Monday, October 1, 2018

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2018

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Esther
Theme: God of Providence

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

God is not remote. His ways are largely hidden to our natural senses. But He is not absent from any aspect of our lives. He not only provides for the daily needs of the body, He also secures our eternal future. Often, we attribute the causes behind events to planning, or chance or accident. But really, God is at work providentially. Today’s Scripture from Esther offers a fine example to consider. Esther had an exceptional vocation. She was an orphan Israelite girl, who by the providence of God, became the queen of the Medes and Persians.

What does the providential work of God look like? Is it visible to our eyes? We still use and hear the phrase “God willing.” Is that an expression of our deeply held convictions or more of an expression of wishful thinking? Do we believe God is always at work whether He is acknowledged or not? God’s providential work is as tangible as the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the clothes we wear.

The providence of God is His active foresight, supervision, and governance of the activities of life that result in certain outcomes. The notion applies cosmically and locally. The sun does not continue to shine apart from the providence of God nor does rain fall on the local crops. The same truth pertains to human affairs. Nations and leaders do not prosper without the countenance or concession of God, nor do individuals.

Providence relates to God’s sovereignty. An unbalanced view of God’s providence can easily lead to the false teachings of fatalism and determinism. If God makes all the decisions, aren’t we just puppets, pawns in a cosmic chess match? Fatalism can be the cause of despair or lawlessness. If God has pre-determined everything, what meaning can my life have? Why not pursue my own selfish agenda and blame any failure on God? Sinful humans are always happy to blame someone else for their transgressions. The call to repentance is not made obsolete by God’s providence.

Let’s consider now the case of Esther. It’s clear that her attractiveness made her the target of a world ruler. The Bible says, “Esther was lovely in form and features.”1 and that “the king was attracted to Esther more than any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval.”2 We have no evidence that Esther chose to be the queen of King Xerxes. But she did not make herself offensive to him. The account says, “Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.”3 God worked through the situation for the benefit of His people. Esther carefully followed the wisdom and advice of her cousin Mordecai. Mordecai had raised her in the absence of her parents.

The crux of the story comes when it is revealed that one of the nobles named Haman planned to destroy the Jews, and Mordecai their leader. Haman was jealous of Mordecai and the honour he had been receiving from the king. King Xerxes did not know in the beginning that Esther was Jewish. Esther’s intervention allowed the Jews to be spared and Haman to be executed. A number of plot-twists and not a little intrigue preceded the final resolution of the matter. So, who was finally most instrumental in the outcome? Was it Esther’s decisiveness or God’s providence? Was it both?

What is the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the freedom of the human will? Are we only pawns and puppets fated to the decisions of the Almighty? Do our decisions only appear as such? The Lutheran Confessions help us make an important distinction, “In secular and external matters affecting the nurture and needs of the body, man is indeed very clever, intelligent and busy. In spiritual and divine things, however, which concern the salvation of his soul, man is like a pillar of salt, like Lot’s wife, yes, like a log or a stone…”4

So, humans make all sorts of choices and decisions each day that may benefit or endanger their well-being. The rational mind is decisive in these matters. (That doesn’t mean, however, that decisions are necessarily well-considered. Often, they are driven by feeling or emotion.) Regarding spiritual things, however, the Bible teaches that humans are incapable of apprehending divine truth apart from the Holy Spirit. That means, left to our own rational thinking, we would never come to a correct understanding of God. The unenlightened intellect is powerless to know God properly or trust in Him.

But God doesn’t abandon us in our incompetence. He comes to us. He not only makes Himself known providentially, He makes Himself known salvifically. He reveals Himself as the God who came to save through the person of His Son. The gospel is not an extrapolation of the general goodness of God. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has by His own death and resurrection redeemed sinners from sin, death, and the power of the devil. It is underpinned by the specific historical realities of His suffering under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate and His physical resurrection from the grave seen by many eye-witnesses.

Dear friends, it would have been easy for Esther to adopt the culture and values of the Medes and Persians. She landed in the lap of luxury. She was given a privileged status. Yet, Esther remained firm in her integrity. Her people were in grave danger. They were at the mercy of superior powers. It would have seemed an impossibility that events could have turned out as they did. Her part in their rescue proved pivotal. She was uniquely positioned to influence the king and God used that to serve the well-being of His people.

Each of us is uniquely positioned to serve the well-being of others also. The circumstances may not be as regal, or the situations as dramatic, but to the person served the outcome is just as important. God works providentially in our lives and also through our lives to support others. Our faith is active in love. The convictions we hold and the decisions we make not only affect ourselves and those closest to us, but also all with whom we have any meaningful interaction.

God is not a concept. For God to be a providential God He must be a living God. He is not subject to the forces of the universe. The Scripture says Christ is constantly, “sustaining all things by His powerful word,”5 and that “all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”6 It says, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.”7It was no accident that God sent His only-begotten Son. It was no mistake that He was delivered over to be crucified. It was not by chance that He appeared alive on the third day. St. Peter says, “This Man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death.”8

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead never to die again. That truth is not luck or probability. It was no coincidence that Esther become the queen of Persia and dined at the royal table. It’s no coincidence either that you are baptized into the name of Christ and eat at the table of the King of kings. He’s not simply working behind the scenes. He’s at the centre of all things. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost
30 September 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Esther 2:7 2 Esther 2:17
3 Esther 2:15 4 SD, II
5 Hebrews 1:3 6 Colossians 1:16-17
7 John 1:4 8 Acts 2:23-24