There are just two books in the Bible named after women: Ruth and Esther.  I wish the church had better saved the Easter experiences of  Mary, Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, a preacher Matthew calls “the other Mary” (Matthew 28 & Luke 24) The church gave us a book called Timothy, but not a book named Priscilla, who along her spouse Aquilla lead churches in Corinth and Antioch. The Apostle Paul wrote that this clergy couple “risked their necks for my life and that all the churches of the gentiles give thanks for them”. (Roman 16 & Acts 18)  I would love to read more of Lydia’s story.  Lydia was the first European Christian. Lydia imported and exported high end purple fabric in the port city of Philippi. Acts 16 tells us Lydia was baptized “along with her entire house”.  No mention of a man. The first church in Europe met at Lydia’s house. When an earthquake busted Paul and Silas out of the Philippian jail, they found refuge with Lydia. Wouldn’t Lydia’s story make a great book? Imagine a cannon that began: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary, Martha, Magdalene, Lydia, Priscilla! 

Why did we not curate these women’s stories? Jesus ordained women and Paul declared “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) In the Parable of Sower Jesus warns that the allure of wealth (might we add power, social acceptance or popularity?) tend to grow up like thorns and slowly choke out the burning, transforming Word of God.  (Matthew 13) Often the church has preferred what is socially acceptable over what is prophetic. We are less for not knowing more of Martha’s story or Lydia’s experience of the Risen Christ. My mom was named Joann, but we did not keep the sermon that Joanna preached to Peter, James and John on that first Easter!  What might happen if we better listened for God’s Word in our women’s experiences and stories?    

The church has struggled to hear the prophetic voices of women. Esther was not accepted in Jewish Cannon (or listing of official Scriptures) until 300 CE. The Western Christian church added Esther to the Bible 400 years after Jesus was born and the Eastern Church waited 800 years to include her story.  The synagogues and churches had their reasons. The main theological sticking point is that Esther ever mentions God, not even one reference. Esther asks us to hear the Word of God when no one speaks up for God.

Not only does Esther never mention God, prayer, Moses, the prophets,  both heroes, Queen Esther and Ambassador Mordeica hide their Jewish identity for most of the story. Unlike Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who defy King Nebuchadnezzar “saying O king, that we will not serve your gods and worship the golden statue that you have set up,” our heroes do not feel safe enough to speak up(Daniel 3).  Esther navigates life in a sexist and violent royal harem fearing that her identity may be discovered.   

We who live in freedom and comfort may believe that resisting evil, injustice and oppression entails thundering “thus saith the Lord”, but Esther’s quiet inside the palace resistance may point to other faithful ways of resisting evil. In Matthew chapter 12 and 25 Jesus cautions that some who speak openly about their faith remain far away from God and inversely that some who visit prisons, provide healthcare, shelter the unsheltered, welcome the stranger,  and feed the hungry serve God without saying a word.  

I thought this morning about Moses, who faced down a superpower holding a staff that could become a snake, divided the Red Sea,  and brought down plagues like darkness, locusts, frogs, and hail. Queen Esther confronts a superpower with what she holds in her hands: cunning, courage, a curling iron. Which would you rather take into battle, a blow dryer or Moses’ magical Staff? Could it be that Esther demonstrates a deeper courage and faith?  

Esther feels more like “Love Island” or “The Bachelor” than a Bible story: beautiful people, wild parties, harems, secret identities, jarring plot reveals, bumbling kings, looming evil, vain villains and unexpected heroes.  The story begins with King Xerxes throwing a seven day bender inside the palace gardens for his bros. King Xerxes specializes in parties and bad decisions. Like a Tic Toc Influencer, we peer over the gilded palace walls.  “Everyone in the city was there. The garden featured hangings of white and blue linen, silver rings strung from marble pillars, couches of gold and silver, a mosaic pavement of costly stones. Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other. By the king’s command each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions”.  At this party drunk King Xerxes asked Queen Vashti to dance for his friends.  She refused starting a national male emotional crisis: “what if women across Persia stop obeying their husbands?” 

The virtuous Queen Vashti gets sacked. The King’s men decide to hold a year-long round robin reality competition to replace the deposed Queen Vashti. Gross. The producers introduce Esther with a two sentence backstory. Esther is an orphan raised with much love by her unconfirmed bachelor Uncle Mordica. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, Mordica was enslaved and taken to Persia. We do not know if Eshter’s parents died resisting the Babaloyian siege, but she is an immigrant child of an oppressed people.  Seeking to protect her, her Uncle Mordica forbids her from ever letting anyone know what she believes, who she is, and where she is from! Can you imagine that?  I personally do not know how it feels to be forced to be someone I am not.   

Eshter enters the Be A Queen Contest with hundreds of young women. They all spend a full year working out and working on their hair, nails and make up, each with 7 groomers to teach them the dos and don’ts of the Persian court. Esther wins the pageant and marries the King, landing her in a bedazzled prison; A queen who can only enter the King’s chambers if the king sends for her. The law states that just walking in on the King uninvited might result in death. Despite being the Queen, Esther is afraid to live out her faith and culture. How do we understand someone who hides their faith, who eats pork, skips synagogue, and never says her prayers aloud?  Esther invites us to look for God in others with eyes of compassion. 

Yolanda Pearce shares in “In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith and the Stories We Inherit” “It is a privilege not to have to factor race into the daily decisions you make, even your attempts to be a decent person…. I think of the myriad ways I contort my body so that I am not the object of white fear. When I go shopping, I try to shrink my body, into stores I take nothing but my wallet, trying to silently convey the message, “‘I’m not here to steal. I just need to shop?’ In places where I am a stranger, I smile a bit more brightly and give reassuring looks: “I was invited; no need to worry about me.” In the halls of power and privilege, where I am a regular guest, my body sometimes wants to cry out, “Look at my hall pass! I am here legitimately.” In so many spaces and in so many ways, I temper my voice to speak more softly so I am not perceived as the angry Black woman. I laugh and smile even when I don’t want to so people don’t find me frightening or intimidating. I constantly think about how to mitigate white fears of Black bodies because there are dangerous repercussions for those who don’t perform in the ways that whiteness demands.”  

Dean Pierce goes on to describe this as “the valley of whiteness”.  Reading her story may make us feel reactive, sad, ashamed, defensive, angry or empathetic.  I can only listen and add nothing, maybe that is the way of our experiences?  I have come to understand that God speaks to us through Scripture, tradition, and reason for sure, but also through the human experiences and stories. Indeed, when God really wanted to get our attention, John 1 says “the Word took on flesh and God made God’s home among us”. Let’s be careful not to judge anyone, we never know exactly what they are experiencing or how God might use them to save us. 

All to soon in the royal reality play antisemitism shows its face as a pompous villain named Haman plots systemic genocide. I do not know the fear of people wanting to wipe me out. Who will save the Jewish people? Will God send another Moses with lightning, thunder and power?  Can a beauty queen save us?  After years of forbidding  Esther to reveal her identity, Mordica calls on Esther to speak up.  Esther reminds Mordica how entering the throne room uninvited may lead to violence and death. Mordicha speaks to one he deeply loved: “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… And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”  This moment might define why the unnamed God of the universe put you on this earth.” Esther answers “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in the city, and fast with me for three days, and I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”  

“And if I perish, I perish.”  I have too much white male privilege to possibly understand what Ester faced. She goes uninvited to see the king.  Instead of a staff or sword, she carries her cunning, courage and Guici handbag.  She is courageous and powerful, using what tools she has before her. The King smiles and asks Esther what she wants. She demures and invites the king to a party, and then a second party, where the King knows the Queen is up to something. Xerxes asks “this is the second day of sharing wine, what is your wish?” She declares “give me my life and my people their lives”. Confronted with his own complicity with evil, Xerxes repents. Genocide is averted, the guilty are punished,  and King Xertes gives Queen Eshter his signet ring so that she might wield legal authority. And of course the Book ends with a huge party, called Purim, that our Jewish cousins  celebrate to this day, hearing Esther’s story one more time. 

What do we do with Ester’s story?  I might need two more weeks of sermon preparation to tell you that, but I wonder if Esther’s story calls to not judge too quickly and to use the tools we have before us to make the world safer for everyone, more welcoming and more holy. Amen