Esther 4 “The
Power of One”
As many of you know, we have
been doing a summer sermon series
on famous and infamous people
of faith from the Bible.
This Sunday we come to the
last of this series as we look at the story of Esther, a
nd learn more about who she
was.
But the point of this parade
of Biblical people this summer
has not just been
information.
It’s not just been to satisfy
our curiosity about Amos, or Martha, or Paul.
The point of any Bible study
must also be formation, not just information.
We may be interested in
knowing “Who was Esther?”
but we also must ask the
question:
“What can the story of Esther
teach us about how we are to live?”
Esther has a whole book to
herself in the Bible.
But even with a whole book to
herself,
I’m betting you haven’t heard
too many sermons on Esther
because she only appears once
in the lectionary,
which is a 3-year cycle of
scripture readings that many churches follow for worship.
Not only that, the book of
Esther never mentions God – not even once.
In fact, this book barely
made it into the Bible.
It wasn’t until the 3rd
century that it was included as part of the Hebrew Bible.
Western Christians didn’t
accept it until the fourth century.
And then there’s the fact
that this book from the Bible reads like a novel,
something you’d take to the
beach to read.
If you’ve never read it, I encourage
you to do so –
go head and add it to your
summer reading list.
It’s only 9 chapters
long.
We have heard chapter 4, but
in order for you to understand Ester
and what she has to teach us,
I’m going to give you the
cliff notes version of the entire book.
The Book of Esther begins
with another queen in favor,
Queen Vashti, in the court of
King Ahasuerus of
But within the first chapter
she falls from favor -
basically because after a 7
day drinking party,
she refuses to come when the
king calls.
Well, the king is
enraged.
He consults his lawyers and
they tell the king that if he doesn’t get her in line,
pretty soon all the women of
the land will be treating their husbands with contempt.
Is that what we want, they
ask him,
“a country full of angry
women who don’t know their place?”
So he agrees with his lawyers
to banish Queen Vashti from the court,
and to find someone better. And that’s just in Chapter 1.
So a decree goes out looking
for the fairest,
most beautiful young virgins
in the land.
Now it just so happens that
this story is taking place
during a time when the Jews
are exiled. They are aliens in this
There are Jews living and
working all over the kingdom.
They’re not slaves, but
they’re not exactly free either.
There is a Jewish man named
Mordecai, who happens to be a servant of the king,
who also has his niece,
Esther, living with him.
Now Esther is young and
beautiful,
and her Uncle Mordecai brings
her to the king’s court
along with the many other
beautiful girls.
Of course, he doesn’t mention
that she’s a Jew.
Soon, Esther wins the king’s
favor because she is the fairest of them all.
Best of all, for the king at
least, she’s not only beautiful, but passive and obedient.
She becomes the new
queen. And that’s just Chapter 2.
So why couldn’t that be the
end of the story?
King Ahasuerus and Queen
Esther live happily ever after.
But it’s not. There are too
many twists and turns in this story.
You’ve really got to read it
to get the full experience.
Here’s the first twist.
Haman comes on the scene --
he is one of the king’s men who’s in charge of things.
One of the benefits of being
one of the king’s men
is that people have to bow
down before you. So far so good.
All the king’s servants did
that --
except for Esther’s Uncle
Mordecai.
We don’t know why he wouldn’t
-- the Bible doesn’t say.
All we know is that Haman is
enraged.
He not only gets mad, he
decides to get even. Get even in a very
big way.
He talks the king into
issuing a decree for genocide --
an order to massacre all the
Jews in the land --
young and old, men, women,
and babies on a single day.
That order was then posted
all over the kingdom, in every province.
That’s what was going on
right before where we picked up in today’s reading in chapter 4. In this scene, Mordecai makes an impassioned
plea to his niece, the queen,
to go to the king to save the
Jewish people.
So what’s the problem?
We find out that this life
fit for a queen may leave something to be desired.
This is a patriarchal culture
and women
were totally dependent on men
for safety and security.
Women didn’t speak up for
themselves or anyone else.
Esther insists that she
couldn’t go to the king.
It wouldn’t make any
difference and in fact, could put her life at risk.
But fortunately for this story
and for the Jewish people,
there was someone else who
did speak up. Uncle Mordecai.
The chapter we heard today
has come to be one of my favorite scenes in the Bible.
When Mordecai first hears of
the decree, he goes into classic biblical mourning–
sackcloth and ashes -- the
whole 9 yards.
Esther hears of it and at
first she sends him clothes to wear,
but he would have nothing of
it.
Mordecai sends a message to
Esther:
“You’re our only hope – go
and talk to the King on behalf of the Jews.”
Esther says: “But I can’t – there are rules here.”
And then in what is probably one of the most
poignant verses in the bible,
Mordecai convinces her with
these words:
“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.”
So Esther takes a stand.
She calls for a fast, which
most biblical scholars understand
as a way of praying and
seeking divine guidance.
And she courageously goes
forward, saying “If I perish, I perish.”
She doesn’t perish. If you haven’t read this before,
I won’t leave you hanging
here this morning.
I’m going to tell you the
rest of Esther’s story.
The very, very cliff notes
version.
But you’ve got to promise to
go and read it.
Here’s what happens: Queen Esther goes to the king.
She speaks up. The king listens.
Over a banquet she convinces
him
that Haman has been double crossing
him and everyone else.
Haman is hanged. The Jews are saved.
And to this day the Jewish
people celebrate this as the Feast of Purim.
At this feast they read the
book of Esther
to celebrate the courage of
this queen who made a difference.
There are many lessons we can learn from this story,
but the one I want to draw out from the scriptures
today
is something I’m calling the power of one.
There was a book published by
this title back in the 70s,
and it was a series of true
stories about
how even just one person of
faith can make a difference. [1]
We all long to make a
difference. But the world we live in can
seem overwhelming.
Millions of children starving
in developing countries. Genocide in
Here in the
Families struggling with
poverty, who are just trying to make it from week to week. Children who don’t have access to medical
care
because their parents can’t
afford insurance.
Discouragingly slow recovery
from the devastating hurricanes of 2005.
It’s a litany of seemingly
hopeless situations.
Just hearing it all, we get
what some people have called compassion
fatigue.
There are so many problems,
so many concerns, we grow weary of it all.
We shut down. We have no more energy for compassion.
But one of the things that the story of Esther teaches
us is about the power of one.
One voice, one decision, one action, can make a
difference.
I’ve just returned from
where I attended the General
Assembly of our denomination, the Disciples of Christ.
It was a great event – 6000
people in attendance, amazing, spirit-led worship,
great preaching, workshops
and learning tracks,
and careful, prayerful
discussion in business sessions.
Our denomination is one of
the smaller of the mainline Protestant denominations.
But its message is one of the
most needed in our culture today.
Here is what our Disciple
identity statement says:
“We are Disciples of Christ,
a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.
As part of the one body of
Christ,
we welcome all to the Lord’s
table, as God has welcomed us.”
We Disciples offer a core of
beliefs that invite people into relationships in the church,
rather than a fence of
beliefs which keep people out.
Whenever I attend the General
Assembly,
I am always reminded of how
much the witness of our church is needed in the world.
Another thing I appreciate
about these events are the stories.
Stories told by speakers, in
preaching, in hallway conversations, over a cup of coffee.
In nearly all of these
stories, maybe because I was thinking so much of Esther,
I was struck this year by how
just one person can make a difference.
On Sunday night, our general
minister and president,
Dr. Sharon Watkins, gave a
state of the church address,
in which she talked not about issues and beliefs, but
ministries.
In videos and stories, she
told us how Disciples churches all over the country
are making a difference in
the recovery efforts in
Experts are saying that rebuilding
this part of our country is going to take years.
And it’s not the government
which is leading this rebuilding effort.
It’s churches. Faith based organizations. Youth mission
trips.
All of them making a
difference for a family, a neighborhood, a community.
It’s estimated that 500,000
volunteers from many organizations have been to N.O. [2]
But it all begins with one
individual, one mission group, one church, one denomination,
deciding that one week can
make a difference.
In one of our sessions, the
director of our Disciples Home Missions,
told the story of how a
who had been helped by these
mission groups was so grateful.
He told the director, “You
Disciples of Christ sure do act like disciples.”
Another church we heard about
in
They sponsor a monthly event
called Fundango
to give parents of foster and
adoptive children a break for the evening.
It’s basically a party.
The children enjoy pizza,
crafts, and fun at the church,
while their adoptive parents
go out for the evening.
Kids at Heart formed when the
church realized there were unmet needs
in the adoption and foster
community and decided to take action.
One church, one decision, one
way to make a difference.
Every church has stories like
this. We have stories like this.
Every day each one of us is
given opportunities to make a difference.
Each of us is only one, but
each one of us can touch the lives of many.
When all of us choose to live
out the power of one,
we together become this
amazing, beautiful, powerful, church --
the one Body of Christ --
that really can change lives.
In closing, I want to share a
few verses from the book I mentioned,
called The Power of One:
“I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But I can still do something.
And because I cannot do
everything
I will not refuse to do the
Something that I can do.”[3]
Edward Everett Hale