his family of his wealth, his advancement, all the ways he has been exalted. By every outward measure, he has everything a person could want, and he can hardly contain his self-satisfaction.

And yet one thing poisons it all. When Haman sees Mordecai, who will not bow to him, sitting at the king's gate, he is filled with rage. All my honors, he says, mean nothing to me as long as I see that man. It is a startling confession. A single unresolved grievance, one man's refusal to give him the deference he craved, was enough to drain all the joy out of everything he had. His pride could not bear even one exception to his glory.

There is a sober warning here about what a grudge can do. Haman had genuine blessings, but he could not enjoy them because he was consumed by one offense. A heart set on its own honor is never satisfied; a single slight can ruin everything. Ask whether you are letting one grievance, one person who has not given you your due, poison the many good things in your life. Do not let a nursed offense steal your joy. The trap Haman fell into, which would soon destroy him, begins with a heart that cannot let a grievance go.

Lord, Haman had every honor and yet let one man's slight poison all his joy, consumed by a grudge that would destroy him. Guard my heart from that trap. Where I am letting one grievance ruin the good things you have given me, free me from it. Teach me to let offenses go, to be grateful rather than resentful, and to find my worth in you rather than in the deference of others. Amen.