Fourth Sunday in Lent
By The Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas
Visiting Professor of Theology
Harvard Divinity School
(The following is a transcript of the service audio, March 30, 2025)
What a time. What a time on this fourth Sunday of Lent and, in fact, this last Sunday of Women's History Month. I am sure that I don't have to tell any of you that we are living in overwhelming, confusing, anxious, if not dispiriting times, with executive orders, court decisions, policy directives, let alone just the everyday realities of navigating living, each day seems to bring with it a whole new set of concerns, of worries, of anxieties and even fears. In fact, it is the not knowing of what to expect in the coming year, the coming months, let alone coming days that has created for many of us a degree of uncertainty about not simply what's next but, more importantly, an uncertainty of what it means for us to be a people of faith in such a time as this.
In fact, there has been no question that I have been asked more in these times than the question of what are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do as a people of faith in such a time as this when sometimes it might seem as if God is not?
As I have thought about this question, my mind quickly went to a book of which I must confess I have not read from lately or even thought about in quite a while. So it even surprised me when that was the first thing that came to my mind and that is the Book of Esther. More particularly, it was the words of Mordecai that we heard read to us this morning, those words, "And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" So, I turn to the Book of Esther to see what it is telling us about what it means to be a people of faith. And these are times to see what it was that we could learn from the story of that woman Esther. And so it is that I turn for a moment this morning to the Book of Esther.
Now as we enter the story of Esther in this morning's readings, we find the people of Israel still in exile after being conquered by the Babylonians. While under Persian rules, some have been allowed to return to their homeland of Jerusalem, but most remain exiled away from their homeland like Esther and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her, both of whom indeed are living in Susa, the heart of the Persian Empire under the Persian king. Now, even though Jews were allowed to live and make a life in Susa, they were only tolerated there, for they were considered strangers, foreigners, not truly citizens. Thus, at the whim of the king they could be banished or removed on moment's notice. There's something oddly familiar about this story. And if that wasn't bad enough, Esther's plight was even worse for not only was she a Jew, but she was a woman in an empire with the king that had little regard for women, seeing them only as objects for his own satisfaction and gratification and thus begins the drama.
For as the story goes, as many of you know, the king calls Queen Vashti to become one of his harem to which she refuses. One of those you-go-girl moments in the Bible. But of course refusing to follow the orders of the king comes with a high price as she is banished practically into non-existence. It is here that Esther enters the story, for as the king seeks another beautiful woman to be a part of his harem, he becomes enamored by Esther. Thus, he elevates her to this privileged role in his harem, not knowing her relationship to Mordecai, who by the way had found favor in the king's sight by foiling a plot to kill him. Now, what the king also does not know is that Mordecai and Esther, two people he favors, are members of the unfavored class of people, the Jews.
Now, where we entered the story this morning is after many secrets, trickery, and scheming and following the advice of one of his trusted lieutenants, the king orders that all Jewish people in the land be executed. He orders nothing less than a genocide. It is then that Mordecai tells Esther that it is at such a time as this that Esther needs to step up, use her position with the king to plead for her people. Though she is initially reluctant, given the fact that she will put her own life at risk in doing so, she does step into the moment. And it is here that we gain our first insight in what it means for us to be a people of faith in such a time as this. For first and foremost, to be a people of faith is to be a people of brave belonging. Brave belonging. "Go gather all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do," Esther says.
Memorial Church, hear this. Each and every one of us, without exception, is a child of God's, created in God's own image. Whether you like it or not, we are a part of God's family. Put simply, we belong to God. And this makes all the difference in the world, for in a time when our world and our society is trying to shape and scare us into what it wants us to be, our ultimate accountability is to God and to God alone. And thus the ways and values of God should be that which guides the ways we move, live and have our being. Here is the thing, that we are children of God's, created in God's own image. That's a fact. That we act like it? Well, not so much. That we belong to God should be that which informs and fuels how we act or don't act in the world.
When I was growing up, my maternal grandmother would always say to my siblings and me, anytime we would leave the house, she would say, "Remember, you belong to the Brown family. So act like it."
Brave belonging, acting like we belong to God's family. It is for this reason that Mordecai asks Esther to speak to the king. And when he does that, she then tells Mordecai to have the people to fast as she also will do. It is in this moment that Esther reestablishes for herself to whom she ultimately belongs. And so it is with brave belonging that she can go to the king to fight for her people even though it may cost her privileged status in the king's court and perhaps her very existence. "And if I perish, I perish," she says.
Which brings us to the next aspect of what it means to be a people of faith at such a time as this. What does it mean? It means brave belonging. Yes. And it means also opportunity reaching. Opportunity reaching. "What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you." "If it pleases the king," replied Esther, "let the king together with Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared for him."
Church, as I say often to my students, to be a religious people is to be a people who have asked and answered a question. This question, is there more to life than this? Is there more to life than our world of unjust justice, upside down, right and wrong or world of unreliable, compassion of untethered, cruelty and hatefulness? Is there more to life than the promise of prosperity and power? As religious people, we have said yes. Yes, there is more. It is the more that is the justice, the kindness, the compassion, the love, the promises of the God to whom we belong. And so to be a people of faith at such a time as this is for us to approach each and every day as an opportunity, an opportunity to reach, to reach for that something more, that something more that is our divine belonging.
We don't have to be perfect. Perfection is not a requirement, but each day, we can be, as the kids would say, we can be more better. Each day brings with it an opportunity for us, for you and for me to reach, to reach for the more better of kindness, the more better of compassion, the more better of just decency, the more better of who we were created to be. It is in this way that Esther was opportunity reaching, for she once recognized and created the opportunity to reach for the more of who and who she was, rebuffing the offer of land and privilege in order to stop a deadly injustice from being perpetuated against her people. Esther seized the opportunity to reach for the more that was the justice of her loving God. And this brings us to another aspect of what it means to be people of faith at such a time as this, it means being life giving. "O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me life. This is my petition and spare my people. This is my request," says Esther.
Church, this is what I know to be unquestionably and absolutely true. The sacred worth of every single solitary human being is established not by constructs of social, cultural, religious, or political or even citizenship status or by one's race, gender, sexual expression, religious identity, or any other characteristic. No, the sacred worth of every single human being is established by the very breath we breathe. Every time a person takes a breath, their sacred dignity is affirmed by God. For the breath of life that belongs to each and every one of us, again, without exception, is the very life-giving breath of God. That fact alone makes a person sacred. And so it is to be life-giving means to honor the very breath of life that is ours to breathe. And thus to do nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, that might infringe upon betray or take that breath away.
And let us be clear. We betray our very own sacred breath anytime that we use it to violate the sacredness of another's, be it by our words, by our silence, through our actions, or through our non-actions. And I must say, there is nothing that takes my breath away more than seeing another human being's breath being disrespected and violated. The point of the matter is we must use our every breath in ways that are life-giving for others. It is in this very way that Esther used her sacred breath to preserve the life of her people. "Spare my people," she said.
Which brings us to the final aspect of what it means to be a people of faith in such a time as this. It means dynamic hoping. Dynamic hoping. "For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?" Esther asks.
My friends, dynamic hoping is not passive, wishful thinking. It's not abstract claims to make more palatable the real pain of unjust suffering, no, dynamic hoping is concrete. It is active, it is transforming. Dynamic hoping is about showing up, speaking up and standing up for that which God is for. Hope is present when we are present. Finding ways to do that which is merciful, loving and just. Dynamic hoping is found in those spaces we create of affirmation, of justice, of empathy, of sanctuary for those who have been denied that in our society. Bottom line, dynamic hoping is about carrying forward a legacy of God's justice, a legacy of God's justice that makes clear that the way things are is not the way they're supposed to be and not the way they're going to be.
And so it was with an act of dynamic hoping that Esther proclaimed, "How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?" Leaving a legacy of hope as celebrated in the Feast of Purim, a holiday that was celebrated just a couple of weeks ago in the Jewish community.
And so there you have it. What does it mean to be a people of faith in such a time as this? Through the story of Esther, we learned that it means brave belonging, opportunity reaching, life giving and dynamic hoping, which comes down to the acronym of B-O-L-D. Bold. We are to be bold like Esther. For this church is what faith is all about. It is about partnering with God and thus showing forth in the world the God to whom we belong. Taking the opportunity to reach for the more of our God, respecting the breath of all of God's children, even as we build hope for God's future to come. And if the example of a bold woman of faith such as Esther is not enough. Well, God has given us Mary's son Jesus, who never forgot the God to whom he belonged to, reached for every opportunity, even unto the cross to show forth the love of God, especially to those the world treated as unlovable and who gave his last breath so that we might have life, being for us, the hope of a more just future.
Harvard community, ours is indeed a time when far too many of us are feeling overwhelmed, confused, uncertain, if not, just frightened. We have each, no doubt, each of us have no doubt asked in some way at some time, what are we supposed to do? It was in the reading of the story of Esther that the answer to that question became just a little bit clearer for me. For in our very living, in the ways in which we navigate the realities of our world, we can be bold. We can be bold in exemplifying another way of being in relationship to one another, another way of being in the world. A way of brave belonging, a way of opportunity reaching, of life-giving, of dynamic hoping people. We can be bold.
While there is uncertainty and chaos around us, let us not be uncertain and chaotic about whose we are. Let us be instead, bold people of faith for such a time as this. This is what we are supposed to do in this, our time. And so let us leave this place committed, each in the places in which we find ourselves moving. Let us leave this place committed to being bold, bravely belonging, opportunity-reaching, life-giving, dynamic hoping people. For in such a time is this, the world needs us to be bold. May it be so. Amen.