When Is Enough, Too Much?
Good Morning Friends,
Today we experience grace under fire. Today we try to look beyond suffering to a victory and a reward in the face of persecution. We look at the story of Esther but also the story of the early church and most definitely the story of the Jewish people. We read about it in today’s lectionary offering from the Psalms, Revelation and the Book of Esther. They resonate well with the reality of what was happening on the cross. It prompts us to ask one simple question about persecution and the crown. When Is Enough, Too Much?
Scripture: A Song of Ascents. Of David. I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together. To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. For there the thrones for judgement were set up, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.’ For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
Psalm 122 (NRSV)
‘And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life: ‘I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.
Revelation 2:8-11 (NRSV)
On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. Then the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, ‘If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?’ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, ‘See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews. You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.’ The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king’s ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd. By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king’s command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
Esther 8:1-17 (NRSV)
Message: Popeye puts it this way before he opens a can of spinach with his bare hands: “That’s all I can stands, cuz I can’t stands n’more!” Then after eating the spinach he punches the lights out of his foe who had been pummeling him.
If you have ever had someone pushing your hot buttons then you know the need for peace and the purpose of justice. But sometimes there is violence. It makes is all very messy. If you have come to the end of your rope knowing you were in trouble being beat down… If you feel like you are at the breaking point and you are telling God that you think you have had enough and were hoping God agreed, then maybe you understand the subject of pressure and persecution that faced the people in today’s scripture. Jesus knows about physical suffering and slander and the afflictions that might bring one to hope for death to put an end to it all. But then we are asked to endure what we thought impossible to endure. I do not know what Jesus was exactly telling the church of Smyrna, but I think God is sharing with them that he knows it is bad and is going to get worse but have faith anyway. The message here is that it matters how we endure hardships more so than what hardships we endure. We read about enduring hardships in the story of Esther, an orphan, the keeper of a secret that needed to be revealed. And as I read it with today’s other lectionary offerings, I wonder if God is calling on our hearts for us to do something of importance in the space we have between Easter Sunday and Pentecost with the people God brings into our lives. Perhaps people who are facing a modern day persecution would benefit from a little relief and revelation from God. You see the name Esther means “hiddenness.” And what is revealed in her story relevant for us today is the inescapable pattern of redemption…of resilience. The name of God is not overtly mentioned in today’s scripture from Esther and yet when the time has come for God to work in Holy History even the stones will shout His message. God may sometimes be hidden but is always near. Perhaps it is time for us to realize that there is nothing to contain God. He is as in the story of Esther the triumph of good over evil. So today we pray for God’s hidden hand in history to bring hope, love and justice and peace to those places that need God’s presence revealed…God’s Holy Spirit breathing new life into what looked like death. Here Christ comes saying as today’s Psalm, “Peace be within you.” Perhaps then the violence will end.
Pray we remain faithful despite the challenges of life. Pray we hold on to the crown of life. Pray we not let the people who trouble us get between us and the Lord. Pray we keep our problems in perspective. Pray we realize that people will be watching to see how we react when we face challenges. Pray we realize that if we lose the faith race we lose it all. Pray we are encouraged by Christ. Pray we never quit. Pray we realize that the story is not yet done. Pray that we hear the cries of the poor in our hearts. Pray that we be a bridge to someone Holy. Pray that the secrets be revealed. Pray that we not be silent when the time comes to speak up for the cause of Christ. Pray that our wills and desires be orchestrated by God to accomplish His purposes in and through us. Pray with thanksgiving that the secrets of our hearts be touched by the hand of God in His working out His Story in us. Pray that our hearts be filled with love and thanksgiving when we are called before the King. Pray that we realize that God is working out the details of our ultimate provision in His mercy and for His ultimate glory. Pray for God to be revealed in our lives. Pray we have the peace of purpose in the love that can never die.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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