The story of the book of Esther creates some beautiful imagery for us. Esther herself is a strikingly beautiful Jewish woman who has become queen with the help of her foster father Mordecai. The Jewish community were exiles, or maybe we could think of them as refugees and they were not thought of too highly. Esther kept her nationality hidden from the king, as Mordecai had instructed her to do, which likely aided in her being chosen queen. Mordecai has also found favor with the king due to his interceding on the king’s behalf. Even though these two characters are in a pretty good position with the royalty, they are also very worried when the king issues a decree to destroy the Hebrews. They are worried for themselves and for their people and what is their reaction? They mourn, they fast, they put on simple “beggar” garments and anoint themselves with ash and filth. They appeal to their Lord God crying out for deliverance. Our first reading from today tells of Ester’s reaction and the words paint a clear picture of a woman pleading for herself and her people. She takes off her fine cosmetics and garments and humbles herself before God.
How often do we hear of people who don’t regularly pray or attend church turning to God in times of great tribulation? It is understandable, and the faithful also turn to God in times of sorrow, but where are our hearts when things are going well? It is all to easy to become complacent, especially when our lives are pretty comfortable; we have enough to eat everyday, we have clothes to wear, and a roof over our head. We might forget to see God’s hand in our life and we might forget that He has provided everything we have. We are tempted to look at our own actions as reason for our wellbeing and not give glory and thanks to God for even our ability to work hard and succeed. Can I admit something? It is a pet peeve of mine when some says, “I work hard, so I deserve…..” a nice car, a fancy vacation, a new dress, etc. I do not mean to be callous, let me explain. Don’t field workers toil extremely hard for often a very low wage? Do not men, women and children in third world countries work their fingers to the bone for scraps that do not adequately meet their dietary needs? Do these people not deserve to fill their bellies every night or even get one day off? Does not a child deserve a loving, safe, unbroken home and yet heartbreakingly too many have not? Everything we have is a gift. Everything. Our very life is a gift and it is important that we count our blessings and treat them as such. Our psalm today is from 138, Hymn of a Grateful Heart. How perfectly fitting! We can not know or understand why so many humans suffer unspeakable difficulties, but what we do know is that God is with them through it all.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise. Ps 138:1
What is good for our heart and soul is persisting in prayer and devotion to God. As easy as it is to become apathetic to the greater reality of our heavenly Father’s mercy, it is also easy to fall into the trap of getting discouraged. It is one of the many realities of our human existence that we will, at times, become disheartened at the stones in our path. We cannot see what is ahead of us, God’s plans for us. We have to be patient and trust, and both of those things are so difficult! When we stop and look back, we can often see were God was working in our lives, but the real challenge is to be with Him in the present moment, ever faithful and confident, even when things are not going our way. Perhaps especially when things aren’t going our way. The gospel reading from Mathew today implores us to persist and remain steadfast in our trust that God hears our prayer. The Word made flesh speaks to us directly and tells us that our prayers will be answered if only we ask. Wow. That is astonishing. The difficulty is that we do not know when, where or how God will answer our prayers. We have to be patient. How often it is that God’s answer doesn’t look like what we would have expected! Heaven knows I would not have asked God to send me to Indian, USA to find peace and wonderful friends to journey with me in life, and yet here I am, seeing how many of my hearts prayers have been answered in coming here. To allow God to answer us we must open the doors of our heart to him, we must let him in and listen quietly to the ways of God working in our lives. We do this through prayer, through scripture, through the sacraments, and certainly through service to our fellow brothers and sister. The Golden Rule is an all time favorite instruction for so many different people from various backgrounds and walks of life. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you” Mt 7:12. This is an essential part of our mission as Christians and it helps us become more fully alive in Christ.
God wants to answer our prayers. He wants to give us eternal life with him, for this is what we were designed for. Let us not be blind to this reality. My prayer for all of us today, is that we will remain humble before the Lord, that we will praise him always, in good times and in bad, that we will ask for what our heart truly longs for. I pray that we strive always towards a deeper communion with Christ, and through him, a deeper communion with each other. Amen.
(Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25; Ps 138:1-2AB, 2CDE -3, 7C-8; Mk 7:7-12
