This painting is, "The Triumph of Mordechai", by Jacob Willemsz. de, the Elder.
These are my notes and thoughts from Jamie Rasmussen's 8th installment on the book of Esther at Scottsdale Bible Church.
There has now been a significant transfer of power in our story.
Through Esther's faithfulness to God, Mordecai has gone from someone who sits at the king's gate everyday to being pranced around town on the king's horse by Haman, to seeing Haman hung on the same gallows that were built for his destruction to finally becoming second in command in the Persian nation. An incredible series of events!
We pick up our story in chapter 9 with the edict still in place for the annihilation of the Jews. Evidently, in that culture, once the king made an edict even the king did not have the power to undue his own command. Therefore, the day for the annihilation of the Jews, as proclaimed by the now dead Haman, was still at hand.
The book of Esther tells us that Haman wasn't the only man in the land that was looking for the destruction of the Jews. Evidently, in this vast kingdom, there were many people who, for one reason or another, were looking forward to this day. There were other enemies of the Jews in the nation of Persia.
With the power given to him by King Ahasuerus, Mordecai set out to defend the Jewish nation. Under Mordecai's power was the full strength of the king's army and the whole government. With this power Mordecai killed those who were set on his (the Jews) destruction. That day Haman's 10 sons and 75,000 others were put to death.
It is interesting to note that in this bloody scene, Mordecai only killed those who intended to kill the Jews, he only killed men and he didn't take any plunder. He could have taken the lands and wealth of those who opposed him but he didn't!
As Jamie Rasmussen commented from the pulpit, how on earth do we draw lessons from this bloody scene? Jamie's answer was power. How do we understand power and how do we handle it when we have it?
Please read on...
Understanding Power
#1 - Power is attained whenever you have control over people and/or things. (Esther 9:1)
Governmental leaders have power of their nations. States have the power to levy taxes. Bosses have the power to hire or fire you. Parents have power over their children. We live in a world where we can see the effects of power everywhere.
The history of the world has been shaped by the quest for power, by men and governments, in one way or another.
If you listen to the nightly news you must agree that most of what is reported has to do with the power of one person being exercised over another.
- Someone has just been murdered - power of one over another.
- Someone was sent to "tent city" for drunk driving - power of government and one over another.
- A husband has beat his wife - power of one over another.
- A car bomb has killed more American's in Iraq - power of one over another
- A dictator in North Korea has kept his nation under his thumb and in the dark - power of one over another.
- A little girl bakes cookies and sends them to soldiers in Iraq (don't miss this) - power of one over another.
- Each day we see people from Mexico gathered up and returned to their country - power of one over another.
- We see that gasoline may be soon $4/gallon - power of one over another.
We live in a power hungry world that is driven by the need to attain power.
#2 - God has made this world so that every human being has some power. (Esther 9:1--4)
One of the truths that we need to learn as a nation and God's children is that no one is without power.
There are no victims in life.
This is very difficult to wrap your mind around but that is one of the lessons in this story. The whole Hebrew nation was about to be annihilated. Through the courage and faithfulness of one woman, exercising what power she had at her disposal, the whole outcome was changed!
Consider Martin Luther King. Our nation had an evil repression on those who happened to have been born with black skin for many years. The slavery mentality had deeply permeated our culture for centuries and even after the civil war we lived with crippling bigotry. This problem is certainly not resolved, however, the courage and faithfulness of Martin Luther King to use his power to affect change is certainly an example of the oppressed using their power to make significant changes in the world.
Handling Power
#1 - The more power you have the harder it is to control. (Esther 9:5-6)
It is incredibly easy to see examples of this all around us. Think Enron. Think New York Governor Spitzer using his wealth to buy $4,000 prostitutes. Think of the power of abortion on the unborn. Think of Paris Hilton not able to control her power (incredible wealth). Think of Britney Spears and her inability to control her power (fame and fortune). Think of a dictator like Saddam Hussein using poisonous gas on a weaker people.
Jamie Rasmussen spoke of Lord Acton from the 19th century. Lord Acton was a Roman Catholic and historian. In 1870, a great crisis in the church occurred when Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of papal infallibility. This declaration, by the Pope, gave himself the power to make edicts upon the church and preserved himself from even the possibility of error. In other words, he proclaimed himself the direct pipeline to God and he (the pope) could do no wrong.
Lord Acton, seeing many infallible actions from the human beings in the church, declared his now famous comment on the abuse of power:
"I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
As you can see, power is a wild beast and very difficult to control.
#2 - God's truth and grace are the keys to handling power wisely and rightly. (Esther 9:6-16)
As I meditate on this second point, it seems to me perhaps one of the greatest powers we have is the power of choice. In the garden of Eden, God told us not to eat of the forbidden tree. With our free choice we ate. We have been in a power struggle with God, ourselves and each other ever since.
As I see it, we must be willing to submit our "power" to the living God and subordinate our wills to His power. In so doing, we plug ourselves into a much greater power and one that can help us all use our power in a positive and meaningful way, rather than a power of corruption.
We can see in our story that Mordecai was in fact plugged into a higher power and used his newly acquired power wisely. He did this by:
- Assuming a defensive position - Mordecai only attacked those who were known conspirators against the Hebrew nation. His power was focused and isolated to them and not against innocents.
- Attacked men only - the Bible tells us that Mordecai did not harm the women and children of these mens. This restraint must have looked peculiar in contrast to king's plundering over the years.
- Mordecai did not take any plunder - it certainly isn't uncommon for the victory to take the spoils of war. This is especially striking when you remember that the Hebrew nation was in a foreign land and had no land of their own. Yet, with great restraint, Mordecai surgically removed the threat of annihilation and left everything else intact.
This lesson on power was very enlightening and one that I will contemplate for years to come.
Here is the link to Jamie Rasmussen's sermon. Take 35 minutes and give it a listen.
