PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

The plot thickens but we don’t know how it is going to end yet in this chapter.  But it does seem like one layer upon another is added.  I spoke with someone from church who after the first chapter of Esther had a hard time filling in the blank in the booklet: Who is God to me?  This is the only book in the Bible where the name of God actually is not mentioned.  So that is understandable.  

So, I just took a break because the neighborhood kids came to church and I just spent some time talking to them about their future etc.  I never mentioned the name of God and they never mentioned it to me.  But one day, maybe 10 years from now, if one of them is facing a rough time, or wants to get married, or wants to bring his family to church maybe, just maybe he will say: I remember that church, First Presbyterian, they  were nice to me.  They let me come in and have a snack when it was 36 degrees outside.  Maybe I’ll go there.

When that happens, then God will be revealed to them in a powerful and compelling way.  Esther doesn’t have to mention God, but you know what drove Esther and Mordecai.  This book of the Bible may not contain ways in which to bring people to a saving knowledge of Christ, but it does remind us that God is in charge of this and every situation.  May God bless us as we look to reach out to those around us with His love, even if we don’t use His name.

One of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture is found in this chapter.  Unceasingly I use vs.14 as a standard for my life.  Who knows, maybe for such a time as this you were placed where you are today?  I believe that with my whole heart and soul simply because I have seen it played out in my life.  I absolutely believe that God has placed us where we are in our lives for a specific purpose and a specific reason.  I know that God placed me in Italy, in Florida, in Russia, in Strasburg for a specific purpose.  It wasn’t always clear to me when I was living in those places, but looking back I can say with certainty: it is for this reason that God placed me there at that time and at that place.

This is a confidence and an assurance that we need to have.  There can be no doubt in our lives that God has placed us where we are and involved us in certain activities and moments in our lives for specific purposes.  When we speak about Esther, she has an opportunity to save the existence of an entire race.  But it was not easy.  I am not saying that God has called you to a specific task and a specific time and a specific place and it is going to be easy.  No, it absolutely will not be easy.  But it will be God’s will.  It reminds me of this scene in Narnia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn2n3wdAQi4

God has called us to a specific time and a specific place, but that does not mean that it will be risk free.  Esther shows that she is willing to take the risk, but demands that the Israelites pray with and for her.  

The plot thickens, but slowly.  Haman is infuriated that a fledgling, Mordecai a Jew, would not bow down to him.  He is told that Mordecai is a Jew so in order to hurrt him and his entire race, he decides to exterminate all of the Jews.  So, this is real similar to what Hitler did.  I am convinced that the more we forget history, the more we are condemned to repeat it.  George Santayana coined this phrase but his was directly the following: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  It is imperative that we remember and learn about our past so that we do not repeat.

Needless to say Haman gets the king’s permission to eliminate the Jews through an edict which covered the entire land from Italy to India assuring that any who did not bow down to the king and his subjects would be destroyed.  This included, especially, the Jews.  Haman and the king celebrated with a drink while the people of Susa, a stronghold of Jewish culture, were thrown into confusion as to what that might mean for them directly.

Have you ever been targeted unfairly by a person or a government simply because of the way that you were born.  I have to say that I was not.  I remember always being proud of being a bit different.  Growing up in Rome I enjoyed the fact that I could play with my Italian friends but still know another language.  In my younger years here in the States I remember being different because not everyone had spent most of their life in another country.  I liked that, but it did not disqualify me from anything and it was, in fact, actually to my advantage.  But not everything that we are born with or experience puts us in a better position.  Sometimes our race, or our gender is a disqualifying feature for some people.  It seems like the people of Israel, the Jewish people, have historically felt that oppression.  

As Christians we have to repent for those times that this oppression has come in the name of our God.  For whatever reason there is never any excuse to single out any race or any group of people and consider them our “enemies”.  In fact, we are beholden to the Jewish people for so much, including the birth of our Savior and the Holy Scriptures which we have.  I pray we would take a perspective that is one of gratitude as opposed to a historical animosity.

This story is moving pretty quickly.  Esther is an orphan who was raised by her cousin, Mordecai.  She was probably orphaned by the great captivity of the Israelites when they were removed and taken into captivity.  So when Esther is one of the selected to go before the king a few things come to my mind.  The first is that this is a kind of high level stakes The Voice where the winner is chosen and becomes queen for life and the losers just go back to their normal routine.  

The second is that Esther is about to become queen in a regime that killed her mother and father.  Think of that.  What if the current presidency ordered the murder of your mother and father, and then you are asked to serve on the administration.  What would you do?  Mordecai is more of a father figure than a cousin.  We see this play out as the intrigue deepens as Mordecai hears of a plot to kill the king.  He tells the newly crowned Queen Esther, and she tells her new hubby, the king.  The plot is found out to be true and the king’s life is saved.  Mordecai and Esther become heroes and …, wait, no, that doesn’t happen.

All we read is that this story was written in the annals of the king with the king being present at the time of their writing.  This is crucial and it will come up later.   We don’t read that either Esther nor Mordecai are recognized for having brought up this plot and foiled it. But for now the stage is being set in the story.  It is a regime that has been brutal to the Israelites, taken them into captivity, and now they have an insider, the queen, who can sway the decision making of the king himself because she has won his good graces.  Now the plot continues to thicken.

The background to the book of Esther is fascinating.  I hate to send you to Wikipedia, but seeing in the comments that you are very familiar with it, I will send you there.  Check out this webpage and it will give you some great background information:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Esther

We have to keep in mind that Esther is an absolutely vital book even today.  Jewish families on the day of Purim celebrate the conquest of Esther and Mordecai over the evil Haman.  One of my favorite Veggie Tales ever is the one about the story of Esther.  Here is a link to that for your viewing pleasure.  

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26tjqy

The book of Esther also contains one of my favorite quotes which we will see coming up in chapter 4, so I don’t want to steal my own thunder.  Let’s get on with chapter 1.

Chapter 1 sets up the story for why Esther had to be chosen in the first place.  The king had ordered the queen to come before him and she refused.  He was embarrassed and didn’t want others to think he wasn’t in control of his own family so he kicked her out.  We need to remember that this was taking place in the 5th century BC.  But having said that can you think of what is prevalent in our news today and has some bearing to this story?

So, I’m the father of 3 daughters.  I grew up in a family of boys.  We respected my mom because my dad obviously loved and respected his wife.  We were taught by example how to treat women.  On very many levels when I read of men who take advantage of their position as men and have some power that others don’t have and then use that to their advantage to curry sexual favors, I don’t have much respect for them.  So, as a result I don’t have much sympathy for the king as he is about to choose Esther as her queen.  That comes next chapter.

When we live as Christians and see men who treat women abhorrently or call them certain names or speak of their exploits as trophies to be brandished, that is a person who should be corrected from a Christian perspective.  This comes through clearly here that women were not treated with the equal footing that they ought to be as we read in Paul’s writings.

This final chapter in Revelation, and so the final chapter in the Bible, can be summarized by a word which is alluded to in vs. 20: Maranatha!  In reality it is a combination of two Aramaic words: maran atah which could be seen as a command stating: Come Lord!  The only time that phrase is used in Scripture is seen in I Corinthians 16:22 where Paul uses it to describe the feeling of the early Christians who were somewhat losing their patience in waiting for Jesus to come back again.  I wonder if this describes a bit of what we are feeling.

On this day, November 5, we will remember it as a day when we wished Jesus had come back sooner than 11:30 Texas time.  For it was at that time that a shooter came into the church and took the life of 26 people.  If Jesus had come back before that time, we would not have to talk about it.  If Jesus had come back before then we would not have to address the issue of what would happen if someone came into our church.  If Jesus had come back then we would not have to grieve for those who are now without a mother or a father, a son or a daughter.  But Jesus has not come back so we want to use the command form and say out loud: Come, Jesus, Lord Jesus, come!

The ending of Revelation contains a beautiful image of a peaceful existence with our Savior.  Especially in the first 7 verses we find laid before us a tree which is specifically for the healing of the nations.  Wouldn’t that tree come in handy today as we see nations menacing each other with words and very little actions.  But then the author, John, changes tone and begins to describe the meaning and the purpose behind the writing of Revelation.  We are to worship God and only worship God (vs.9).  That makes sense in the pantheistic culture in which the Roman Empire, and thus the early Christian church, found itself.  Only worship God was a command directed at those who thought that if I bow to the emperor it can’t hurt anyone and it could save the life of me and my family.  

We find the repeated promise from Jesus that he is going to come back again in vs.12-13.  Again, these are words which are much needed by the early Christian community.  He ends Revelation with the same ending that I would want to give to you at the end of a long and difficult road which we have traversed together: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints.  Amen.”  Now, if you want to include yourself in the number of the saints that’s up to you.  I’m including you.

While the last chapter we read about the lake of fire and those who will be thrown into it, in this chapter we have a very clear, and popular, rendition of what heaven will be like.  Have you ever heard about the pearly gates or that heaven will have streets of gold?  Well, this is from where people get that idea.  You can see both of these concepts mentioned in vs. 21.  

But instead of the physical attributes which describe heaven, I prefer to focus on what will it be like.  We can also find that description in this chapter and it is a chapter that I often use for funerals.  If you focus on vss. 1-8 you will hear the following promises which I am sure you have heard at some time or another: there will be a new heaven and a new earth, He will wipe away every tear from their eye, there will be no more crying and no more pain, Jesus is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

We should be familiar with these promises, we have heard them before.  They are comforting while at the same time they are embedded within a description of heaven that many have relied upon to paint a picture of sheer beauty.  All of that is true, but the real beauty lies within the fact that once we die all things will be changed.  We will receive a new body, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, God will be by our side and never, ever leave us.  I choose to rely upon that as my assurance.  

Throughout Scripture we read about a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But it is here where we truly see the hell that we have envisioned which is a fiery pit matched with torment that lasts eternally.  Dante, who wrote Inferno, had his own ideas of what it looked like and he added a place called limbo which wasn’t quite as bad, but did have it’s negative implications.  We don’t believe in limbo but it has made an impact that finds itself in many belief systems.  Here is Botticelli’s rendition of Dante’s Inferno which is fairly well known.

The mention of a 1000 year time when Satan will be cast down and then will be let out because, “After that he must be let out for a little while,” reminds me of a statement that we would make in regards to our pets who have to be let out after a little while.  But we do see that once Satan is let out he pretty quickly meets his demise.

The overarching theme to all of this is that God is the one who control’s Satan and Satan has no real decision making processes on his own.  Our fear of Satan is somewhat unjustified because God ultimately has control over all things including, and especially, Satan.  

I have said all along that my understanding of eternal life is both inclusive and exclusive.  We see the inclusivity in John 3:16 when we read that God so loved the world.  There is no distinction on the earth, God loves the entire world.  The exclusivity comes in vs.15 of this chapter, and is found in other places as well, where we read that those who do not call upon the name of the Lord will be thrown into the lake of fire.  Sounds pretty harsh, well, because it is pretty harsh.  God loves all of us, but we absolutely need to respond to God.

I can’t help but think of this movie from Hitchcock when I read vs.21.

There is horrifying imagery in these verses and they remind us that victory does come in Jesus but it has come at a cost.  We often forget that the God that we worship died in a very brutal and bloody way.  We often forget that the one to whom we give our life and devotion was beaten and tortured by people just like us.

This scene in Revelation reminds us that as we might choose to be a follower of Jesus Christ it is not a choice which makes our life easier.  It can, in fact, make it more difficult because we are called to make decisions which should fly in the face of societal pressure.  We are called to not follow the Beast even if it means that we take the side of people who are often portrayed as Beasts.  We are called to stand on the side of our neighbor who is often misunderstood.

If you look at vs.10 you will see a marked similarity to what happens to Peter with Cornelius in Acts 10:25-26.  How quickly we are to make those around us deities when we find ourselves in need.  

Did you know that on feast days in Rome the fountains would pour forth wine for all the citizens to drink?  Here is a picture of a fountain in Rome which could have very likely existed in that time period and poured forth wine on the feast days.  Think of vs.3 when you see this picture.

When I read through this section I can’t help but think of the hegemonous (there’s another one for you Sally) position that the United States has in the world.  We know that Rome was the center of the Roman Empire and that it had complete dominance over the world.  Things are bit more shaded today.  While the United States could arguably be considered the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world, I think China might have something to say about that.  But beyond China and the US no other nation can lay claim to having the type of impact and influence which Rome had during the era of its empire.

So when we read about the traders bemoaning the fact that Rome is no longer around, I can’t help but think of the impact that the US has on trade.  It is interesting that we read in vs.8 from one day to the next everything had changed.  Many of us saw an immediate change in the way in which we interacted with the world and with each other after 9/11.  But we maintain our hegemony.  I am not wishing that we would lose it.  I’m wishing we could use our power for good in the world.

Another way in which to view our power is that we would be able to match the teachings of Jesus when he emphasizes a servant heart with our position in the world.  What would it look like if we were servants first and foremost.  What would it look like if our leaders tweeted examples in which we reached out and helped our neighbors, our own country men and women?  What would it look like if we did turn our back on profit and embraced the future by welcoming our neighbor.  I know, doesn’t sound realistic, but it is the course that Jesus would have us take.  I know, sounds like a recipe for national self-destruction.  Or maybe it sounds like a recipe for entering the kingdom of God as a child.  I’ll take the latter.