Main Mover

 Devotions for November 23, 2020

 

Prayer

O God, King of the Universe. You reign over all. We praise your goodness and wisdom which teaches us understanding and hope. We ask for your kind ruling over our lives. We beg for your mercy where we have failed your commands for love and humility. Resting in your promises, we sing of your glory. Hear now, we pray, the petitions of our heart… We are grateful for your ever-present listening and careful decision making. In your omnipotent Name, we pray. Amen.

 

Esther 8:3-17

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 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.

 

Reflection

In the final days of the Church Year “A,” we hear another king story. If you are not familiar with the entire Esther story, it is a good one! There have been many adaptations from VeggieTales to full movies. The real mover is, of course, Esther. She risks her life for her people. The second great mover is King Ahasuerus, he listens and considers corruption as something to be rooted out. What a refreshing leadership example. To make such a change of course requires good listening, integrity and a measure of wisdom. Such stories should inspire all those who desire to become a public servant of the highest order.

A more down to earth interpretation could also get you thinking about where your loyalties lie. Do I listen carefully to those that might seem opposite or different from me? Do I hold on to associations that might be inherently biased in an unfavorable or unethical direction? Certainly, a part of this text is the persecution of a race. We must firmly stand against any and all forms of Anti-Semitism, racism, or sexism. This includes the entirely rejected words of the late, grumpy and unclear thinking of the late Martin Luther writings. Yes, that also means we have to repent from the inappropriate jokes and the acts of favoritism to our own “kind.” The word is in quotes because the way of God’s creation favors diversity and none of us are one kind of anything.