Week One

I always spend time in prayer as the year changes, longing for a Word of guidance from my Lord for the upcoming year.  As the year changed from 2018 into 2019, I sensed a new mission was about to unfold. The Word I received was from the Old Testament Book of Esther, Esther 4:14, “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (NIV)  A thrilling yet disturbing passage – what could these words possibly mean, thousands of years after the events of this passage? And what exactly is ‘royal position’ anyway? And what is God’s timing for moving into royal position? 2019 was a rather mundane year for me, so when would I begin to see this Word from the Lord fulfilled?  That time is now.  We have arrived at ‘such a time as this’.

Some background on this passage is in order:
The Book of Esther tells the dramatic story of the rise to power, wealth, and influence of two Jewish outsiders within the pagan royal court of Persia, which is now modern-day Iran.  Long before modern day anti-Semitism, the Book of Esther tells a story of the survival of the Jewish people in the face of government-sponsored genocide. It also tells a story of how one extraordinary woman rises above the patriarchal constraints of her time to save her people.  The principal characters are Esther, the beautiful and courageous Jewish heroine, Mordecai, her savvy advisor and uncle, Haman, the egomaniacal anti-Semitic villain, and Ahaseurus/Xerxes, the extravagant king of Persia. 

The Book of Esther is set in the ancient Persian royal city of Susa during the time of the powerful Persian King Ahaseurus, after the time of the great Persian king Cyrus, who defeated the Babylonians in 539 B.C., after which many of the Jewish deportees returned to the land of Israel with the support of King Cyrus. King Ahaseurus has been identified by scholars as King Xerxes I, and the son of King Darius, another great Persian king who succeeded King Cyrus.  King Xerxes I ruled Persia in the years 486-465 B.C., with the events of the Book of Esther likely occurring during the middle of his reign, when the Persian Empire ranged from India to Ethiopia.  The setting is therefore during the time of the Jewish Diaspora/dispersal, after the Babylonian exile, but before the Hellenistic period ushered in by Alexander the Great, who conquered the Persian Empire.
Haman, the villain of the Book of Esther, ‘makes his entrance’ in Chapter 3, and the theme of irrational racial and ethnic hostility will become a focus. Haman is at the height of his power in this chapter. 

Some time has passed when the king unexpectedly elevates Haman to a position of honor and power. By command of the king, all royal officials at the king’s gate must kneel down and honor Haman as he passes by.  However, Mordecai refuses to do so.  Haman is insulted by Mordecai’s arrogance and responds with uncontrolled rage.  Hearing that Mordecai is Jewish, he vows to destroy not only Mordecai but all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.  Haman has apparently ascribed Mordecai’s insult to his Jewishness, and vows to wipe out all Jewish people in the Persian Empire to make sure he can never be similarly insulted again.  It is such irrational generalizations about those ‘others’ who don’t look and act like ‘us’ that have fueled many a war. Haman takes lethal revenge by inducing the king to issue an order of mass genocide.

The orders are written in the name of the king, sealed with his ring, thereby making it an irrevocable law, and sent by royal courtiers by the Persian mail system throughout the Empire. The details are excruciating.  All Jews, young, old, men, women, and children, are to be killed on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar, with their goods plundered. The decree gives no reason for the order.  Power without restraint is a most dangerous power that cannot be controlled once unleashed.

Esther has quietly been Queen of Persia for five years, with the sacred author not relating any of her activities during this time. Mordecai asks the queen to beg for mercy for the Jewish people before the king, a request that will certainly reveal her Jewish identity. Persian court protocol mandated that no one can appear uninvited before the king in his inner courts. The penalty for such a visit is death.  The time has passed for silent and passive assimilation.  Radical boldness on the part of Queen Esther is now required, but she is not yet ready to move forward, and so she protests that she cannot do as asked.  Mordecai then sends his memorable response to Queen Esther’s timid response.  His response continues to our day as a potent reminder to those with influence in the world to ‘become fully aware of the urgent need to change the spiritual attitudes which define each individual relationship with self, with neighbor, with even the remotest human communities, and with nature itself’ (Pope St. John Paul II in Sollicitudo rei socialis, para. 38).

Mordecai warns her that she will not escape Haman’s lethal rage because she is hidden within the king’s palace. Queen Esther really has no viable options.  Then he asks her the question that has become the classic statement of divine providence: ‘who knows but that it was for a time such as this that you obtained royal position?’ Her most improbable enthronement as queen of the Persian Empire may have been God’s way of intervening in the history of His Chosen People. She may have been selected as queen only because God had first selected her as a human agent of salvation.

We are now at ‘such a time as this’, when we are being summoned to move forward like Queen Esther in radical boldness. By virtue of our Baptism, we are all priests, prophets, and kings. The Vatican II document, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, (Lumen Gentium), states that the laity, by virtue of their Baptism, share in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly work of Christ by ‘engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will’ (para. 31).  Laity work and minister in and to the world. It is now time to step into our royal position and minister to our world, which is so engulfed in fear at this time. As priests, we offer all we are and all we have in praise of our God who is the Creator. As prophets, we speak the truth in love.  As kings and queens, we rule over the earth which is our platform for salvation.  How can we do that? 

We can:

• As priests, we can spend time in prayer for the world, either at home or in the St. Matthew’s Eucharistic Adoration Chapel, which remains open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• As prophets, we can continue to speak words of hope to the fearful.
• As kings and queens, we can overcome our fear of this virus and be authentic disciples of Jesus Christ.  Some simple ways to do so are inquiring after the well-being of our elderly neighbors, friends, fellow parishioners, and relatives. Given the mobs at the grocery stores, they may not have been able to stand in line to buy food.  Offer them a meal. Arrange for meals to be delivered by Meals on Wheels. Offer your ongoing friendship and support.

Rise up and take up your royal position for such a time as this.