As the people of God, we claim the title of and profess to be unshakeable, but we know that God’s faithfulness is what makes it so, because when and if we try to live life without God we are lost and without hope. This year has proven to be one that has tested our “unshakebility” beyond measure. As of yesterday, 200,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States alone, unemployment, financial, food and housing insecurity are realities for many people who never dreamed they would be in that situation, we have lost political and civil rights icons, experienced a record number of hurricanes, wildfires have spread across several pacific states, the tapes of police killing Black men just keep showing up, and now we have lost, the notorious RBG.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, despite her small physical stature, was a giant in life and the courtroom. She stood unapologetically and boldly for equal rights for women, the disenfranchised and the marginalized. She was a woman who defied and overcame society’s attempts to keep her in her place. As a woman, mother, and person of Jewish descent, RBG was expected to keep her head down, stay at home, raise her children, and be a good housewife. Ahhh, but God had other plans and prepared her to take on the restrictions that were imposed on her and others. With grace, conviction, and authority she declared “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” All RBG wanted was a seat at the table.
Such was the case for a woman, whose very name meant hidden or secret. And indeed, Esther lived a secret and sequestered life. As a member of the Jewish diaspora living in Persia, Esther, an orphan raised by her uncle, was marginalized, and expected to remain on the fringes of society, stay in her place, and be silent. Yet, God had other plans for Esther. The Book bearing her name is much like the woman, an enigma, as God’s name is never spoken, but it is evident that God’s was in not hiding, or silent. God was leading, guiding, protecting, and a very present help to the chosen people. Many of the social inequities and ills of today are found in the Book of Esther—excessive and conspicuous consumption, misogyny, xenophobia, racism, classism, sexism, murderous plots by people in places of authority, injustice, exclusion, and marginalization. The Book of Esther could have very well served as the script for a modern-day reality television series.
The book opens with the King of Persia, Ahasuerus, hosting an extravagant party where his extreme wealth, opulence, and gluttony are on display. On the seventh day of the celebration, the king summons his queen, Vashti, to come so he can display and exploit her beauty and for her to perform for the men in attendance. Vashti, a woman of moral character and with a mind of her own, refused to be paraded before the drunken contingent of men as if she were another one of the king’s possessions under his authority and control. The king, angry that Vashti would dare to refuse his command had her removed from his presence, stripped of her title, and banished from the kingdom.
King Ahasuerus, ruled from Asia to Ethiopia, and he was a man of great authority, and wealth. However, he was also easily influenced, could be indecisive, and without question, lacked moral character. Not showing his wife and queen the respect, she deserved and when she dared to cross him, he crossed her out and searched for her replacement among the young women in the kingdom. After a period of preparation, Esther found favor with the king, and was chosen as the new queen for such a time as this. Esther, even as the queen, was expected to follow royal protocol. She could not approach the king without being summoned. Again, as a woman, Esther was to know her place and stay in it.
Indigenous/native people, people of African descent, Jewish people, women, anyone who was not a male of European descent have all been told since the founding of these United States of America, “stay in your place, follow the rules of engagement and don’t ever cross the ruling class. And any refusal to do so often results in people losing their lives, or at minimum being labeled as difficult, not easy to get along with, troublemaker, a problem. But I contend that nothing was ever accomplished by a person who didn’t know that their place was to press against the established norms, to dream bigger dreams, to try untested theories, to stand up for what is right and just. Just ask Harriette Tubman, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Dr. Katie Cannon, and the notorious RBG; just ask George Washington Carver, John Lewis, Barack Obama, Rev. Dr. MLK, and all the others who decided that their place was to come out of the shadows and claim their seat at the table.
Encouraged by the uncle who raised her, Esther did not stay in her place, she ascended to the house of the worldly king, to attend to Godly business. Her husband did not know that his new wife was of Jewish descent, he was just captivated by her youth, beauty, and grace. The King did not know that God was in the mix, preparing Esther for her seat at the table, empowering her to command respect and attention, so that at the appointed time, she would save not only herself, but the rest of the Jewish diaspora as well. Justice Ginsberg is quoted as saying, “”Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”
I mentioned earlier that the king was easily influenced by others, including his prime minister, Haman, a descendent of Amalek, an enemy of the Jewish people. Haman plotted to kill Esther’s uncle, because he was a Jew and refused to bow down to him. Obviously, Haman was a man who needed adulation and attention, confirmation by others, and thought more of himself than he ought. Esther’s uncle learned that Haman was plotting to kill him and all the Jews in exile and entreated her to save her people by presenting herself to the king. Although it was not proper protocol for Esther to approach the king without being summoned, she did so, inviting him and Haman to a meal. The Rev. Paula Cooper, a PC(USA) pastor, mission co-worker in East Central Africa, and a sister beloved has often stated that “if you don’t have a seat at the table, you just might be on the menu.”
Esther not only had a seat at the table, she prepared the menu, commanded and controlled the conversation, and appealed to the king’s own self-centered interest by stating, “‘If I have won your favour, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. 4For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men, and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.’” (Esther 9:3-4)
When it was revealed that the King’s Prime minister was the very person who planned to destroy Esther and her people, he was put to death. In the words of the late, great singer, Mahalia Jackson, “if you dig one ditch, you better dig two, cause the trap you set, may just be for you.”
Paul asked the question of the Romans (8:31-34) “‘So, what then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? God who did not withhold the only begotten Son, but gave him up for all of us, will God not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.’”
Just as Jesus flipped the tables in the temple and drove out the exploiters of the people gathered to worship; Jesus flipped conventional wisdom by declaring the first shall be last and last shall be first; Jesus flipped the finality of death by being resurrected from the dead by God; and Jesus flipped what was proper protocol when he prepared the table where everyone is welcome, everyone has a seat, and the heavenly meal is prepared for everyone to eat and drink, Esther took her rightful seat at the king’s table, and turned the tables on Haman. In the words of Paul, “so that it may be clear, this extraordinary power comes from God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:7–9).
Beloved of God, people who are treated unjustly, who are deemed less than because of their ethnicity, race or country of origin, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation, the marginalized, and disenfranchised, the oppressed, overlooked and underestimated, the young, old, and everyone in between just want and deserve a seat at the table. To be counted, to matter, to have voice, and to be recognized. And by the way, when you find yourself at the table with women, people of color or different orientations, do not treat us as the king treated Vashti. We are not there simply as beautiful faces, for the optics or to check an inclusion box. Do not patronize, minimize, or ignore our intelligence, preparation, experience, or authority. Our lives have worth, our words have power, our place in society has meaning, we are there for such a time as this, and our hope is in Christ Jesus who came that we might all have life and life more abundantly, so we will take our seat at the table and be heard.
Amen.