Today, we will let the word of God speak to us.
Dwelling in the word is an ancient Christian practice.
For some of us, this is a new way of listening to scripture,
but if you enter into it, you will find it invigorating.
Get in a quiet place.
Close your eyes.
Still your mind and body by “centering down.”
That is, breathe in for 3 counts, and exhale for 5 counts.
After a moment of silence, read the text.
As you read the text, ask yourself:
What words in the text stand out to me?
What does this text say that I’ve never really heard before?
What does this text find in me today?
After you read the text,
close your eyes and meditate on it and the question.
After several moments and you have a clear and
complete view of the text in your mind,
write down your thoughts.
If you wish, you may post them underneath today’s
devotional.
Hear the word of God:
When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. In every province, wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.
Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law — all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days." When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 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." Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."
Esther 4:1-16 – NRSV
Grace and peace,
Ron
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2 comments:
This text finds me realizing that God is working, even when I am not on board, and especially when I am not in control.
I find it freeing to be reminded of this. If I should not be in the game, He will accomplish His purposes. But so much more fun and life-changing when I am in the game! To get to see Him work up-close is so much more filling than to simply hear stories about it!
I have read this many times and have seen more clearly how God loves people even when they aren't in the game for the time being. Praise God for that as well.
I have read and heard this text many times, but this is the first time that I have felt the distance between Mordecai and Esther. It's easy to visualize that this conversation happened face-to-face, but that's not what happened. Messengers carried these urgent and emotional messages back and forth, from outside the palace, to deep inside the most secure part of the king's harem, where the only males allowed were the king or his eunuchs.
But doesn't power frequently separate itself from the fray? And don't the powerful keep barriers between themselves and poverty, suffering, or danger?
Here you see that the powerful - both the king and Esther - have at least four barriers between themselves and the common people: walls, rules, guards, and consequences. Mordecai has to stop outside the walls because he refuses to "dress up" so that his appearance will make no one melancholy. There are rules that control access to both Esther (males cannot easily approach) and the king (if he doesn't call, think twice!). There are guards everywhere to keep both safe. Those same guards also enforce the consequences, which can include death. And this was a nation that knew how to shape death in some particularly painful ways.
So am I approachable, or are there so many barriers that this a problem for others? I am not a king, and I am no better than anyone. Do I live in agreement with those realities?
Beyond how this text questions me, I see that it calls me to appreciate the nature of my God. It is amazing that the King of kings and the Lord of lords is much more accessible than Esther or her husband. That's my God - the creator God who receives me, the savior God who intercedes for me, and the comforter God who dwells, somehow, within me and the courts of heaven - at the same time! This God tears down walls, chooses grace over rules, needs no guards, and delights in our presence. Despite his holiness, he does not punish us for presuming to approach, but listens to our petitions and responds with his steadfast love.
Praise God for being our God!
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