Proper 21B + For just such a time as this... + 9.27.15

Dao Island, Philippines (privateislandsonline.com)

Melissa Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Esther 7:1–6, 9–10; 9:20–22; Ps. 124; James 5:13–20; Mark 9:38–50)

John Donne said: “No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”[1] Or, we might say: we do not belong to ourselves. We are all in this together. And how we act individually always affects the people around us.

One is never so aware of this fact as when one lives in a foreign country and one becomes a sort of ambassador for your whole country. When I lived in Chile and would ride the bus, I was a good head taller than most and frequently getting on the bus I would ask for the student rate, as I was a student. The only thing was, it was controversial among bus drivers as to whether international students should get the rate as they were not necessarily subsidized by the government, so it was always a dance, in situations like that one, between blending with the other students and being treated like the foreigner I was. I tried to be a good “norte-americana” as we were called there, and I was always conscious that if I behaved badly, it would reflect back upon all others from the US. I would cringe when I heard US travelers yell words in English in restaurants as if that would make English translate more easily to Spanish, and I felt the weight of the responsibility to be a good visitor in that country.

Queen Esther really understood this concept. She was a queen, so you might think that she was powerful and could do whatever she wanted. But truth be told, she was from a Jewish minority in the Persian Empire during the late 400s BCE. There was an official named Haman who wanted the Jews to be killed or otherwise sidelined, and Queen Esther just happened to become queen after another queen, Vashti, was removed for not being an object of adoration. So Esther knew she had to tread carefully. And at first she may have wished to lay low. Be the queen, look pretty, say nothing. But Mordecai, a Jewish leader, came to her and pointed out that she was not in fact safe in the palace. If the Jews were under attack outside of the palace, she would be vulnerable too, so he suggested she might be queen especially to save her people. Here are the actual words: “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this (Esther 4:14).” These are powerful words, but they make the message clear. Esther is not just meant to sit there and look pretty, but she can act, and in doing so, she can help protect her people.

But she is still in a very precarious situation. So she goes about all this very carefully. She invites the king and Haman for dinner. Talk about dining with the enemy! And the first time she just lets them have a good time. She uses this to prime the pump, as it were. Then she invites them to another banquet, and at that dinner, the king is probably very curious. As you heard, he offers her up to half of the kingdom! Which, come to think of it, our modern eyes would just assume that she already had at her disposal as queen. But we must remember that California Community Property didn’t apply in Ancient Persia.
To fill in a little background, between banquets, things have amped up and Haman has got a gallows building for Mordecai and on the flip side, Mordecai has been remembered for a prior service to the king and the king has honored him. So what does Esther do in all of this? She seizes the moment and points out Haman’s plot to harm the Jews and asks for the king to save her people.

Is everything roses? No. Sadly a lot of people die at the end of the book of Esther. But we do hear in this topsy-turvy book a reminder that we are none of us an island, as John Donne said, but we are each a representative of our people. As Christians, we are representatives of the Christian people.  How we act as Christians in the world, like it or not, brings others to God or drives them further away from salvation. In our tradition we tend to emphasize that this is shown in our actions more than in words, of being an example of Godly living to others. For example, whether you have pope-mania or not, you may have noticed Pope Francis’ decision to feed the homeless rather than attend a state dinner, and to bless children that approach him rather than reject them as a security threat. Esther did not worry about her security as much as she did the safety of her people. And Francis is showing an example of how to be more broadly Christian. We can do something like this, albeit on a much smaller scale. We can be kind to others. We can see ourselves as kind of ambassadors for Christ, even in moments when we don’t even expect others to know we are Christian.

This is why the commands we hear in James to pray, confess and so forth are so right on. They are important because these actions help mark us as Christians. And they help us get the healing we need in community. One commentator was quick to point out that the healing mentioned here in James is not just for the individual confessing, but it is plural.[2] Healing happens in community. Because we are all connected.

Which brings me to the gospel. It starts off all right. Don’t reject somebody doing work in the name of Jesus just because he has a different flavor than you do, or hangs out with different folks. But then it gets weird. What is all this stuff about cutting off hands and so forth? This is one area of the Bible where a literal reading could get dangerous indeed! As far as I can figure, looking at the context, Jesus is talking about how we treat other people and specifically about whether the way we interact with others leads to working together and growing closer to God or whether it leads to breaking down relationships and driving people from God.
An example of this may be helpful here. Have you had a religious leader in your life, be that person male or female, lay or ordained, who has been a good example of Godliness to you? Chances are, that person mde you feel closer to God. Alternately, have you had someone be rude or negative or selfish or self-obsessed in a ministry or other religious context? If you did not have a solid sense of connection to God, that person may have made you doubt how legit all this faith stuff was. Whether he or she wanted to or not, maybe that person made you feel farther from God. This is true for all of us, whether we think of ourselves as leaders or not. Because as people of faith, we will all be examples of faithfulness, or lack thereof, at some point or another.
Which is all to say, what we do and say matters. We are all connected. So if there is some aspect of your life that is getting in the way of your relationship with God and others, cut it off. It may seem as helpful to you as a hand, or a foot. But it is leading you down the wrong path. Get back on track with God.

Who knows, maybe you were placed here and now for a purpose? For just such a time as this?

---

[1] http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/no-man-is-an-island/.

[2] Rolf Jacobsen, Karoline Lewis and Matt Skinner, “Sermon Brainwave #437: Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost,” (For Sunday September 27, 2015), https://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?podcast_id=668.