We enter new territory today. I’ve never preached a sermon from Esther. I do
seem to remember hearing a sermon on Esther once, but that was a long time
ago. I have chosen to do this because our text speaks to something that we
need to consider. It speaks to the notion of celebrating. We look to the
Word to instruct us on all sorts of things. Why not when it comes to
celebrating? I’m preaching on this now because I think that it is timely.
You can tell me afterward if I’m right about this.
First, let me give you a quick summary of the events recorded in Esther.
There are three main characters: Esther, Mordecai and Haman the Agagite. The
first two were Jews who lived in Persia about 450 years before Jesus was
born. The third person was a high official in the king’s court. The long and
the short of it is this. Haman persuaded the king to decree the destruction
of all of the Jews in his very large kingdom. Esther and Mordecai, however,
were able to thwart his scheme. In fact, they were able to bring about the
destruction of their enemies, especially Haman and his family, throughout
the kingdom. In response to all of this, the Jews throughout the kingdom
celebrated. This day, Purim, is still celebrated each year by Jews around
the world. If you haven’t read this book of the Bible in a while I would
encourage you to do that. It would be an appropriate Lord’s Day afternoon
activity. It really is a very exciting bit of history.
That’s the summary. What I would like to do now is look at their celebration
and ask some questions to see what we might learn. First question: what were
they doing? That’s pretty obvious. They were celebrating. But we’re not
talking about getting together for a bit of a pleasant time, quietly sipping
tea in the parlor. No, it was two full days of ‘feasting and gladness’. This
was a real celebration, and you need to see it as such. There are times for
mourning over sin or for quiet meditation or for very focused and intense
prayer and even for the quiet sipping of tea. But there also need to be
times of out and out celebration. Even a quick look at the Old Testament Law
shows that God called His people to celebrate at specific times. These were
festivals like the Feast of Booths, times of feasting and gladness. These
were built into God’s Law. But there were other times when the people were
exhorted to celebrate some recent event. After the wall of Jerusalem had
been rebuilt in the face of so much opposition, Nehemiah and Ezra called to
people to celebrate with days of feasting. Something great had just
happened. This flies in the face of some who always take a solemn, austere
view of things. ‘We are to be serious people. There is no place for
frivolity. Just sit down and enjoy your tea – quietly.’ But what do we see
in the Scriptures? We see the people of God celebrating.
I want to make an important distinction at this point. Listen to verse 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.’ This
day is a holiday. But be careful how you understand this. This is not a holy
day. Only God can establish a holy day. And since the coming of Jesus there
is but one day that is a holy day, the Lord’s Day. The fourth commandment
calls us to keep that day holy. But every other day is available to be a
holiday, a day of feasting and gladness, a day of celebration.
Now, we’re ready for the next question. What were they celebrating? They
were celebrating a great deliverance. They had been faced with annihilation
as a people. That’s what Haman was aiming for, the complete annihilation of
the people of God, the Jews. And yet, that didn’t happen. It didn’t look
good there for a while, but God turned the tables on their adversaries and
rescued His people. The celebration of our text is a response to God’s great
deliverance. They were celebrating a mighty work of God. This goes a long
way to explain their celebration. They had seen what God had done, and so
they responded. They threw a party. The realization of what their God had
done fueled their celebration. They had been face to face with death. But
their God acted. They were rescued. And that was something worth
celebrating.
Now, we’re ready to ask why? Why did they celebrate? It will take two steps
to get to the answer. First, listen to verse 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…’ This wasn’t just something that was done at that time
alone. It was repeated year after year. Why? Why did they celebrate
annually? The next verse tells us. ‘…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, and
that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.’ They did
it to remember, to remember what God had done and to pass on the memory of
what God had done to their children. They did it to establish and maintain
an important tradition. Moses had warned them about the dangers of
forgetting. ‘Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget
the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart
all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your
children's children.’ [Deuteronomy 4:9] There was a danger to his immediate
audience and to future generations so Moses called them to remember. And his
words were necessary. ‘They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great
things in Egypt…’ [Psalm 106:21] Forgetfulness of God always leads to sin.
So, Esther and the others celebrated to remember. They celebrated so that
their children would remember down through the centuries. But remember what?
That they had a great bash back in Persia? Absolutely not! They celebrated
and renewed that celebration each year, to remember the mighty work of God
in delivering them from their enemies. That was the focus of the
celebration. ‘Look at what God has done for us, His people!’ That was a
tradition worth passing on. And if that would be remembered it would provide
a basis for trusting God when other Hamans would plot their schemes. Listen
to Moses’ exhortation. ‘If you say in your heart, 'These nations are greater
than I. How can I dispossess them?' you shall not be afraid of them but you
shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the
great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand,
and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So
will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
[Deuteronomy 7:17-19] They needed to remember. Their children needed to
remember.
Another question: How did they celebrate? Here, I want you to notice verse
22. These were days ‘…for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to
the poor.’ These sorts of gift make sense. The point of giving isn’t the
gift but it’s the celebration, the remembering God’s mighty work by feasting
and gladness. And so, sharing some food fits. The gift says, ‘Let’s
celebrate together what our God has done for us.’ And none are to be left
out. There are always the poor among God’s people. But they should also be
able to share in the celebration of God’s goodness. They too need to be able
to feast and rejoice. So, they also receive gifts of food. In this the gifts
make sense. They aren’t the focus. They are there simply to help the
celebration. That’s where the focus needs to be.
All of this leads to our last two questions. What does this have to do with
the Gospel? There have been many in the history of the Church who have
played the role of the evil Haman. There was Cain and Pharaoh and Goliath
and Jeroboam and Caiaphas and Herod and many more down to our day. But they
are all puppets. They are puppets of our ancient foe, Satan. It has been his
goal to destroy us from the beginning. And there have been many times when
he got very close to succeeding. But we do not have to fear him any more.
Jesus has him firmly by the throat. He is in the midst of his death throes.
And one day Jesus will give that last squeeze, and he will be destroyed.
Jesus has come to deliver us from our enemy. This is the greatest work of
God. This is the great work of deliverance that every other great work of
deliverance pictures. What we see in Esther is another skirmish in the war,
another skirmish that points us to Jesus and the great work that He did some
two thousand years ago. Jesus has come, and we are rescued.
And now the last question. What does all of this have to do with you? One of
the reasons that I decided to preach on this is that December is coming. You
know what that means. You will have a choice to make when it comes to what
is now-a-days called ‘the holiday season’. Our culture has hijacked what
once was to us Christians a holiday. We enjoyed days of ‘feasting and
gladness’, days of remembering. God had done an astounding work for us in
sending His Son. Christians used to remember that and pass on that memory to
the children lest they forget. But now, the celebration of the Incarnation
has been stolen and twisted into something very different. It has become a
time that focuses so much attention not on the work of God for us but on
gifts. Adults stress as they try to make sure they find that ‘perfect gift’.
Children eagerly await the signal for them to tear into those brightly
wrapped packages to see what new toy they can focus their attention on. This
is a celebration but not a Christian celebration of what God has done in the
Incarnation. So, what will you do? I know that many of you have been working
on this. You see the problem and are trying to fix it in your families. I
want to push you a little further. How will you work to redeem this time?
How will you resist the efforts of our culture to distort our celebration?
How will you make this season a Christian celebration of the great work of
God? How will you pass on to your children the remembrance of Jesus’ great
love for sinners as proved by His coming? The celebration of the Incarnation
is not a holy day but it is a holiday, a day of feasting and gladness, a day
of great joy, a day of remembering. Jesus has come. He has come to deliver
us. And He succeeded in doing that! That is something worth celebrating.
