Beauty and Brains

Bible Text: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22 and Mark 9:42-50 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes

I am not one to enjoy or watch or really pay attention to beauty pageants. In part this is because I make certain assumptions about the contestants, judges and culture around such events. So when I heard about the Canadian representative to the Miss Universe competition in 2018 I was pleasantly surprised and reminded that I shouldn’t make assumptions. Marta Stepien was raised in Windsor, Ontario but was born in Warsaw, Poland. What fascinated me about her is that she is in her final year of biomedical engineering, and is currently working on a program at Harvard Medical School in genetics and immunology in her spare time. She actually claims that her pageant experience is what taught her to overcome barriers and focus on education. In reading Marta’s story I realized some of my prejudices, and I will be rooting (although probably still not watching) for her at the Miss Universe competition in December. There has always been this unfortunate juxtaposition between beauty and brains and the very unrealistic stereotype that one is either one or the other but never both. You would think that by now I would have learned that people, especially women, can have it all.

The book of Esther always reminds me that pageantry is not a new construct.  And while our lectionary reading only focuses on the last portion of the story, I want to spend time unpacking the whole book. It really is an incredible story that includes violence and humour, humility and bravery, beauty and brains, and it essentially all begins because of a beauty pageant. Well, if I am honest with you, it begins when Queen Vashti refused to be objectified by the King following his 7 days of binge drinking with his army buddies, but Esther’s story begins when she wins the king’s favour after 6 months of strict beauty routines ordered by the King. You see it really is a really fascinating book. And as I mentioned in the introduction it is unique to Scripture because it never once mentions God. Neither does it mention anything about prayer or worship. Yet the main focus of this book is how one can be faithful in their identity and practice and (most importantly) belief when they are thrown into a foreign environment.

The book takes place in 5th century BCE Persia. The Israelites are living in Persia in exile. They have been living in exile for a generation now, which means that they are struggling to maintain their identity and practice. Most were attempting to cut themselves off from mainstream society, creating cloisters of religious practitioners so that they were not affected by the Persian culture and religion. Yet, the Book of Esther gives a different response. Instead of cutting oneself off of mainstream culture she becomes an active participant in it. But let’s return to unpacking this story for a moment.

Esther is now queen- but it is important to note that she has not told her king and now husband of her genealogy. She likely would not have even been able to compete for his affection had they known that she was an Israelite.  At the same time the King promotes Haman to the highest-ranking official in the government following an assassination attempt on the king. Due to his status in the Kingdom, when Haman passes by, everyone is expected to bow or kneel before him, but Mordecai, Esther’s uncle and adoptive father, refuses. Now because Mordecai wants to keep an eye on Esther he has stationed himself at the King’s Gates, which means that pretty much every day Haman notices that Mordecai is disobeying the law. Haman loses patience and when he confronts Mordecai, Mordecai explains he will not bow because he is a Jew. Haman’s pride and arrogance is hurt and so Haman explains to the King that the Jews should be destroyed because they are disregarding the king’s law. The King, influenced by Haman’s willingness to pay for these killings himself, agrees. While this does not sound like a story with much humour in it, there certainly are verses that cause us to think “Who wrote this”? For example, after the decree goes out readying the people for this massacre, the following verse states, “The King and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.” These two guys are sitting back and having a drink while the city reels from this news and the author felt that this was an important detail to include.  Haman decides to build a special gallows specifically for Mordecai. Haman’s wife convinces him to build a gallows 50 cubits high, that’s nearly 23 meters or 75 feet.  And we all know how well that goes for Haman thanks to this morning’s readings. You see the story of Esther is almost a farce, at the very least a commentary on how ridiculous some people in power can be. Haman is so mad at one man’s behaviour that he influences the king to kill an entire people! Haman is so bothered by Mordecai’s independence that he builds a special gallows.   It is as ridiculous as building- say, a wall, in an attempt to keep one culture out when all a wall does is imprison both parties.

The humour and farcical nature of this story are even part of the annual festival that commemorates the story of Esther. At the festival of Purim people are encouraged to dress up, put on plays, and generally party it up for a few days. When the scriptures are read and the name Haman comes up the people drown it out by booing and when the name Esther or Mordecai is read they cheer. There is even a passage in the Talmud (the book that essentially decodes Jewish

Law and is as valuable to the Jewish people as the Torah) that says, “Celebrants at Purim should drink until they are unable to differentiate between the phrases ‘bless Mordecai” and “curse Haman.”” But all of this humour also leads to some very serious outcomes.

One of the most beautiful passages in the Hebrew Bible comes from Mordecai. Mordecai sends a message to Esther to stop this massacre and Esther responds that she cannot approach the king unless summoned. Mordecai then replies, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews….Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” God may not be explicitly mentioned in the book but Mordecai implies that it is God who has placed Esther in this role at just the right time.

So, how do we use the book of Esther in our modern lives? First, it is still a revelation to me that neither God nor worship are actually mentioned in the book. However, God’s presence is riddled throughout the text. Throughout Scripture we are so used to God acting in burning bushes, clouds of smoke, and of course through Christ, that we forget that most of the time God does not speak or act in that way. Most of the time God is, well, not explicit, rather God is subtly present. I recently heard an old saying adapted by Jon Levenson, a Hebrew Bible scholar. He said, “a coincidence is a miracle in which God prefers to remain anonymous.” That is not to say that God is absent but rather the purpose of God’s anonymity is to allow the presence to be felt is ways more familiar to us than burning bushes. God may not be mentioned in the book of Esther, but through the humour and violence, through the humility and bravery, through the beauty and brains, God is there! Imagine all of us being placed in our moment in history for such a time as this.

Esther’s story also reminds me that we are all facing challenges as a church in which we are not mainstream culture. This is essentially the argument behind the Missional church. We are no longer living in a Christendom state but rather in a time in which the church is counter-cultural. At this juncture, thankfully our lives are not being threatened, but we do have to defend our faith in a multitude of ways. We could choose to cloister ourselves and become more and more insular in our behaviour, seeking a model of church in which we only look after ourselves, or we can be like Esther and be out in the world, recognizing what is good about it and using it to our advantage- using it as a way to be missional, to show others by the very nature of who we are, that God is present. And right now people make a lot of assumptions about us, much like I have made assumptions about beauty pageant contestants. Thanks to the loud voices of a few, people think that Christians are ignorant, narrow minded, unscientific, intolerant… and the list goes on…when we know that in our heart of hearts that, that is not who we are. How do we change those assumptions? We certainly don’t do it by being silent or secluded.

Perhaps this is why Jesus’ words are so drastic. He has spent much of his recent conversations with his disciples trying to get them to turn their thoughts from human thoughts to God’s thoughts. And there are enough stumbling blocks when it comes to faith that we don’t need to add to that list. Jesus’ invitation to discipleship in the passage is about getting out there because we have been chosen to be here for such a time as this.      Amen