Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan in 1997. In 2008, when the Taliban took over Pakistan, one of the things that they did was ban education for young girls. Malala knew the importance of education because, among other things, her father was a teacher, so she spoke out against the Taliban ban, even though it was a dangerous thing to do.
In 2012, a Taliban gunman shot her on the left side of her head with the intention of killing her. After months of recovery in the United Kingdom, Malala could have remained silent, but she chose not to. She continued to speak out for education for girls in Pakistan, even though the Taliban planned a second attempt to kill her. In 2014, she became the youngest Nobel laureate ever when she was named co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Choosing to Take a Stand, or Not
Each of us, as we go through life, encounter decision points where we must choose between taking a stand against what is bad and for what is good, or going along with the crowd and doing as they do. What makes these decision points harder is the potential consequences that come with them. Often, there is a risk, or even a cost, to doing the right thing. It could be the cost of power, prestige, or your reputation. There could be a financial cost. You could lose friends in your friend group. Your decision could even negatively impact your health, or in some cases, cost you your life.
I think that encountering these decision points is actually more common than we think. They’re not only extraordinary things that happen to extraordinary people like Malala; they actually happen to each and every one of us every day. We make these kinds of decisions when, for example, our alarm goes off and we must decide whether we are going to get up and do the thing that we need to do, or snuggle back into our covers and hug them a little tighter? Or maybe we are in the midst of a tough conversation, and we need to decide, “Am I going to share a hard truth, or am I going to remain silent?” Or we are conversing with some friends, and they start bad-mouthing someone unfairly, are we going to stand up against that, or are we going to do what they do and pile on with them?
The reason why we don’t think about these decisions is because they are actually rooted in our identity and our character. So when our pattern of decisions indicates something that we later regret, that’s telling us that there is something deep within us that needs to change. So let’s reflect on this question: How do we become people who take a stand for what is good, beautiful, and true, even though it may cost us dearly? And to help us as we think about this question, let’s look at the book of Esther.
The Jews are Threatened with Destruction
Here is some background as we begin to do that. After Cyrus, the king of Persia, issued a decree saying that the Jews could go back to their homeland in 536 BCE, there were many Jews who stayed within the Persian Empire. Around 460 BC, the king at that time, named Xerxes, deposed his Queen, Vashti, because she wouldn’t come when summoned by him to be ogled by Xerxes and his inebriated guests at a drunken party they were having. With the position of queen vacant, the king arranged for a contest where many young, beautiful virgins were brought into the king’s harem in the capital city, Susa. There they were given 12 months of beauty treatments, and then they were taken, one at a time, for an overnight visit with the king, (it sounds like Fantasy Suites Week on The Bachelor), and whichever young woman became his favorite would be crowned queen. All the rest of the women would be taken to another part of the harem where they would remain, probably for the rest of their lives.
In Susa, there was a young Jewish woman by the name of Esther. Both of her parents died when she was very young, and her cousin Mordecai took her into his home and raised her as his own daughter. Esther was one of the young women that were brought into the king’s harem for this contest, she became the king’s favorite, and was crowned as queen.
There was also a royal official in Susa named Haman, and he hated the Jews. When he was made Prime Minister by the king, it really galled Haman that Mordecai would not bow down to him. So Haman went to the king and asked that an edict be issued, whereby all of the Jews in the empire would be annihilated on a certain day. Haman had picked by throwing a lot called a pur. The king agreed and issued the edict that Haman requested.
Esther Risks Her Life to Save Her People
All the Jews in the Empire were understandbly very upset, including Mordecai. He tore his robes, he put on sackcloth and ashes as a sign of grieving, and he stood at the king’s gate, wailing loudly in grief. Because he was wearing sackcloth and ashes, he could no longer go through that gate into the royal courtyard because the king didn’t allow anybody with grieving clothes on in that area. This meant that Mordecai and Esther no longer had direct communication with each other. Esther heard about Mordecai’s behavior at the gate, and she is very upset. She sent an attendant to find out what’s going on. They see that Mordecai is wearing sackcloth and ashes, and report that to Esther. Esther responds by sending out some new clothes for Mordecai to wear.
Here is something for us to pause and acknowledge. Oftentimes, when a problem arises, we first notice the presenting or surface issue. If we simply try to solve the surface issue, nothing is going to actually get better because there’s a deeper issue underneath. That’s the real issue that we need to identify and address. Esther tried to treat the surface issue by sending out new clothes, but Mordecai refused to wear them because those new clothes did nothing to address the deeper issue, which is the survival of God’s people, the Jews. This deeper issue has cosmological significance because God promised to send the Messiah, who would redeem and restore all things, through his people, the Jews. So, if there are no Jews, there’s no Messiah, if there’s no Messiah, there’s no salvation for the world.
Esther then sent her trusted eunuch, Hathak, to go and talk to Mordecai and find out from him what’s going on and why. Through Hathak, Mordecai tells Esther about the details of the decree, including the amount of money that Haman paid for the annihilation of the Jews to happen. Then Mordecai tells Esther that she should go to the king and beg for the salvation of her people. When this message from Mordecai was conveyed to Esther, she sent a message back saying, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” (Esther 4:11)
In response to Esther’s message, Mordecai told her, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)
Esther realized what she must do and gave this reply: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)
Esther approached the king after the three days of fasting. The king showed mercy towards her and extended his golden scepter to her, and she touched it. He asked her what she wanted, and she invited the king and Haman to a banquet. Haman thought to himself, ‘I must be really special since the Queen invited me to a banquet’ Then at that banquet, Esther invited the king and Haman to a second banquet. At the second banquet, when the king asked her what she wanted, Esther revealed that she is Jewish, and that someone is plotting to kill her and all her people. When the kind asked who this person was, Esther pointed to Haman. Haman was quickly taken away and executed, and his position and estate were given to Mordecai.
After this, Esther went to the king a second time. Again, he showed mercy toward her and extended his scepter to her. She came forward and asked that her people be saved. Because the laws of that time could not be changed, there was a dilemma. To solve it, Mordecai asked that a second edict be written giving the Jews would the right to gather and defend themselves on the day scheduled for their annihilation. The king agreed to have such an edict be proclaimed. When the fateful day arrived, the Jews thoroughly defeated their enemies, and were saved. Ever since then, the Jews have celebrated the annual Feast of Purim, where they remember the time when they “…got relief from their enemies, and … when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. (Esther 9:22)
What Does This Mean for Us?
First, Esther reminds us of Jesus because Esther was willing to lay down her life for her people in order that they might be saved. And Jesus did lay down his life for us so that we could be saved. But also, Esther reminds us that anyone, even a woman who’s living in a time where she doesn’t have much authority–she is forced against her will likely to be part of the king’s contest and, even though she won the contest and became queen, she has no power to go and see the king on her own–anyone, even the most powerless marginalized person, can play an important part in God’s plan of redeeming and restoring all things. And that means you can play an important part in God’s plan of redeeming and restoring all things. Third, Esther shows us that by placing our lives and all that we have in God’s loving care and then moving forward with courageous faith in him, God can accomplish great things through us.
Now, we might think that courage is the absence of fear, and with that definition of fear in our minds, if fear is our constant companion, it might be hard for us to even imagine how we could have courage. But that is not what courage is. Courage is still having fear, but moving forward anyway. And if you think about it, the root cause of fear is the threat of loss, such as the loss of power, loss of finances, loss of reputation, loss of people in our friends’ circle, loss of health, or maybe even loss of life. Note that all of those things are things of this world, and any of them can be taken away from us at any time. That is reality. If our heart makes any of those things the ultimate thing in our life, then we’re always going to have some degree of fear that those things can be taken away from us. And those who seek to harm us will use our fear against us to make us do things that we would not normally do.
Jesus Gives Us Courage
But we find the courage we need in Jesus. What Jesus does is he gives us a new life with him in God’s kingdom. And all of the good things that we have in this life are actually mere foreshadows of the much greater thing that God has for us right now in the eternal life he has for us. Are we worried about loss of power or riches in this life?
Jesus has much greater power and riches for us in the life to come. Are we worried about the social cost of standing up and doing the right thing, a loss of reputation, loss of friends, or loss of prestige? Jesus has much greater prestige, a greater reputation, and a greater circle of friends consisting of sisters and brothers in Christ, for us in the kingdom of God right now. Are we worried about how taking a stand for what’s good might negatively impact our health or life in this world? Jesus has an infinitely greater life filled with infinitely greater health for us. And because the qualities of the life that Jesus gives to us can never ever be taken away from us by anyone, there is no fear of loss, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. There is nothing, not even death, that can take away from us the life and all its benefits that Jesus gives to us.
And so, the challenge which I wish to leave with you today is this: To recognize the many, many blessings God gives you in this life for what they are. They are foreshadows of the greater things to come, the greater blessings that God has for us in his Kingdom. And the second part of this challenge is to live the new life Jesus has given you in God’s kingdom, in this world, right here, right now. Make that your identity, make that your character, and the Spirit of God will guide you in the way that you should go. Amen.
(This message was shared at Walnut Grove Lutheran Church in Langley BC on May 12, 2024. For more info about WGLC, please go to wglc.org.)
Farewell to Shadowlands 