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2021-02-28 Christ in Purim Good Morning And 2021-02-28 Christ in Purim Good morning and welcome to Connections! Thank you so much for all your prayers while we were sick. We are fully on the mend (and realizing that we’re not as young and “bouncy” as we used to be ). Ever since I had the epiphany that “The Last Supper” was actually a Passover Seder, I have been fascinated by how the Festivals and Holy Days of the Old Testament point towards Christ. I was thrilled to find Jews for Jesus and all the resources they have, like Christ in the Passover and I have wanted to help others see Christ in these Old Testament traditions. You will notice that I have put on our calendar for 2021 when there are Jewish Holidays and we just pasted one – Purim. How many of you have ever even heard the word “Purim”? Know what it is about? Ever celebrated it? I had hoped to do more than just give a message on Purim, like a full on Purim Party, but COVID had other plans…. Or God’s plan…. There is always next year (when it will be on Wednesday and Thursday, March 16th and 17th). I wanted to start with an overview of the Book of Esther, but knew I would “get lost” in the details, so I found (Dave found) a good clip. We could have watched the movie ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING (Esther the Bible Movie) but it’s 2 hours long So, let’s take a look at this overview that is only 10 minutes long. Jot down what jumps out at you . Show clip. Just a few more tidbits of information – the decree to celebrate for 2 days is very serious. It must take place during the day - No working, no fasting, no mourning and drinking and other forms of indulgence are encouraged. In attempt to encourage and support sobriety, we won’t be doing that next year. Important in the celebrating is the telling of the story so as to remember the miracle, the miracle of how God saved His people from annihilation. What I think we could participate in is the food – giving of food. On Purim, Jews often greet one another by sending portions of food, often in the form of gift baskets full of sweets and nuts and fruits. That sounds like fun. Giving of food to the poor is something we are very good at. “Giving alms far outweighs the preparation of a lavish feast or gratuitous consumption. Feeding the hungry and helping the poor in their distress is a commandment that must be carried out at all times; even on a day of carefree revelry, we must remember the fatherless and widows in their affliction.” “Dressing up has also become part and parcel of Purim celebrations, originating with the Italian carnivalesque attire Jews wore during Purim in the Renaissance. Why do we dress up? Perhaps because God “disguised” Himself in the book of Esther, never being named but pulling the strings all along. Perhaps because Haman changed costumes so often, going from a slave to a chief advisor to a hanged man. Dressing up also reminds us of Mordecai’s many “costume changes” in the book of Esther – from regular courtly dress, to ashes and sackcloth, to a royal purple tunic. By gussying ourselves up in over-the-top costumes, we act out the fast-changing fortunes of the Jews and of Haman in the Book of Esther. Spiritual Application of Purim While the drunken revelry and rowdiness don’t seem very “spiritual” Purim invites us to reflect on how God works in our own lives. These are the points that have jumped out at me: Curious Fact: God is never mentioned – some of used this a reason to “disparage” the book of Esther, but to me it is such a clear invitation to look for God’s Activity – God’s purpose at work behind the scenes. There are no “Coincidences”, God is always working, and we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us see it. The “Ironic Reversals” are God working. All truth is God’s truth, I don’t have to beat it into people. Are you in a place right now with some situation or some relationship and you find yourself asking “why me? Why this? Why now? What can I do? Seek the face of God and His plans. God has placed you in this position right now for “such a time as this”. Deliverance for the Jews must come from somewhere. The message of hope to a lost and hurting world must come from somewhere. It doesn’t have to be something seemingly huge, it could be a smile, the extension of grace and mercy. Be encouraged! God didn’t use Esther and Mordechai because of their moral uprightness. There is a lot of “Moral Ambiguity” in the story, a lot of drinking, sex, and murder, they violate commands of the Torah. He can and does use you – even in the middle of your mess ups. The characters aren’t a model of morality but a model of trust and hope. You can always choose to trust God and share hope. The Point (very similar to the point of Job)- When God seems absent, when we walk away or compromise – God does not abandon us God can and does work in the real mess and moral ambiguity of our lives. He uses the faithfulness of morally compromised people to accomplish His purposes. The Book of Esther asks us to trust God’s providence even when we can’t see it at work. And that no matter how bad things get, God is committed to redeeming His world. Where is Christ in Purim? God does not abandon us and is always working to bring us to Him. The giving of His son to accomplish that demonstrates the lengths to which God has gone to have a relationship with you. Turn your eyes off of yourself, your circumstances, your moral failures, your weaknesses and lack, and choose to look for how God is working. Call on the Holy Spirit to illuminate them. Call on the Holy Spirit to give you the desire to call on the Holy Spirit. Know that you are cherished and love and needed to shine the light of Christ to others – for such a time as this – every day. Closing song. Jews for Jesus Article Purpose of Purim The scene: a king tossing and turning for fear that his lovely queen is conspiring against him with his chief advisor. A queen so worried over the king’s plan to put to death her people that she barges into his inner chamber unannounced, looking lovelier than ever. Two advisors to the king are getting ready for a showdown – the town (Persia) is only big enough for the one of them. Haman, hell-bent on the destruction of the Jews, is besmeared with waste matter and wincing in pain by the end of this battle. Mordecai, his Jewish enemy, is clad in purple robes, majestically seated atop the royal horse, freshly bathed and coiffed by Haman himself. The difference could hardly be more pronounced. If the scene sounds only half-familiar, that’s because it is. Although Megillat Esther (“the Scroll of Esther”) lines up with the basics of the plot described above, the colorful embroideries came later; they were added in the tractate Megillah of the Talmud and in other commentaries. Jewish literature contains a wealth of such embellishments. Why? More than any other story in Jewish history (except, perhaps, for Passover and Hanukkah), the story of Esther inspires further storytelling and bears repeating. The great Jewish traditions of storytelling and humor come to the fore on Purim, the feast day commemorating Esther’s and Mordecai’s defeat of Haman’s plot to annihilate the Jews of ancient Persia. The great commandment on Purim is that we “proclaim the miracle” by reading Megillat Esther, banqueting together, sending gifts, and giving portions to the poor. The revelry takes other forms too, from dressing up in wild costumes to watching the Purimspiel (Purim play), which brings the story of Esther to life. Origin of Purim Megillat Esther starts with the unlikely fate of a Jewish girl living in the Persian Empire.1 King Ahasuerus (Xerxes2) takes Esther, the cousin of the Jewish advisor Mordecai, to be his new queen after deposing Queen Vashti. On Mordecai’s advice, Esther hides her Jewish ancestry from Xerxes until the wicked counselor Haman hatches a plot against the life of the Jews, obliging her to speak out for her people. The most famous lines of the story come when Mordecai persuades Esther to go to the king unannounced, a capital offense: Then Mordecai told them [the messengers] to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:13– 16) By their wit and wile – though behind the scenes orchestrated by God – Esther and Mordecai foiled Haman’s plot.
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