How Holidays Are Made

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 

Once again I am perplexed by the placement of certain biblical passages within the lectionary cycle. For instance, today's passage speaks about the origin of the Jewish Holiday of Purim. Purim is the celebration of the deliverance of the Hebrew people from the hands of Haman in a plot he was conceiving among the Persians.

Why I say the placement of today's passage is perplexing is that it is given to us in late September, while Purim is celebrated in February or March. So, what are we to gather from the telling of this story in Esther? Is what we "take" from today's reading being fair to the truth behind the story? Do we, the Western civilization, have a right to take such a culturally entrenched story from a group of people and somehow make it our own?

The answer is, of course, no. I understand that there are reasons to put this story in the lectionary. It's a fantastic telling of how a brave woman saved her people from destruction. This story rates up there with that of Moses freeing the Hebrew people from Egypt. In fact, looking at the Jewish Holiday calendar gives us a better insight to the importance of the celebration of Purim.

Purim is the last festival celebrated within the biblical year. It is followed very closely, about a month, by Passover and the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, both of which celebrate the exodus story of the Hebrews from Egypt. This, in my opinion, brings the lives of the Jewish people into a full circle. If we follow the Biblical Calendar we see that it begins with the remembrance that it is through the works of God we are freed from that which suppress us and we end the year with the remembrance that it is through our own courage and strength and love for our families, friends, and all those we touch everyday that we also free ourselves.

You see, God is never mentioned in the book of Esther, either by name, title, or being. So we, the reader and those who celebrate the story are left to either think God is assumed or God is absent. Since I strongly believe God is never absent we are left with the belief that God is assumed. The Jewish people always believed in their God, even if they sometimes felt ignored by their God. Why would the story of Esther be an example of anything different?

I need to stop here, but please let me leave with this thought. God is always present in our lives, and God equips us to do the work of God in our world. It doesn't matter if the presence of God is assumed or explicit, God is always there. What Esther did is to be celebrated as much as what Moses did; maybe that's what today's reading is to remind us of.