September 26, 2021

Pentecost – Proper 21

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; Psalm 124; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50

The Rev. James M.L. Grace

In the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  AMEN

By the age of nine or ten, I had learned how to make off color remarks and judgmental statements of others that today I find embarrassing at best, horrifying at worst.  I don’t remember what my nine-year-old self said to my Jewish neighbor, but it was offensive enough for my her to tell her grandmother, and soon, the grandmother of my Jewish neighbor to whom I had espoused an ignorant, stupid, and anti-Semitic statement was standing at our front door. 

I panicked, out of embarrassment, tried to run away, but there was no escape.  I had to face her. I was so afraid.  I sat down next to her, and she rolled up the sleeve of her blouse.  On her forearm I saw a series of numbers which she explained were a form of identification she received as a young woman at the Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest in Europe.  She told me her story, a story I never knew, and I apologized for what I had said.

If a historian were to ask what had inspired the kind of anti-Semitic hatred as seen in Europe during the time of World War II, the answer would be simple.  (1) The Christian church and its embarrassing history of hate-filled violent acts against Jewish people.  As evidence, look no further than a popular propaganda poster from 1933 which featured the great Catholic reformer Martin Luther with a swastika behind him and an inscription which read “Hitler’s fight and Luther’s teaching are the best defense for the human people.”[1] But the church cannot take the credit for fueling Nazi zeal to eliminate Jews alone.   Hitler also drew inspiration from his study of American history and the genocide of indigenous people in America, as well as such elements of American history like manifest destiny and slavery.[2]

This brings us to the book of Esther.  Shamefully we hear only one small part of this book, and so my homework for you is to read the entire book today – it’s ten chapters, and worth your time.  Esther is a story of a dynamic strong woman of Jewish faith.  She finds herself in a foreign land and manages to prevent the annihilation of her people.  She is like other Jewish heroes in the Bible who find favor in foreign courts, such as Joseph who serves under pharaoh in Egypt, or Daniel who serves under Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.  Unfortunately, Esther’s heroism isn’t fully examined in today’s reading, and we miss much of her story with just the little we hear today.   

However, there is a happy ending – Esther subverts Haman’s evil plan to annihilate the Jews in Persia, and instead he suffers a tragic end, while Esther becomes Queen of Persia.  It is a happy ending, no doubt, but is it historical?  Is Esther true?  I would say that yes, Esther is true, but maybe not historically accurate, which might describe more of the Bible than any of us might be truly comfortable with. 

Ignorance, misinformation, and biased hatred have existed for centuries, and sadly, exist within us.  But so also does Esther’s strength, her courage, and most importantly – her faith.  To close I suggest one more book to you to read – it should be required reading – “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl.  In this book he describes, profoundly, his experience as an Auschwitz survivor, and the hope he was able to find there.  I believe the hope he found in Auschwitz and the hope Esther found in Persia were the same.  That same hope is within you.  Read Esther to find it.  AMEN.

[1] https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-5/protestant-churches-and-nazi-state

[2] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/how-american-racism-influenced-hitler