
Esther 9:18–28
[18] But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. [19] Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
[20] And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, [21] obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, [22] as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
[23] So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. [24] For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. [25] But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. [26] Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, [27] the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, [28] that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants. (ESV)
WE LIVE IN A BROKEN WORLD
- We believe God is good — But all around we see brokenness
- We believe God is healer — But all around we see sickness
- We believe God is love — But all around us we see hatred and evil
- We believe God is the author of life — But death is all around us
The Old Testament book of Esther is like that…
Esther 9:1 - the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.
No fanfare, no details of the battles, no big surprise… why? —> THE END IS NEVER IN DOUBT!
Compare Mordecai’s statement: Esther 4:14 - relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews…
THEOLOGICAL POINT: THE END IS NEVER IN QUESTION!
BUT WE LIVE IN THE MIDDLE!
In the middle of Esther:
• Evil triumphs
• Good is suppressed and unrewarded
• Death looms
• God is not even mentioned (He is silent at best and absent at worst)
In the end of Esther
• The Jews got relief from their enemies (9:22)
• Haman’s even plan is turned on him (9:24-25)
• Sorrow turns to gladness (9:22)
• Mourning turns to a holiday (9:22)
• Purim is instituted (9:26-28)
We live in the middle…
In the middle there is:
• Sin
• sickness
• Fear
• Loneliness
• Uncertainty
• Injustice
• Suffering
• A Pandemic
• Economic Collapse
• Death
It has always been that way…
In the middle:
• Messiah was rejected by his own people, betrayed and murdered
• It looked like evil won
• Darkness covered the world as the sun itself refused to shine
• Earthquakes shook the earth as nature itself convulsed
• The Son cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
• It seemed God had abandoned His Son
• The mission had failed
• The promise had come to nothing
• And the enemies of God had won the day
BUT THERE IS A GLORIOUS END:
Purim - Reminds the Jewish people how the story ends: God is faithful to his people and his Promises.
Easter - Reminds Christians how the story ends: The tomb is empty and Jesus is alive!
Communion - A regular reminder that Jesus died the death we should have died, carried our punishment, and shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins! Death and Sin are defeated and a feast awaits.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.
- 1 Peter 3:18