When Haman got angry because Mordecai the Jew would not bow down to him, he decided that having Mordecai executed would be too small a vengeance; it would be better to kill all the Jews in the kingdom, including Mordecai (Esther 3:1-6). He got authority from the king to establish a date for all the Jews to be killed, and their property plundered (3:7-15).

When he heard this, “Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry” (4:1). Throughout the empire, “there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes” (4:3). As noted yesterday, there is no specific mention of God, or of voices raised in prayer to the Lord for deliverance; but we are to understand that this lamentation was indeed a call to God for mercy and deliverance.

In addition to his mourning, Mordecai also sent a message to Queen Esther urging her to plead for the lives of her people (4:8). Yet as Esther explained, no one could enter into the king’s presence without being invited: “if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called there is but one law – all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.” (4:11).

We should all take to heart Mordecai’s analysis: don’t think you can escape the seriousness of the situation by just keeping quiet; and perhaps you have come to your present position “for just such a time as this” (4:14). Esther’s response is instructive as well: let’s commit ourselves to serious fasting for three days – again prayer is not specifically mentioned, but that would be the main point of a three-day fast – and then I’ll put myself on the line for what is right: and “if I perish, I perish” (4:16).

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You put us in places where we can make a difference, O Lord, for such a time as this present moment: yet we are so often afraid to speak or act. Grant us the courage to step forward in the face of anxiety, knowing that if we perish, we perish – and knowing that even in death we are held in your keeping.

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