July 18, 2021: Costly Valor
Esther 1:2-5, 9-13, 15-22
Rev. Rhonda Blevins
In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were present, while he displayed the great wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days, one hundred eighty days in all. When these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in the citadel of Susa, both great and small, a banquet lasting for seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace.
Furthermore, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women in the palace of King Ahasuerus.
On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded . . . the seven eunuchs who attended him, to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing the royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the officials her beauty; for she was fair to behold. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him. Then the king consulted the sages who knew the laws . . .
“According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed by the eunuchs?” Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only has Queen Vashti done wrong to the king, but also to all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their husbands, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath! If it pleases the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be altered, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.” This advice pleased the king and the officials, and the king did as Memucan proposed; he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own house.
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Have you ever been asked to do something that compromised your values or your integrity? Perhaps you can think back to your teenage years and remember experiencing peer pressure. Or later on in life, you had a boss or supervisor who asked—demanded—that you do something that you believed wasn’t right.
That’s happened to me.
In my first full-time ministry position out of seminary, I worked for a large denominational body as a campus minister. I loved that work, engaging with college students every day, walking alongside them during those formative years of faith and life. It was joyful, rewarding work. The only downside was that I worked for a large denominational body.
During my seven years working for the denomination, I began to grow uneasy. I was being squeezed into theological boxes that were growing increasingly narrow, while I was growing in the grace and freedom of faith in Christ. Put simply, the denomination demanded I believe and teach “x,” but “x” was not what I believed, nor was “x” what I could teach with integrity.
Because I was not serving a local parish, but as a campus minister, I was a member of a local church. The church where I was a member offered more theological freedom than the denomination I served. I found room to grow at my church. I found family at my church. But one day, my boss called a meeting with me, and told me I had to leave my church and join a more suitable church . . . or else.
I found myself at a crossroads. Act with integrity, say “no,” stay at my church, and lose my job, or . . . act with duplicity, say “yes,” leave my church, and keep my job.
Oh my.
Which brings me to Queen Vashti.
Queen Vashti has a job she probably enjoys—I mean what woman wouldn’t want to be the Queen, right? Unless, of course, the King is a jerk. And maybe the King isn’t normally a jerk, but let’s refresh our memories about what’s happening when we pick up with Queen Vashti in today’s scripture lesson.
King Ahasuerus has presided over a festival for roughly six months—a display of his wealth and power and majesty (real humble guy, right?). And, as the grand finale to the months-long festival, the King hosts a seven-day banquet for all the men of the land, while Queen Vashti holds a seven-day banquet for all the women of the land. A seven-day banquet! Dude has been drinking for seven days, the scriptures tell us he is “merry with wine.” Ya think?
So in his drunken merriment, the King doesn’t don a lampshade and dance on the table, he doesn’t drunk-dial his wife, no he sends for Queen Vashti to come to the drunken-man-fest wearing her crown, to show off her supreme beauty. One rabbinical tradition holds that the Hebrew indicates his request was for her to wear ONLY her crown.
There’s a word I’m thinking of to describe the drunken King Ahasuerus, but my mama taught me not to cuss in polite company. J
Now, think of Vashti, receiving word from the messengers of the King’s request. He WHAT?!? You’re kidding, right? RIGHT?!? You’re . . . not kidding? No one, not even the Queen, could refuse an order from the King; he didn’t just make the law, he WAS the law. Not only that, but the King was judge, jury and executioner.
Oh my.
What are you going to do, Queen Vashti?
Say “yes” and face the humiliation and dehumanization of parading (perhaps naked) in front of hundreds or thousands of drunken men?
Or say “no” and face possible execution, or at least banishment from her position as Queen?
Now, you and I may not face the same exact pressure—it may have been a while since a king commanded you to parade (naked) in front of a bunch of drunken men—but I would proffer that challenges to our integrity, challenges to our values are quite regular. They often come in far more subtle ways, some external and some even internal. Here are some examples of common ways we may be tempted to act in ways counter to our value systems:
Do we laugh at the inappropriate joke?
Do we engage in the gossip?
Do we buy or consume more than we need?
Do we choose convenience over conscience?
Do we self-medicate too regularly instead of doing the hard work of psychotherapy?
These are instances when “yes” may be far easier than “no.” But the “yes” compromises our integrity and the values we say we hold dear. These are instances when a difficult “no” is the pathway to saying “yes” to values, to integrity, even to valor.
What is valor? Valor is:
strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness (Miriam Webster)
boldness or determination in facing great danger (dictionary.com)
great courage in the face of danger (Oxford Dictionary)
All three of these definitions have one word in common . . . “danger.” There is no valor without danger.
So what danger did Queen Vashti face, and how did she face that danger?
Queen Vashti said “no” to the King’s inebriated request. Can you see the eyebrows raised all around? “Vashti just dissed the King! Did you hear? Oh snap!” All the men of the land learned of this, as well as all of the women. And this fact was one of the primary concerns of the King and all the men. They were worried about what kind of blow this would land against the patriarchy: the men were afraid that all the women would rebel against their husbands. “The Queen said no to the King! We cannot let this act go unpunished!”
Vashti said “no” in the face of danger, and she was dubbed “dangerous” in return. Funny how that works, right?
So the King demoted Queen Vashti. She would no longer be the Queen. Hers was a costly valor.
But think about this, she may have lost her job and her status, but would we have ever heard her name if not for this act of valor? Doubtful. And how does history treat her? Who is the hero and who is the villain in this story? Vashti is the hero! She may have lost her job, but she gained a legacy. Sometimes integrity supersedes employment.
Consider this story:
A successful businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.” The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued, “I am going to give each one of you a seed today – one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil. He so wanted the seed to grow.
A year went by and the CEO asked the young executives to bring their plants to work for inspection.
When Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot, she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.
When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful – in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He asked Jim to come to the front of the room. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed. Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer — Jim!”
Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed. “How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.
Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow.
“All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”[1]
You see, sometimes the price of integrity seems too high. Jim risked humiliation, even termination, to present his empty pot. Vashti risked termination, even execution, to say “no” to the king. Jim had no idea he would be rewarded with a promotion. Vashti had no clue that history would treat her as a hero. Integrity is often blind. Valor is often costly.
May we, like Jim, say “no” to dishonesty.
May we, like Vashti, say “no” to dehumanization.
And by way of the difficult “no,” may we live lives of integrity.
Amen.
Oh, and by the way, the denominational job that demanded I quit my church? I quit that job. A painful “no” that, in hindsight, was a steppingstone on the way to here. And here is very, very good. J
[1] Source unknown, https://michelleshummel.com/need-inspiration-read-amazing-story-integrity/.