20040509Easter5CForSuchaTimeasThis

Today is Mothers’ Day, a very special day on which we honor not only our mothers but

also all women who have loved and nurtured and guided us. Our church has also designated

today as “Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday,” and our theme is to celebrate women who

have responded to God’s call to act in the name of justice on behalf of others, often “the least of

these.”

This morning we heard about two biblical women: Esther, wife of the Persian king

Xerxes, and an anonymous woman known only as “the Syrophoenician or Canaanite woman.”

Esther’s story has gotten some rather mixed reviews - religious people tend to get

uncomfortable with a biblical book that never mentions God by name. But it is one of those

stories that over the centuries captured the imagination of Jews and became part of the biblical

canon because it was so popular.

Along with the lighthearted and laughable elements of the story - like the party that goes

on for 6 months - there are the more serious themes of racial hatred, genocide, and the evil of

pride and vanity. There are also some pretty dramatic reversals. Esther goes from being a humble

Jewish orphan living in a foreign country to a powerful queen, whose Jewish identity is a secret;

and, most important, mourning turned to rejoicing because of a woman who risks her life in the

face of overwhelming obstacles for the sake of her people.

The chapter we read this morning is a turning point in the story. The king has issued an

edict with orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews - young and old, women and

children - in one day - and to plunder their goods. He is totally indifferent to the havoc that his

power can bring to the lives of the powerlessand sits down with his chief minister to drink some

more.

All the Jewish people have gone into great mourning. Esther’s uncle Mordecai has torn

his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and goes around the city “wailing with a loud and

bitter cry.” Esther is deeply distressed when she learns what has happened and tries to help by

sending some clothes out to her uncle, who will not accept them - clothes are not what you need

when you and your people are about to be annihilate!

When Esther’s servant goes out to talk to Mordecai, he sends a copy of the decree and

charges Esther to go to the king on behalf of her people. Esther’s first reaction is a resounding

“No!” - a very human response of someone who is in a situation she neither created nor asked

for. Yes, she is the queen; yes, she might go to the king to ask for mercy; but she knows the

system and how it works. The risk of facing the “powers that be” is high - Esther faces death.

But Mordecai is convinced of two things: 1) help will come for the Jews from

somewhere; and 2) Esther, given her circumstances, must act. He says, “Who knows? Perhaps

you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Esther decides to her life to address the king in the face of genocide against the Jews. Her

courage and persistence pay off: her people are saved.

The story of the Syrophoenician woman is much shorter but no less dramatic in terms of

a reversal that is brought about because of one woman’s persistent faith and action on behalf of

her daughter.

Jesus has left upper Galilee and gone up to Phoenicia, the district of Tyre and Sidon

perhaps to get away for a few days of “R&R” from what he understands to be his mission as the

Jewish Messiah sent only to Israel to call God’s people back to God. No sooner does he get there,