Love is Kind: Esther and Xerxes

Sermon 3 in Love Notes Sermon Series

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Book of Esther

            With over 50 people spread around our First Baptist Fellowship Hall a local CPA raised her hand for an observation following our community Poverty Simulation.  “Here’s what I noticed,” she said.  “As we went from agency to agency during our 4 15 minute weeks – no one showed much kindness or care.  The volunteers at the community agencies just did their jobs.  We even had a few people try to swindle us.  I thought – I could never run my business with this kind of customer service.  Then, I thought – how does it feel to be treated like this all the time.” 

            She was right.  Before we began – Anne Smith, our facilitator, instructed all volunteers to not offer any help.  She even encouraged some of us good church folks to be devious or even down right dishonest.  Every time a person or family came to a table – which represented a different organization in the community – such as the bank, the pawn shop, the employment office, the welfare office, the church –we asked them for a transportation pass.  It takes money to ride a bus or have a car and the families participating in the simulation had to plan how to be use their money.  We didn’t give out receipts unless we were asked specifically.  I worked at the utility office and was able to swindle one family out of a couple of dollars the first week, when they were flush with cash.

            The poverty simulation gave us an opportunity to see how a community operates on a smaller scale.  The CPA’s reflection brought home to me a reality.  All of the agencies represented in the room were serving people in tough situations – single mothers with teenagers, families that were out work and flying through their savings, elderly couples – all on the margins of society.  Each agency had a servant responsibility – help people in some way.  Yet, in spite of the fact that they were helping people – because they did not show kindness, people did not feel loved. 

This left me with a question:  Can we love someone without being kind?

Of all the love attributes Paul lists in 1 Cor 13, the description “Love is kind” comes across more as plain vanilla or basic oatmeal rather than chocolate explosion or smothered and covered hash browns at Waffle House.  Kindness is the expression of love we expect from those who love us.  We take being kind for granted.  This often happens with the people we love most – our families.  After a long day at the office or school or stuck in the house together after another week of snow – we forgot to be kind.  We make demands of one another.  We know we love each other – but we don’t see it in our actions. 

In the same breathe that Paul makes these sweeping statements about love – how love always protects and trusts and hopes and perseveres – he also says – Love is kind.  Kindness increases our capacity to love and be loved. 

The love story found in the Old Testament book of Esther while completely foreign to our modern ideals of romantic love reveals the impact love shared though kindness can have on individuals and groups. 

1.  Glimpses of Kindness

            In the beginning stages of the love story we catch glimpses of kindness between the two main protagonists:  King Xerxes and Esther, the commoner. 

             The story is set in the Jewish diaspora of the Persian Empire.  Over a hundred years before, Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians.  Large swaths of Jews were sent into exile in Babylon.  Then, the Persians, the ancient fore bearers to the Iranians, defeated the Babylonians.  Some of the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem, but most stayed to live their lives as residents of this new foreign empire. 

The love story centers on the Court in Susa in modern day Iran, where King Xerxes, the leader of the Persian empire, rules. 

We first glimpse the kindness of love in the ruling philosophy of King Xerxes.  King Xerxes rules the people and lands from India to Egypt and has achieved great wealth.  To celebrate his accomplishments like any great monarch– he throws an elaborate banquet for all of the nobility. He invites all of his nobles and courtesans; he also invites all of his military leaders and the princes from throughout the empire.  For ½ a year he displays the vast wealth of his empire for these leaders to see.

Then, he does something quite remarkable for any time – he throws a second banquet.  This time he throws open the doors to his palace and invites all of his subjects from greatest to the least, the scripture says, to come tour the gardens – with their tapestries of white and blue linen and large marble pillars.  For a just a moment, those of his kingdom were allowed inside – like an ancient version of lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Kindness means benevolent or generous.  We catch a glimpse in this scene of the King’s generosity to his people.   

At the same time, when we meet Esther, we catch a glimpse of her kind love.  Esther is orphaned as a young girl.    Providentially, her uncle Mordecai steps into the situation to raise her.  He treats her with great kindness - not as an extra mouth to feed, but as a one of his own daughters. 

Not long after King Xerxes throws his open house for this kingdom, he has a terrible spat with his Queen – Queen Vashti.  Like a scene from a Disney movie, the king ends up throwing her out of the palace – and sending messengers throughout the kingdom to seek his next Queen.  The result could be the next TV reality show – a harem full of eligible bachelorettes waiting to see if the king might choose them to be the next Queen.  Wait – ABC has already produced this for TV – it’s called the Bachelor. 

Besides having a wonderful uncle to raise her, Esther had another great feature – her beauty.  The scriptures say she was “lovely in form and features.”  This beauty gets Esther noticed by the talent scouts who are scouring the countryside looking for the next Queen. 

Esther is invited into the Harem of King Xerxes.  Inside the palace, which hundreds of other girls fighting to be noticed by the king, we notice another trait of Esther which she learned from her uncle – her kindness.  When Hegai, the harem manager, meets Esther, something stands out to him.  More than her beauty, Esther pleased him and won his favor. 

This glimpse of kindness gains Esther special treatment in the Harem.  Like Catniss Everdeen in the Capital of the Hunger Games trilogy, Hegai provides Esther with special, rich, royal foods to fatten her up from the sparse eating of the masses.  He gives her special beauty treatments to erase any smells or traces of commoner life.  Then, he goes so far as to assign Esther seven maids selected from the King’s palace and move her into the best room in the harem.  Esther’s beauty got her into the harem and out of the common life.  It was her kindness that won her favor in the King’s palace. 

In both the King and the future queen – we see glimpse of kindness before they ever meet. 

2.  Acts of Kindness

            As their love story progresses – as best it can in an ancient world where kings rule with great power and marriage and women serve only at their fancy – we see more than just glimpses of kindness –we also see acts of kindness. 

            Esther’s beauty and kindness steal not only Hegai’s heart – they also catch the attention of King Xerxes – so much so that he names her Queen.  From orphaned, Hebrew exile, Esther has risen to be the greatest woman in all of Persia. 

            Yet, as all who know this story – whether from a Veggie tales movie or a Sunday School felt board from long ago – there’s more to this story than just love.  The back story involves a pompous, puffed up royal counsel to the king named Haman.  Haman loves the attention and requires all common men and women on the street to bow when he passes.  All do – except wonderful uncle Mordecai who does not bow to anyone – except his God, Yahweh.  Haman becomes incensed; he has King Xerxes issue a decree to extinguish all of the Hebrews – without either of them knowing that they have issued the death warrant to their wonderful Queen. 

            If we don’t remember much from this story – we all remember the great scene where Mordecai confronts Esther in the city square outside the palace – in front of all the stares at a Queen outside the Palace.  He calls for Esther to stand up to the king and let him know what Haman has done.  “You don’t know what you are asking,” Queen Esther replies.  “Any man or woman who approaches the king in the throne room without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.  You are asking me to risk my life for our people”

            Mordecai knows exactly what he is asking – and says, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

            Esther determines to go forward with Mordecai’s plan.  Before she goes before the King, she prepares herself with the proper attire.  She positions herself near the throne room – then she waits.  When the King sees his Queen of nearly 5 years standing there – he is pleased with her, he offers her his gold scepter.  She lives to see another day. 

            I don’t want us to move too quickly over this event.  In an ancient, royal romance kind of way – the king loves Esther with kindness.  He has the capacity for cruelty – he dismissed his former queen.  But in this case, we see he also has capacity for kindness.   Hi love for Esther is demonstrated by basic kindness.  When she shows up unannounced and trembling, he offers her the love of kindness.  What a great gift.

Esther’s appearance in that throne room was also an act of kind love.  She could have dismissed Mordecai and took her chances that no one would find out about her ethnicity.  Instead, she risked her life with a sense of tenderness and boldness. 

            Both of these acts of kindness served to save the Hebrews from death and destruction.    In the end, Haman’s plot and arrogance are exposed and Mordecai’s faithfulness is revealed.  The edit to annihilate the Hebrews is rescinded.  To celebrate this salvation, the Jewish Festival of Purim is founded and celebrated for centuries to come.  All of this happens because two people – in love in an ancient kind of way – chose to be kind to others around them.   

3.  Practice Kindness

            The kind of love we witness between Queen Esther and King Xerxes does not simply occur – it is developed. 

            In his now famous book, Eric Fromm, the 20^th Century psychologist, makes this bold claim in The Art of Loving:  “Love is an art, just as living is an art; if we want to learn how to love we must proceed in the same way ways we have to proceed if we want to learn any other art, say music, painting, carpentry, or the art of medicine or engineering.” 

            For Fromm, we don’t just say one day say, “we will love.”  Instead, we dedicate our lives to the art of love.  We develop this art in the same way we develop other artistic enterprises – not by learning an art directly, but indirectly. 

Before we can learn an art, we must first learn a whole bunch of disconnected kinds of things.  For example, an apprentice in carpentry begins by learning how to plane wood and an apprentice in piano playing begins by practicing scales.  Planing and scales develop our capacity to become carpenters and pianists.

            If we are to be individuals and a church who love the world as God loves us – we must practice the art of loving.  This begins by developing traits and skills like kindness.  To love others – we must practice kindness in our world.  Kindness increases our capacity to love and be loved. 

            Paul says 1 Thessalonians 5:15:  “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. “ When we practice kindness instead of revenge, we increase the capacity of God’s love in our lives. 

            Proverbs 19:17 says “He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.”  When extend kindness to individuals or families in the margins, we increase our capacity to love and be loved. 

            Henry James, the 19th-century American novelist, once said, "Three things in human life are important:  The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind."  Now is the time to practice all three.

Conclusion

            Kindness is not plain vanilla or dull oatmeal – Kindness unlocks the key to expressing love in our world. 

Practicing kindness increases our capacity to love and be loved.  Our capacity to love and be loved increases our Christ-likeness.  Increasing our capacity to love reveals to the world exactly who we follow.

            Think of the many commandments Jesus gave us – they all focus in some degree on our capacity to love and be love.

            Love the Lord, with all of your heart, mind and body and love your neighbor as love yourself, Jesus commands in Matthew

            Love each other as I have loved you, Jesus commands in John.    

            Finally, Jesus says, the world will know we are his disciples – not if we have the best church buildings, no if we believe all the right things, not if we study the bible 40 hours a week, but only when we love one another. 

            Practicing kindness to one another, to those around, to our spouses and our children, our employees and our co-workers, to those in the Walmart lines, and the folks in school – increases our capacity to love.  The world needs kindness.  The church needs kindness.  Our Families need kindness.  Our schools need kindness.  Our politics need kindness.  Our offices, business, and factories need kindness.  Our entertainment world needs kindness.  It starts with us.  Be kind.  Be kind.  Be kind – and see how the love of God flows into your life and world.  Amen.