1: Persia. 482 B.C.
King marries queen. King kills queen because “she is too bold and displeases him.”
King meets beautiful young woman. Beautiful young woman becomes new queen. Queen hides the fact that she is Jewish.
A royal decree is issued: “On a future date, neighbors of Jewish families throughout the realm will be free to kill them and plunder their wealth.”
Queen’s relative tells her she must take action to save the Jewish people.
Queen hesitates.
Until she doesn’t.
“She sends a message to her relative, Mordecai, the Jewish leader: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.
“And if I perish, I perish.”
The story above is that of Esther from the Old Testament, as recounted in Tim Keller’s Every Good Endeavor.
Something has changed. “The demure beauty queen who lies about her race to stay on the inside track—begins to fade away,” Tim notes. “The Esther who never rocks the boat and never ruffles any feathers starts to give orders.”
Esther takes action. She is bold. She acts courageously.
“She is received by the king and is able to unmask the hatred and calculation” of the official Haman, who had secured the decree allowing for the murder of the Jewish people. Haman is executed. The Jewish people are saved.
2: What a story!
But what does it have to do with us?
Perhaps we look at Esther and decide to use our “intellectual, social, and financial capital in a new way,” Tim notes. “Instead of looking at our influence as a means to move ourselves ahead, we are going to use it to serve people; we are going to take more risk to see that justice is done. Or we may decide that you have been too quiet about our beliefs, so we resolve to speak up and let people know what we believe.”
Great, Tim says. “Those are good and right impulses; by all means follow them.”
But they aren’t enough.
“To begin with, our resolve won’t last.”
Because if we are motivated by guilt, “guilt over selfishness, guilt over elitism, even guilt over ungratefulness,” Tim predicts, it “will wear off before long because living in a new way will be hard.”
We are also prone to overreacting.
“So often I have seen people who have previously kept secret about their faith and who overcompensate and become obnoxious. They decide to be an outspoken, principled person; they will not be like ‘those closeted Christians,'” Tim observes. Yet, “they are still getting their identity from their performance of a ‘better’ kind of Christianity. They have not really changed; they are very self-righteously being more overt.”
3: What then are we to do?
Tim suggests we look at Esther “not merely as an example but as a signpost, a pointer. . . God created us, he gave us everything we have, and he sustains our life every moment; therefore, we owe him everything.
“But we do not live that way. We live as if everything we have is ours, to use as we see fit, to make our own name. Even people who do not consider themselves Christians know, on reflection, that something is wrong with this picture.
“By everyone’s standards, we are violating our relationship with God. The religions of the world disagree on the story and the reasons, but they all agree on something: There is a gap—or a chasm—between the divine and us.
“Some religions say we must cross that divide through sacrifice, rituals, transformation of consciousness, or ethical practice.”
Christians see another path.
“Esther saved her people through identification and mediation,” Tim writes. “Her people were condemned, but she identified with them and came under that condemnation. She risked her life and said, ‘If I perish, I perish.’
“Because she identified, she could mediate before the throne of power as no one else could, and because she received favor there, that favor was transferred to her people.
“Saving people through identification and mediation—does that remind you of anyone?
“Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived in the ultimate palace with ultimate beauty and glory, and he voluntarily left them behind. Philippians 2 says that he had equality with the Father, but he did not hold on to it; instead, he emptied himself, identified with us, and took on our condemnation. He did not do it at the risk of his life but at the cost of his life. He didn’t say, ‘If I perish, I perish,’ but ‘When I perish, I’ll perish.’
“He went to the cross and died; he made atonement for our sins. Now he stands before the throne of the universe, and the favor he has procured is ours if we believe in him. His is ultimate mediation.”
Hallelujah!
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: What do I make of Esther’s story? Think about a time when I acted boldly. What inspired me to do so?
Action: Journal about my answers to the questions above.
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