Noah vs. The Holy Virgin Mary in a Fistfight

Watch out for Satan. I think he cheats.
Also, try to unlock the secret character. I haven't gotten that far. Hint: It's not Jesus.

she wasn't that innocent

We just started a new sermon series at church this week. For as long as we've been attending, the pastor has been preaching on Mark, but he finished up on Easter and just started in on Esther this past Sunday.

This was the first time I've ever heard a pastor preach on Esther.* The last time I read Esther I was probably in elementary or middle school and I don't remember the lessons I got from the story at that time. Probably just that Esther was pretty and brave, everything worked out perfectly, and that the bad guy got what he deserved. Maybe I even wanted to be like Esther - pretty, a crowned queen, and brave. But there's so much more.

// The Book of Esther has no mention of God or any religious reference. He's noticeably absent from the story - and at points, it looks like the author goes out of his way to avoid religious reference or mention of God. Yet at the same time, there are many ordinary incidents that had to happen for the story to turn out the way it did so that the Jews would be saved and that God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 would be fulfilled. For example, in chapter 1 Xerxes got drunk. If he hadn't gotten drunk, he wouldn't have asked his queen Vashti to come and parade herself in front of his friends and associates. If Vashti hadn't refused to come out, then Esther never would've had the opportunity to be queen. If Esther wasn't beautiful, she never would've been chosen to be part of Xerxes' harem.

// In Persian Culture, men were valued for their wealth and power, while women were valued for their physical beauty. Our pastor noted that conservatives, liberals, Jews, Christians, secular and religious readers all think that Esther was a sellout based on her actions in the first two chapters. She was completely compliant and did everything the men (her cousin, the man in charge of the harem, and the King) wanted her to do. Vashti, the previous queen, had refused to come and parade herself before a horde of drunken men and was stripped of her crown as a result. But Esther hid the fact that she was a Jew and broke dietary restrictions and slept with a man she wasn't married to. Esther was guilty.

While it's easy to point at Esther and look at how she did all these things that were morally wrong, at the same time, you can't help but see that she was a woman in a male dominated society - what could she have done? If she wasn't completely obedient and compliant, she wouldn't have found so much approval with the King and the man in charge of the harem, and she could have been doomed to the life of a unfavored concubine which was essentially the same as permanent widowhood with no freedom.

She was constrained by that culture and her world, the same way that we're influenced by modern society - to be successful, wealthy, powerful, and beautiful. The example the pastor gave was the way that everyone chooses a mate. We first discount potential boyfriends or girlfriends by looks, and then we go from there and hope for character. Esther was loved by Xerxes because she was beautiful. The world values us and approves of us only if we fit the criteria of success and beauty that it has set out. But God just loves us - not because of anything, and he gave up everything so that we could know Him and live in His love.

// Even though Esther violated all of God's laws and commands at the beginning of the book, as the book continues, we find that God works with her and grows her and turns her into something great. So there's a message of hope and grace in this - that God continually works and gives his grace and doesn't give up on us, no matter how much we've screwed up.

So what can we take from all of this?
+ God's silence is not absence.
+ God's hiddenness is not abandonment.
+ God's love for us is not predicated by our achievements or our worth as the world sees it.
+ God doesn't give up on us no matter how much we've messed up or how screwed up we are.

I can't say that this sermon really hit me in any specific way, but the reminder of God's omnipotence, mysteriousness, and love and the overall message of hope is just what I needed. It's really easy for me to miss God's hand in my life and to wonder whether I've made wrong decisions, but I was encouraged by the reminder that He has a plan, even if I can't understand or see it. It's also easy for me to get caught up in the world's value system, especially considering where I work, and it was a good reminder for me to step back and bask in the assurance of God's love and my identity in him rather than anything else.

* He only preached up through Esther 2 this week, so there may be more to come...

Soul-searching

If life begins at conception (i.e., ensoulment occurs at conception), when does said event occur for twins?