For Such a Time as This

 

The comedian Jerry Seinfeld once said we spend a lot of time talking about time.  Whether we are rushing around at a frenzied pace ~ feeling like a Tasmanian devil who just drank ten cups of coffee!  There is an image for you.  Or we are frustrated that the line is moving too slowly, or wishing we could turn back time, rewind, and revisit that moment when we blinked and missed a significant event.  Of course, the concept of time is part of human invention.  Our ancestors didn’t wake up to an alarm clock when tending sheep or cultivating crops.  Their bodies lived closer to the earth and its rhythm.  Plus, we know that gravity affects time.  Time moves a little faster at the top of the Empire State Building than at street level.  Who knew your Morning Meditation was going to include a science lesson?  I think about this when I hear Mordecai say to Esther that perhaps she had come to her royal position for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14).  Remember from yesterday’s sermon a few key fun Bible Nerd facts.  First, Mordecai and Esther are strangers living in a strange land.  They are foreigners, refugees.  They are not Persians; they are immigrants.  Not only are they marginalized ethnically, but also religiously as Jewish people.  Third, Esther was an orphan, which meant she found herself at the intersectionality of discrimination based on family status, gender, religious affiliation, and nationality.  That is a place of vulnerability and fragility.  She is so far on the margin that a stiff breeze could blow her over the edge.  The interesting plot twist is that Esther catches the King’s eye, and he marries her.  Well, he added her to his harem, because let’s not try to frost over the burnt cake of sexual oppression of women/sisters in faith by men, both in scripture and in our society still today.  But Esther’s does have access to the King.  However, this particular King was not a great guy, because he had one of his wives banished for refusing to participate in a beauty pageant he was putting together during a six-month party.  Seriously, who has the time for a six-month party?  But I digress, or maybe that is part of the point, too, in this story.

 

Mordecai is asking Esther to play the only card she has in her hand to advocate for the Jewish people whom the King is plotting and planning to kill.  This reminds us that the Bible is an adult book written for adults with themes and threads that are still woven into the fabric of our society.  Do I speak out or stay safely on the sidelines with my head down?  Do I dare step into the arena, or should I stay in the stands amid the masses?  When and where do I use my voice today?  Let me be clear that you may have a Mordecai calling you to do something that your heart objects to.  The truth is, there are a lot of voices out there demanding and decreeing that you do something NOW.  That you must act now or else you are being complacent and complicit with the enemy.  That if you will miss your chance to be Superman and Wonder Woman and Mighty Mouse here to save the day.  Good grief.  There is so much money wrapped up in playing us against one another.  As the mystics say, when pulled left or right, I choose to go deeper.  Too often, pastors can play the Mordecai card, telling you what you should do.  But ultimately, Esther had a choice, and so do you.  Who is a Mordecai in your life?  How is that person speaking to your life?  Through face-to-face conversation or over emails that flood your inbox or by being an influencer pouring out hours of content that you consume?  Where do you feel energized to stand up and speak out, and where is there reluctance?  Let’s sit with this today, asking God to cut through the chaos and clutter of our noisy world with a voice we need.  Amen.