This chapter shows us the difference between someone who serves God (even though God is not mentioned), and someone who serves himself. Esther exemplifies the person who serves God at all costs. If you remember from reading chapter four, Esther explained that no one was to approach the king without being summoned. If anyone were foolish enough to do this the law required they be put to death. They could be saved, however, if the king extended his gold scepter and spared their life. In addition, it had been over a month since Esther had been summoned by the king. After three days of fasting, Esther got ready. Imagine what was going through her mind at the time: she might die today. As she made her way to the palace she was still safe, but there was, no doubt, a sense of foreboding hanging over her. Then the critical moment arrived when she crossed the line between safety and peril, between life and death. She stood in the inner court and her foreboding became reality: she had been sentenced to death merely by her presence in this room.
The Bible doesn't say how long she waited-and wondered, but when the king saw her he was pleased and extended the scepter to her. "What is your request?" he asks. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet Esther asks the king and Haman to come to yet another banquet on the following day. We don't know why she did it this way, but the main point is she put her life on the line.
That brings up the issue of what would motivate a person to jeopardize their own existence? We know Esther's story, what's yours? What are you willing to die for? This is a critical question because it reveals what's important to you. Even more, if there is nothing you are willing to die for, then what is your life? Is there no larger purpose, nothing more important to you than you?
There is another kind of dying. If you are a follower of Jesus, consider this: Jesus said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." The cross, of course, was an instrument of death. We are to take it up every day. You can't physically die every day, but you can die to yourself. That's what Jesus means here by "deny himself". That's exactly what Esther had to overcome. She had to deny her comfort and security. She had to put aside what was important to her-even her own life-and serve God. She had to violate the laws of the king so she could serve the King of Kings.
This brings us to Haman. Haman served himself, but in doing so he became a slave. Note first of all, he was a slave to other people's actions. He was happy that he'd been invited to Queen Esther's banquet, but enraged that Mordecai "showed no fear in his presence." Why would Mordecai matter to Haman at all? He was just a guy. He had no power or position or influence. It's only because other people's opinions of him really mattered that Haman reacted the way he did. Mordecai had a lot more power over Haman than Haman had over him. Haman wasn't a real person. He didn't have his own light, he just caught the occasional reflection of other people's light. The gallows wasn't even his idea.
Haman was also a slave to his emotions. He's happy one moment, enraged the next. He boasts to his family about getting the big invite to the banquet and suddenly he's whining again about Mordecai. I picture Haman as a corpulent bureaucrat who had no real talent, but knew just enough to get in the king's good graces.
All of this to say that there are two ways to live: serve God or serve yourself. Esther served God, gave up her life, and became greater, stronger and more of a person than she could possibly imagine. Think of this for a moment, which would have been better for Esther: if she'd stay in her comfy harem eating the best foods with not a care in the world, or putting her life on the line for God and her people? Which would have given her more fulfillment and satisfaction? It's pretty obvious. The point is that when we lose ourselves in God we gain back so much more. By contrast look at Haman. He served himself and as a result, lost himself. He became a caricature of a human being with no real substance.
Like Esther and Haman the choice is yours.
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