1In the night of the that, the sleep of the king fled and he said to bring in the writing of the remembrances of the things of the days and they were read to the face of the king, 2and it was found written which Mordecai told on Bigthana and Teresh, the two of the eunuchs of the king, ones keeping the door, which they had sought to send a hand in the king Xerxes, 3and the king said, “What has been done honor and dignity to Mordecai on this?” and the servants of the king, from his ministers, “Not a thing has been done for him.”
There is another momentously important lesson to be drawn from these few simple verses, if you and I would serve the Lord well in our own versions of this “world without God.” As we would go to work every day and sincerely seek to do good to others, to work hard, to be kind, to deal honestly and fairly with people, there is one reality we must be willing to accept: Being forgotten. Overlooked. Unappreciated. Unrewarded.
Mordecai was. Esther was made queen in the “seventh year” of Xerxes’ reign (2:16), which then, in the text, was immediately followed by the account of Mordecai exposing the plot of Bigthana and Teresh (2:21-23). Now this entire matter of Haman’s plot against the Jews is taking place in the “twelfth year” of Xerxes’ reign (3:7). That means it has probably been five years since Mordecai risked his own life to save the king. I say “risked his own life,” knowing that the intrigues and plots surrounding any king are unimaginably complex for us commoners to barely perceive.
Mordecai would have had no idea just how big that conspiracy was and who was involved. He knew about Bigthana and Teresh, but he couldn’t possibly know who else was part of it all. As we know from the text, he had no direct access to the king, so he could only “warn” the king through messengers. Mordecai of course first sent the warning to Esther (2:22), but even that had to go through a messenger and then even Esther’s warning had to be passed through a messenger. Had they confided the warning in the “wrong” person, it could have been ignored, the king killed anyway, and, as soon as someone else took the throne, they could have/would have had Mordecai and Esther killed.
My point is to emphasize that what Mordecai (and Esther) did was no small act of loyalty to this king. That was now five years ago and what recognition has Mordecai received for it? In Xerxes’ servants own words, “Not a thing.” There you go. Mordecai works hard at his job, looks out for the king’s best interest, sticks his neck out at great risk to himself and what does he get for it? “Not a thing.”
If you and I would learn from our Bibles, we mustn’t run too fast past events just like this. These things were written down “for our admonition.” If we’re going to serve the Lord well here, we must be willing to be nothing. Forgotten. Overlooked. Unappreciated. Unrewarded. That may sound sentimental in a Sunday morning sermon but when it really does happen to us, we’ll find it painful. We can all praise Jesus for how He emptied Himself, how He set aside the free exercise of His divine attributes and “made Himself nothing” in order to save you and me from our sins. We can speak wistfully about “making ourselves nothing.” It is an entirely different thing when it happens, when we stick our necks out, then get no recognition for it.
Solomon of course warned of this in Ecclesiastes: “There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man” (9:14,15). Joseph was forgotten in prison. David served Saul faithfully and was hunted like an animal. Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, but they could not “watch with him one hour.”
Jesus made it patently clear that your job and mine in this world is to love. That means a lot of things in a lot of different situations but certainly at work it means to work hard at our jobs, to sincerely look out for the company’s best interest, to help others succeed, to be dependable, to be as kind as possible, etc. Most of the time, that will actually sweeten our lives, as we find we’re living for the things that really matter after all. However, like Mordecai, it will also be true that sooner or later we will feel the pain of being forgotten.
Let us learn again from Mordecai. How did he respond? His job in chapter 2 was something to do with being present at the king’s gate. He did that job faithfully but was forgotten for it. Now, five years later, where do we find him? At his post in the king’s gate. Mordecai didn’t quit. Just think, in five years, how many people Mordecai watched be rewarded for various contributions they’d made. But he got nothing.
Yet he kept on. Herein is a huge advantage of faith in God. Our reason to love is tied to the Lord and He is eternal. Col. 3:23,24 speaks to this: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Mordecai had a great eternal reason to go to work, to do his job, to love. By faith we can order our lives to love God and love people, then (like Mordecai) go on doing it whether we get rewarded here or not. It is our privilege to labor for something far better than recognition or reward, to love for the sake of love itself.
It is, of course, Jesus Himself who makes this possible. He loved us for the sake of love and now to know Him is to enter His universe of love. We come to Him broken and undeserving, yet He draws us to His heart, forgives us, and makes us “dearly loved children.” Having received such grace, it is our response to be people of grace—to show others the same welcoming, forgiving, embracing kindness we have enjoyed from the heart of our God.
Mordecai illustrates for us, also, another perspective on all this. Yes, Mordecai did great good and went seemingly unrewarded. But, since we know “the end of the story,” we know there was a reason why the Lord let him be “forgotten.” It is because the Lord was preparing for this very night. The entire reason Mordecai was even allowed to discover the guys’ plot and warn the king was because the Lord had plans for something monumentally important five years later. Herein is another reason we can love for the sake of love—we can trust the Lord that, as we do, He is always up to something. He may or may not let us know what it is, but we can be assured He is at work. Again, that is where faith comes in. We are not living in some arbitrary evolutionary cycle, where there is no final answer to the question, “Why should I?” We do it for the great Reason. And since He who is the Reason is also Love itself, we are free to love recklessly in a world He totally controls.
God gave Mordecai and Esther something to live for that far transcended recognition and reward. This side of the Cross, you and I have all the more reason to strive to love well…even if we’re forgotten.
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