Living in the Spirit
September 20, 2021
So the King and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the King again said to Esther, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.’ Then Queen Esther answered, ‘If I have won your favor, O King, and if it pleases the King, let my life be given me—that is my petition—and the lives of my people—that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the King.’ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?’ Esther said, ‘A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified before the King and the Queen. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the King, said, ‘Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.’ And the King said, ‘Hang him on that.’ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the King abated. –Esther 7:1-6, 9-10
Where do we draw the line on injustice present in our world today, and what are we willing to do about it? Who decides what is just and right and what is not? I recently listened to a state Attorney General say that his job is to obey the law and that he believes that life begins at conception; thus, that is what he will uphold. The law does not say that. The conversation eventually turned to the death penalty being reinstituted. The Attorney General said his job was to enforce the law. In the case being discussed, the trial was critically bungled. A jury did find the defendant guilty of murder. The issue passed through the full review process, so the defendant must be executed even though massive amounts of information were left out of the trial that strongly discounts the trial results, but that did not matter.
Esther’s family and community were scheduled to be annihilated for no good reason. She had been taken into the King’s home and designated as Queen. Even so, she risks her life to go before him and ask for her people to be spared. It was the right, the just thing to do, and he responded positively to her requests.
How do we as Christ-followers discern what is just and right in God’s eyes? What is life and when does it begin, when should it end? I could make a well-documented Biblically supported argument that life begins with breath and ends with the lack of breadth. That does not mean in the 21st century that we should not render artificial respiration to someone who needs it, nor does it mean that we should keep someone on life-supports after their brain no longer functions. God did not give us willy-nilly the ability to think, reason, and explore all avenues to deal with justice issues. The well-tested proven way to end abortion is to prevent unwanted, unplanned pregnancies, and that requires the availability of quality, affordable health care, ending poverty, and providing quality education.
The death penalty has no good purpose. It does not serve as a deterrent to crime, and it cost far more than keeping someone in prison for life if it has been determined the person is a danger to others.
Prayer: Lord, open our minds to broader ways of discerning true justice and righteousness. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National to of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.