Give up Imprisonment

 


Lent 2023 Sermon Series 
Give Up Imprisonment

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command... --Esther 1:12

And so it was that the Queen refused to be ordered around, taking up her own autonomy, choosing how she would be treated. After this refusal, the King becomes enraged and he and his closest advisors make a different choice for Vashti - that if she would not be the plaything for the King, to do as he pleased, that she would no longer be. Vashti disappears from the story from this point on - not executed, not thrown in a dungeon, just disappeared. 

It may seem insignificant, this demand of the King, and so it may seem out of place for Queen Vashti to react as she did. But given the King's response, we can tell that Vashti was not appreciated for her voice or for her personhood, but instead she was an object for the King to control, and the moment she would not cede that control, she no longer had value. 

It is a strange way to start the book of Esther, a book without the mention of God's name. And yet in the absence of an apparent God, we are presented with a character of God: resistance to being controlled. It is this resistance that is obvious through the many corrupt leaders of Israel and Judah as the Kingdoms fell apart through the narrative of Kings and Chronicles. It is this resistance that is obvious as Christ resisted the demands of the temple and political leaders through his life. And yet, what this story about a queen who dared to resist her imprisonment also lifts up is the pain and suffering that we can inflict upon one another when we encounter this resistance. 

We have all felt to one degree or another, the closing in of walls or bars when we do not act or cede our autonomy - whether that be in relationships, in jobs or in other moments. And we might wonder, where is that God who proclaims liberation? Where is that God who defends the oppressed? God is right there with us continuing to hold us steady when we hold on to our created autonomy. 

We may make wrong choices here and there and God has made in us the capacity to change and be molded more and more into the image of God's love, but we resist those efforts to be lorded over, to be objectified and turned into property because the only lord we really have is God. And this Lord does not buy or sell us, use violence against us or abuse us. God's "Lordship" is rooted in love; a love that desires for us to be liberated, made whole, and adored. Because when we love one another and love this world, we are loving and glorifying the one who made it all. Amen.


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