1And it was in the days of Xerxes (he [was the] Xerxes reigning from India and upon Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces). 2In the days the those the king Xerxes [was] dwelling upon the throne of his kingdom which [was] in Shushan, the citadel. 3In the third year of his reigning, he made a banquet to the all of his princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Media. The nobles and the princes of the provinces [were] to his face. 4In him showing the wealth of his kingdom and the splendor of the excellence of his majesty days of many eighty and one hundred days. 5And in being full the days the these the king made to the all of the people being found in Shushan the citadel, to great and until small, a banquet of seven days in the court of the garden of the palace of the king. 6Linen cloth of linen and purple wool being grasped with cords of fine white linen and red-purple wool upon rings of sliver and pillars of white marble, couches of gold and silver upon a pavement of red marble and white marble and mother of pearl and black marble, 7giving to drink in vessels of gold and vessels of one from another differing and royal wine plenty by the hand of the king 8and the drinking [was] according to law, “No compelling,” because the king had established upon the all of the chief[s] of his house to do according to pleasure of man and man. 9Also, Vashti the queen made the banquet of the women of the house the royal which [was] to the king Xerxes.
I am continuing to ponder on these opening verses. We can just read them quickly and say, “Let’s get on with the story,” or we can slow down and sincerely try to understand why the Lord chose to provide this information. As I’ve said before, without any doubt, these verses are extremely important as they reveal to us the world in which Esther must live her faith. It is only right that we should grant her the honor of trying to understand her world. To the extent we succeed, our respect for her will only deepen and we will ourselves carry away the precious jewels of her example – as we too would live our lives in a world which may or may not be what we would choose.
And what do we see? In this passage, what is being portrayed before us is, in a sense, everything this world calls “greatness.” What more could anyone ask for? Here is this king. He is a young man, no doubt still strong and healthy. He has ascended the throne of a vast kingdom, possesses immeasurable wealth, is surrounded by his governors, generals, and aides, lives in a palace practically made of gold and jewels. Is he not a great king? And Vashti his queen can herself throw an enormous banquet for the ladies. Is this not all greatness?
According to this world’s definition? Absolutely. Here is precisely a place where the Lord would have us all realize He sees the world through very different eyes than we do. It is interesting that, in Revelation 17, He portrays this world’s wealth and “greatness” as a drunken whore “dressed in purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.” This definition of “greatness,” Xerxes and Vashti’s definition of “greatness,” doesn’t impress the Lord at all – and no wonder: Xerxes thinks all his gold makes him important. In God’s heaven, they use gold as paving material. Xerxes is impressed with all his jewels. In the new Jerusalem, the very foundations of the walls are jewels. Xerxes thinks his pearls are beautiful things. In the new Jerusalem, the very gates of the city are each made from a single pearl.
So Xerxes has amassed everything this world can offer to make him “great.” Yet, in God’s eyes, it’s nothing but rocks and sticks and fleeting vapors of human existence. Xerxes is not great in God’s eyes. Rather he is perhaps the most miserable of paupers. There is nothing in this account which will count in eternity. He possesses nothing he can carry from this world.
As Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist of the things he possesses,” and we can add: neither does his “greatness.” In God’s eyes greatness is not a matter of what we have, it’s a matter of who we are. Running ahead of our story, when this book is done, who will be the hero? Who will be “great?” Esther, of course. And why? Because she was beautiful? Because she became the queen of a “great” king and lived in a palace? No. None of the above. Her “greatness” is who she is: a young woman of great faith and courage, a girl who would risk her own life to save her family and her people. Listen to her own words: “…though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die…For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?” (4:16 and 8:6). Here is a young woman, living in the midst of all this wealth and “greatness,” yet she will hazard it all out of love for others. That’s greatness!
The supreme example of God’s kind of greatness is, of course, our Jesus, who “considered not equality with God as something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing” and “By His stripes we are healed.” Jesus, in a sense, came to show us what true greatness is, and in Him, we see that one way or another, it always comes down to love. It is love that makes us great in God’s eyes.
Joseph Parker saw all of this here in Esther and wrote: “Would you be great? Be great in soul…Here is an opportunity for every man to be great—great in patience, in self-control, in charity, in magnanimity. A man is great because he takes great views of others, conceives liberal things for God and carries them out with both hands. So the poorest may be rich; the giver of mites may throw the giver of gold into contempt. What say we of working the miracles of goodness, of speaking to those who have no friends, of visiting the uttermost abodes of poverty and the lowest tenements of distress? All the miracles of goodness are yet to be done. Miracles of power have dazzled the vision of history,—now we may not show the glory, but we may disclose the goodness of God.”
Hear what Parker is saying: To be “great,” do good to others. I will never be rich or powerful, but today I can sincerely try to do good to the people around me. I like that Parker calls these “miracles of goodness.” Do we not all know exactly what he means? How many times have we had someone touch our life with their kindness? Was that not a miracle to us? I think so. Can I even go so far as to suggest this might explain Jesus’ words to His disciples: “whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12). I’ve pondered for years “greater than these”? How can it be that we would do greater works than Jesus Himself??? He could heal the sick and raise the dead and turn water into wine. What is left for us to do that would be “greater” than that??? I believe the answer goes back to our definition of greatness. What if Jesus is talking about His kind of greatness – about what Parker calls “miracles of goodness”? What if He’s talking about the miracle of touching someone else’s soul through kindness?
Elsewhere, Jesus said, “If you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Arise and be cast into the sea,’ and it will be done.” That too has perplexed me. I doubt I will ever have even that mustard seed of faith to do anything so powerful and miraculous. But, here’s my thought: What if a faith that sees real greatness were to say, “Yes, by the power of faith I could cast that mountain into the sea, but why should I? I’d rather somehow the Lord could use my life to touch someone else for eternity. I’d rather know I said in this life five words that drew someone else to Christ than to lift up a hundred mountains and cast them into the sea."
Can we not see that, in both of these sayings of Jesus, our problem in “understanding” them arises from the very fact that we don’t see “greatness” through His eyes?
Lord, open our eyes to see and to value true greatness, the greatness of soul, the greatness of love, the greatness that makes us vessels not so much of Your power but of Your goodness. Help us to see that this world’s greatness is but a useless mirage. May we be like our heroine Esther and value the greatness that truly matters!
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