"Righteousness," September 30, 2012

Esther 7:1-6 Mark 9:38-50 Mark Twain is said to have been asked Believing in A Believer Baptism whether he believed infants could be baptized? To which he retorted, “Believe in it? I have seen it happen!” Recently someone asked, as a learned and rational person, whether you believe in evil, in the presence of demonic forces all around us, in Satan and in Hell? The way I would want to answer the question is that there is evil in the world, there is great physical, emotional and spiritual harm we do to one another, and Yes when we turn a blind eye to suffering, when we allow fear, hate, prejudice and anger to rule, then the demonic is all around us. BUT, do I believe in Satan and Hell? As a man of God I must say NO and challenge you NOT TO BELIEVE IN HELL either. The point here is not the existence of Hell or Satan, but whether we give power to that which is wrong by BELIEVING in it. Mark's Gospel tells us that after Simon Peter confessed that he BELIEVED Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God; Peter and James and John went up the Mountain with Jesus where they experienced one of the most spiritual and mystical moments of human history as Moses and Elijah appeared before them, as Jesus was changed before their eyes, as they heard the Voice of God profess a blessing “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am Well Pleased, Listen to Him!” As they come down off the mountain the other disciples had been trying in vain to heal a child convulsed by something terrifying. Jesus prayed and the pain and suffering and fear and torment leave. Does the Bible encourage in belief in the spiritual and acknowledge that evil exists? Without question, ABSOLUTELY. However, there is a distinction between acknowledging the presence of something, fighting against it, versus in Believing in and lending credence, or turning a blind eye of tolerance to support what is evil. After all these spiritual mystical, faith-filled circumstance Jesus' disciples describe they saw a man who was trying to use the name of Jesus to heal someone. Having stood up for and defended Jesus, his disciples name that they rebuked the man. Instead, Jesus puts forward one of the most basic precepts of believing in God: “Anyone who is not against us, is for us!” In 2001, the world experienced a terrifying event, an act of hate and destruction, a circumstance of evil intended to change the world. Incredulously, commercial airplanes designed to fly above the heavens were made to crash into skyscrapers. What happened that day, was not simply that the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were hit, not only that thousands of people died. What happened that day was that people across the world changed from believing in Innocence that “anyone who is not against us is for us,” to believing in the evil and suspicion and fear that “anyone that is not for us must be against us.” That is the power of terrorism. That is the power of believing in evil. The Biblical passages appointed for this day demonstrate the meaning of “Righteousness.” Not to be right! Not to be Moralistic, not what it is to Win, to dominate, to control, to believe in your own way at the cost of all others, that is Self-righteous, that is the way of Genocide and total annihilation of all others. Righteousness is a statement of solidarity, that we stand with God, we believe in God and the power of the Cross that nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. That being right with the world, we believe in the power of hope, the power of compassion and empathy with those in need. We may have nothing in common with them, but the world is not our enemy, the stranger is not someone to be feared. Anyone who is not against us, is for us. Do we name what is evil, and root it out. Yes, because ignoring our problems does not make them go away. Lie a cancer ignored, hate and fear metastasize compromising more and more of the body. But we cannot allow ourselves to succumb to hate and fear and intolerance. The Book of Esther is an obscure tale, one which Christians rarely take time to read. We skim names like Ahasuerus and Mardecai and Haman, and we skip ahead to the suffering of The Book of Job. The Book of Esther comes from Iran, from the ancient kingdoms of Persia. After the Fall of the Nation of Israel, after the deportation to Babylon, the people from Jerusalem were carried off as Prisoners of War and Slaves. But generations later, the Babylonians were defeated in battle by the Persians, who in turn took the Babylonians as slaves. Esther is the story of a woman in world dominated by men, who was a Prisoner of War of a people who themselves were Prisoners of War. This is a story of being powerless. Esther is a comical farce, to the extent of mellow-drama, the basis of the Jewish Feast of Purim. Not just a soap-opera, whenever the name of the Villain Haman was mentioned, everyone hearing would BOO! Ironically for a Biblical narrative, throughout the story, God is never directly mentioned. Whenever the Jewish Hero, Mordecai, the old man who like a benevolent uncle acts quietly behind the scenes is mentioned, the crowds would CHEER! To show what a farce this tale represented, the King of Persia is described as so full of himself and the facade of appearances that he attempted to demonstrate how beautiful his wife the Queen was, and how jealous all the other men should be, by having her appear at a State Banquet, Nude. When she refused, the King decided to replace her as Queen by having a Beauty-pageant. Because of all of this, whenever the name of King Ahasuerus is mentioned, the response from the congregation was “Duh!” And when Esther, the Jewish girl who becomes Queen by winning the title of the most-beautiful woman in Persia, is mentioned everyone WOLF-WHISTLE. In the course of this narrative, evil Haman (BOO) plots to have Old Mordecai hung on a Gallows 75 feet tall in his front yard, and all the people of Mordecai, that is The Jews, killed in a Genocide. Haman practices the fear of believing in evil: Those who are not for us, must be against us and must be killed. But throughout the story, Queen esther has kept her being Jewish hidden. She followed all the cultural norms of the world around her, questioning if being a Child of God actually mattered at all. When she learns of the plot of Haman to kill all the Jews, Esther determines she must stand in solidarity with her people. HOWEVER, in addition to being a woman, Prisoner of War of a people who were Prisoners of War, Esther knows that the King is a ruler who will not tolerate being challenged. Even to enter the King's Chamber, or to bring up a topic the King does not want to consider, are crimes punishable by death. Esther determines to gain solidarity from the King. She asks the King if he would do her a favor. Of course he accepts the request, But her favor is that the Vizer Haman, and the King would do her the favor of accepting her invitation to dinner.They come and she provides a lavish banquet, and when again Haman and Ahasuerus ask what they might do for her, she entreats them to do her the favor of coming to dinner again tomorrow night. Having now gotten the King to offer to do her a favor, and twice providing lavish feasts, at which the King offers to do whatever she asks. Esther reveals that she stands in solidarity with her people who are being exterminated by evil Haman. While a satiric mellow-drama for the Feast of Purim, the hatred and fear between Iran and Israel is not a new thing. For us all, it is arduously difficult, when abused, when insulted and made fearful, not to react in fear. The difficulty, is best described in another passage. After the people of Israel had wandered the Wilderness for forty years, after Moses had died appointing Joshua as his successor, they cross over Jordan, and in the early morning Joshua got out of bed unable to sleep.When suddenly he saw a fierce warrior with a mighty sword. And Joshua asked: “Are you on our side, or the side of our enemy?” What we need to hear, is the reply of the Stranger: “Neither, but as Commander of the Army of God.” As a people of God, we have witnessed miracles. Those who believed they would die, have lived among us. A child, whose parents thought she might die in infancy, has lived among us, whom we have fallen in love with. When those who were refugees first came to live among us, they questioned why over a 20 year war America had done nothing. And we have now changed their circumstance from dying infancy and childbirth, to life and health. From blindness to renewed vision. Anyone who is not against us, must be for us.