Sermonette: Esther

At church and among fellow church people, there are a lot of discussion circles around what our favorite books of the Bible are. What books of the Bible do we find easy and fulfilling to read or have spoken to us? We like to compare and contrast our favorite list with other Christians, and see what other people think. Along with this, however, many of us avid Bible readers have a list of our least favorite books of the Bible. These are the books that we don’t like to read, and we don’t get excited about when the pastor chooses to preach from them. For me, one of these books has always been Esther.

I have a couple of reasons for not appreciating Esther. First, I struggle to see the main character of the book, Esther, as a good person. Other ministers may have different interpretations; but I always read the book to say that Esther was chosen from the masses because she was a looker, and became queen through her bedroom skills. This is deeply problematic for me because I preach the exact opposite of this to my youth group. I tell them beauty isn’t skin deep. I strongly discourage premarital relations. The fact that Esther doesn’t live up to my moral expectations is hard to reconcile. Second, the main struggle of the book is that the Jews are facing annihilation at the hands of an evil politician. In the end, however, God turns the tables and Jews end up preemptively wiping out their enemies. In fact, the Jews seem to kill more people than their enemies had planned to kill. I don’t understand why God would condone such a bloody massacre. It’s not a battle played out on a battlefield, it’s a bloodbath played out in houses and on streets. These reasons, however, are small fry compared to the third reason why I don’t like the book of Esther: the name “God” isn’t in the book. Not even once. It’s just not there.

This bothers me. How can there be a book of the Bible that doesn’t even mention God? How is that okay? The Bible exists to teach us about God. To share stories of what he’s done and what he’s like. How then, is it helpful to have a book in the Bible that doesn’t even give God passing mention?

This past spring, my church did a Sunday school series on the Book of Esther. As we studied the book, I was surprised to see some very Christian examples in the book. Esther’s uncle Mordicai seems to have his head on straight. He raised Esther as his own, taught her about their faith, and even when she became queen, he wasn’t afraid to be stern with her. He was honest and humble, and seemed content to just take his lot in life. Yet, when evil sought to destroy his people, he did everything he could to prevent the slaughter. He could have run, but he didn’t. He had faith, and stayed near Esther to encourage her to save their people.

Mordicai’s example has gotten me thinking about the true theme of the book of Esther. Maybe, the reason Esther is in the Bible is to teach us that God’s ministry doesn’t always have to have his name on it. That good, honorable Christians can witness for God without even being religious. We don’t need to wear WWJD bracelets, Jesus t-shirts, and talk about God constantly to be a force for God in the world. All we need to do is live intentionally for God. Mordicai, I’m sure, was constantly looking for opportunities to show his faith in God, even if the culture wasn’t interested in hearing about his faith in God.

So, this is my encouragement for everyone who has read this far: Seek to live for God before you seek to talk about God. While people can lie and deceive others with their words, it is much harder to live a lie. True faith will always become obvious through our actions. Sometimes, the best way to do God’s work is by not saying God’s name.