When a Bad Tale Turns Good

We are looking at the book of Esther. We've been in Esther for the past over two months. We are quickly getting to the end of the book. I think we've got another two sermons on it as we wrap up. But today, we come to, I think, the great turning point of the story.

And so I'm really excited to be looking at that with you. Before we start with that, however, it's been a fascinating observation over the past, probably decade, to track the type of movies and novels that have gained critical praise by the so-called critics. In the West, we have more and more started celebrating in those plot lines and characters of the great movies and novels what I called anti-heroes. Anti-hero characters. Individuals who are, on the one hand, deeply flawed, but ultimately end up, on average, on balance, on the good side of morality.

These are the type of heroes like Wolverine from the X-Men or Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul or Severus Snape from Harry Potter or Han Solo from Star Wars. All anti-hero characters, flawed, but generally on the good side of morality. We've also become fixated on story lines that end tragically. Who remembers the heartbreak of seeing Leo DiCaprio's character die in Titanic? Sorry if that spoiled anyone still waiting to watch that one.

Or what about Hilary Swank's character in Million Dollar Baby? Tragic. Or the war movie Life is Beautiful. These are movies that won critical acclaim for leaving us all weeping and awkwardly wiping tears away as we walked out of the cinema. Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian, famously a fan of the Superman comics where the good guy always wins, jokes about hating this trend, this modern trend.

He says, who wants to see their heroes die? Who wants to see a story finished tragically? Bring back the good old days where the good guys always won. Well, in today's story, in the book of Esther, that's exactly what we see happening. The good guys win.

And despite our current cultural affinity for appreciating tragic endings, perhaps this morning we relearn how to appreciate the simple pleasure of a sad story being overturned. Let's read together from Esther chapter eight. Esther eight, verse one. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.

And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. When the king held out the golden sceptre to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king.

And she said, if it pleased the king and if I have found favour in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred? Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king and seal it with the king's ring.

For an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked. The king's scribes were summoned at that time in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews, who were in every city, to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods.

On one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king's command and the decree was issued in Susa, the citadel. Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honour. And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them. This is God's word. Well, chapter eight is split into two main movements and we'll work this morning according to those two main sort of scenes.

The first one is Esther's fourth and final appeal to the king, his request to spare the Jews' lives. And then the second scene is the edict being written by Mordecai and being distributed to the provinces of the Persian empire. Let's have a look at that first scene, Esther's request. Two weeks ago, we saw the demise of Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, who the book of Esther describes as the enemy of the Jews.

Today, in chapter eight, we still find ourselves on that same tumultuous day where Esther sprung her meticulous trap. At the end of chapter seven, Haman is led away with a bag over his head and he is impaled on the very stake that he had built to execute his enemy Mordecai on. The king's anger at the end of chapter seven is abated, we are told. This is how wiley Esther is, however, because on that same day, Esther returns to the king to make her final request. In fact, if you were to go and count all the times that Esther made a request, it would be around the region of four or five times.

When at the start of the process, she said, I have only one request. Here we come to the fourth request. She's been playing cat and mouse with the king's intrigue and she has in fact made several requests. The first one obviously was for the king to come to a dinner. My request is that the king come and dine with me, with Haman.

At that dinner, she makes a second request for another meal. Then finally, the request is to save her life and to save the life of the Jews. A wordplay intended when the king says, what is your request? What is your wish? He says, my request is to be saved and my wish is for the Jews to be saved.

Now, you could probably argue this is the fifth request that she makes. She tells the king that the issue for the Jews is still far from resolved. Haman is dead. The Jews are still in peril. Now, the dramatic chaos of that day, this is still the same day where Haman has been taken, he's been killed.

Esther turns up the theatrics just a tad more and then really pulls at the king's heartstrings. Verse three tells us that she throws herself at the feet of the king with tears, weeping for her people, pleading with the king to overturn the plot of Haman to destroy the Jews. Now again, you see just how masterful she is in her understanding of the king. Previously, she approached the king politely, humbly, with royal dignity. Now she is desperate, emotional, she's urgent, and she throws herself at the king.

She knows that she has the king's heart now and she knows that this is her strongest leverage. With this sudden, urgent, emotional outburst, the king seemingly has to scurry to find his sceptre because remember, she has been uninvited for this fourth or fifth request. So it's almost funny how she throws herself at him, makes an appeal, and then he sort of has to reach for his sceptre and say, okay, you may speak to me. To maintain a semblance of decorum, he awkwardly and rather insubstantially points his sceptre at the woman clutching his feet. So Esther may now speak.

And she begins by prefacing her request with a long preamble containing four clauses in verse five. Firstly, if it pleased the king and if I have found favour in his sight and if the thing seems right before the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes. Ian Dugald points out that two of these four clauses deal with whether the matter of saving the Jews is acceptable to the king. But the other two clauses deal with whether Esther herself is acceptable to the king. Again, Esther knows her audience.

The two issues are inseparably linked. The only reason the king would grant Esther's request for saving the Jews is because he loves her. The truth is the king couldn't care less about the Jews. And notice that Esther never makes a reference in any of her preambles or requests about what is right and wrong, just or unjust. Why?

Because she knows the king's will is above justice or injustice. He is a tyrant. He answers to no one. And so all Esther can do is to appeal to the king's self-interest. This is his queen.

And so she makes an impassioned plea for him to consider his queen's pain at seeing the destruction of her people. Twice, she says, how can I bear this burden? How can I bear this pain? She asks him in her appeal. In response to this, the king is exasperated and he speaks to both Esther and Mordecai who was standing there and he weakly and unsatisfyingly responds with this.

Says, behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. The king is, in effect, saying, look, I've given you all the money that Haman had. I've killed your enemy for you. What more do you want? The king feels trapped between his ego, however, and his queen.

He hates the idea that his foolish dereliction of duty was now going to be made public if he was to somehow change what is happening to the Jews. But he feels an obligation towards Esther and so what does he do? Well, he stays true to character, true to his weak character. In his commentary, David Klein points out that the Hebrew sentence structure, when he responds, puts an emphasis on the pronoun when he says to Esther and Mordecai, you go and write what you please regarding the Jews. What that indicates is once again, a refusal to accept the responsibility that he had, that he had abdicated when he gave Haman foolishly his signet ring and say, you know, whatever this plan of yours is that will get me ten thousand talents of silver, go and do whatever you want.

And he does exactly the same again. You go and write whatever you want. Clynes imagines a hyperventilating king melodramatically saying something like this, write what you like for I give up. The conundrum of how to revoke an irrevocable decree as you, Esther, have asked is beyond me. But feel free to write what you like if you can think of a way to reverse the irreversible.

He abdicates responsibility once again. But now at least, Esther and Mordecai have the king's signet ring. And it means they have power and therefore, they have hope. Finally, with Esther's fourth or fifth final request, she now ultimately and finally gets the response that she wanted. It's come at the end of a lot of praying, three days of fasting, remember, before she went to the king.

Lots of thinking, lots of coaxing, but this final act of pleading with the king finally causes her to get her request. And this reminds us of the nature of a consistent prayer life. In fact, the example of Esther and King Ahasuerus is not too dissimilar to a parable that Jesus told on the nature of prayer. In Luke 18, we are told the parable of the persistent widow. Maybe one of the lesser known parables of Jesus, but let's have a look at that.

We're told the meaning of that parable in the first sentence here, and Jesus told them, his disciples, a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, in a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, give me justice against my adversary. For a while, he refused. But afterward, he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.

And the Lord said, hear what the unrighteous judge says, and will not God give justice to His elect who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. If the annoying pleadings of a lowly, weak widow was able to persuade the heart of a wicked and selfish judge, if Esther's persistent pleadings with a wicked tyrant, if these women obtained their desired results, Jesus' point to us is this, how much more will a good and a gracious God be willing to listen to the persistent prayers of His people? Is there someone, friend?

As we already began this morning in Galatians 6, is there someone whose burden you have to carry to God and who you've stopped praying for? Is there a situation that you have given up on? Is there a fire in your belly that has been quenched? Well, here is God's reminder to keep praying. Keep praying for that one person to be converted.

Keep praying for that heart to be changed. Keep praying for that victory over sin. Keep asking God to grant you justice amidst the injustice that you might be facing. Keep praying against all hope. Why?

Because your hope rests in God, not in that situation. And if God is good, and if He is gracious, then He is a King with the power to unlock the greatest gifts on heaven or earth. And you and I would be silly, foolish, not to go to Him again and again and again. To ask, to seek, and to knock. Jesus tells us clearly right here in Luke 18 that we always ought to pray and not lose heart.

And so what do we do? We pray and we don't lose heart. If a wicked self-interested king could be persuaded to put his ego on the line and give Esther and Mordecai what they wanted, how much more will our kind and gracious loving Father give us what we need? So firstly, we keep praying and we don't give up. Secondly, in the great breathtaking reversal of fortunes, we see a portrait of Christian joy.

In this sort of second movement, especially verses 9 to 14, we see Mordecai summoning the scribes of the empire together, and an edict, a new edict is written. It is sent to all the satraps, all the governors, all the officials in the provinces spanning from India all the way to Ethiopia, 127 provinces. We are told that this message is dispatched by the swiftest horses, the fastest horses bred in the king's barn, in his stud. This new edict states that the Jews will be able to defend themselves against any aggressors who might attack them on that one particular day, the thirteenth of Adar. Notice that the new edict says that it is now the Jews who might destroy, kill, and annihilate their enemies.

They are to destroy their enemies and their families even, and then plunder their goods. On only one particular day, the same day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. Now, if you read that carefully and if you have a good memory, you'll pick up on some of the language that is identical in this new edict compared to the edict of Haman. The one from chapter three, you'll see, is addressed to exactly the same audience, the provincial government officials. Secondly, this new edict copies exactly the same language by saying that the Jews may kill, destroy, and annihilate their enemies, the same words used of the Jews.

Likewise, the appointment of the thirteenth day of Adar, the plundering, and so on, is exactly the same language. And so what the author of the book of Esther is careful to show us is that in Mordecai's new edict, we have a blow by blow undoing of the original decree, even though they can't revoke that original decree. Here is a counter-edict, so to speak. What it means is we start seeing the reversal, a complete and total reversal of the situation for the Jewish people. And we see this reversal poignantly in then the final verses of this chapter, verses 15 to 17, where we are given a number of details that begin to resolve the story of Esther in exactly the opposite way that the book of Esther started.

Remember when the edict of Haman went out in chapter three, verse 15 of chapter three tells us that there was confusion in the city of Susa. Now, there is rejoicing in the city. With the original edict, the Jews responded with mourning and fasting, weeping and wailing. Now, the Jews experience four things as well, light, gladness, joy and honour, verse 16. Where there was fasting in chapter four, there is now feasting in verse 17.

Where once you would have recoiled in horror at being identified as a Jew, the chapter ends with a sentence, many from the peoples of the country declared themselves to be Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them. And where Mordecai had once torn his clothes, walked around the city in sackcloth and ash, now he leaves the king's presence in royal robes and a crown. It is the exact reversal of the story. So not only in the previous chapter do we see that ironic reversal of fortunes for the enemy of God's people, Haman, being hung on the gallows that he himself had built for his enemy Mordecai, but now we start seeing the reversal of fortunes bringing glory to God's people as well. On 11 July 1944, the author of The Lord of the Rings, J. R. Tolkien, penned a letter to his son Christopher in which he talked about what makes fairy tales truly great.

He summarised it with a word that he had made up called eucatastrophe. Spelled like this, eucatastrophe, which is a mash up of two Greek words which literally means a good catastrophe, or more clearly, a good turn of events. He said a eucatastrophe described that sudden happy turn in a story which pierces your heart with tears of joy. He likened that relief to the snapping back of a limb that had been put out of joint. A relief.

And some of you might know that Tolkien and his friend C. S. Lewis were literature experts and their worlds revolved around understanding fairy tales. But they were both Christians as well. And reflecting on this particular aspect of fairy tales, the nature of these happy endings, every fairy tale ends with, they all lived happily ever after. Tolkien wrote that this characteristic relief of our hearts' desire to see a eucatastrophe in a story. He wrote, our hearts perceive that this is indeed how things really do work in the great world, which was Tolkien's way of speaking about the spiritual realm or the kingdom of God.

This great world for which our nature is made. And I concluded talking rights that the Resurrection was the greatest eucatastrophe possible in the greatest fairy story and produced that essential emotion, Christian joy. In the story of Esther, we see a dramatic turn of events working for the good of God's people. And what makes the story of Esther so compelling, so good to work through is that it hinges on a eucatastrophe. So much so that we see people celebrating and feasting at the end of the story.

It was a fairy tale if it wasn't true. But as wonderful as the celebration, no doubt was, it was a celebration here in chapter eight. Nonetheless, it is a celebration of a victory that hasn't been won yet. They're still waiting, I think, something like six, seven, eight months until that thirteenth day of Adar. Remember, the edict secured their salvation, but it had only been announced, not yet executed.

And yet, right now, there is joy in feasting. At the end of Tolkien's greatest work, The Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee, one of the central characters in the book, wakes up to find his friends who he thought were dead, all alive and standing around him as he lies in his bed. Looking at the great wizard Gandalf, he said, I thought you were dead but then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world?

A great shadow has departed, said Gandalf. And then he laughed and the sound was like music or like water in a parched land. Friends, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the great rescue story that the Bible tells us where everything sad will come untrue. A great eucatastrophe, you can call it, greater than the Esther story has happened. Death is being wound back.

Sin and hell, which looked like they had won decisively, have in fact been undone by the death and the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And where the Jews were already beginning to celebrate their victory months in advance, now they knew that this terrifying day, the thirteenth of Adar, was their day of victory. This future joy they experienced in the present and that is the exact same dynamic of the Christian life. The great and terrifying day of the Lord, judgement day, is not a terrifying thing for us. It is the day where eternal life is brought to us fully and completely.

It is the day where eternal life is brought to us fully and completely. And friends, that great victory is so assured for us right now that it gives us incredible hope for how we perceive our life. Romans 8:30 says that those whom God has predestined, He called. And those He has called, He has justified. And those He has justified, He has glorified.

And if you look at those words, you notice the tense, all past tense, done in their action, completed. He has already glorified you. Glory is certain for every child of God even now. One day, all of creation is going to be swept up in the glorious liberation of the children of God from sin and death, from sorrow and suffering. All that is sad will be undone.

So let me ask you, where is your joy right now? Is the Gospel message your source of never-ending joy? Are you still trying to find joy somewhere else in this life? Gently, I want to tell you, you won't find it anywhere but here. Our hope rests with God who has to reverse everything about this existence.

Everything sad is coming untrue. And so does that reality change your perception of your life right now? Well, friends, even if you can't feel that joy in your heart today, for some reason, let me encourage you that you have a good and a gracious King that you can go to again and again to ask for that joy. At whose feet you can fall desperately and urgently, emotionally, with tears even. Or a King you can go politely and humbly to see as well. He is a King nevertheless who is always ready to point to you and say, welcome, beloved.

What is your request? Don't forsake that great opportunity. Don't neglect that precious gift of prayer. You have access to the throne room of heaven in your prayer life. So don't give up on those urgent requests.

And this morning, if you don't feel that Christian joy, keep praying for the reality of the Resurrection to become your singular hope. And if you are in a state of mourning this morning, of children who have walked away from God, of family members who don't know Him, keep praying for them. If you are experiencing any difficult times, keep asking God for a good turn to that situation. But then please, finally, keep at the forefront of your mind the great hope that you and you alone as a Christian can have, which is sealed for you in the blood of Jesus Christ, that today, you begin to celebrate the victory of what God has already done in Jesus Christ. You have already been glorified.

It is as good as done. Therefore, even the anxiety and the pain of the hardest of situations can be eased by the knowledge that because you have Christ, every sadness you know will be turned to joy. Every bitterness will become peace. The good guys have won. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for the incredible story of Esther and the hope to which it points to ultimately in Jesus Christ. Lord, for the many planes of influence, the many plot lines and twists and turns in that story, the saving of the Jewish people so that the Messiah may come. And because the Messiah may come, the world and the rest of us may also be saved. Lord, we marvel at the intricacies, the complexity of Your good, gracious, all-knowing will. We pray, Lord, that we may draw strength from that.

That even in the stories of our own lives, You can turn the most perilous-looking situations to works of glory and power. We pray, Lord, for those who are on our hearts this morning, those whose burdens we are entrusted to carry. And we pray, Lord, that You will hear our prayers, that You will see the burden of our hearts. And some of us, Lord, may come emotionally and urgently and desperately falling at Your feet to bring them to you. Please see these people.

Please avert destruction for them. And God, we ask that through Your mighty working, we will see Your gracious hand even in our day, even in our lives. But Lord, also the great and the awesome knowledge that we have personally already been saved. Help us to walk in that peace. Help us to walk in that hope.

Lord, that we don't need to be angry or bitter about anything. We don't need to be hopeless about anything. We don't need to feel hurt or personally offended about anything because, Lord, we have won. It is all ours. The house of Haman has been plundered.

And we look forward to that great day, as Revelation says, where we will walk in white robes with crowns of gold on our head. Victors because of Jesus Christ. Thank you for that great hope. May it influence our everyday by the power of the Holy Spirit, we ask. Amen.