(This story is found in Esther 4) “Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” -A famous quote most of us can pin down. This phrase is used as a call to action and often seen as an exhortation in the likeness of the great commission. Not only does it command something be done, but “who knows” is an encouragement of our faith. A small bit of context for this phrase is that Mordecai is insisting Queen Esther have her husband halt a commandment to kill his countrymen.
But this phrase is only found after two other sentences. The first is a near-malicious warning: “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.” Esther is special. She is gorgeous enough to raise the eyebrow of the king, talented enough to surpass a harem, and wise enough to leave her brooding bridegroom be when he’s having a bad day. She surpasses all of the women of the (to that date) largest kingdom in the world to please the king. Yet, as a child of Abraham she is going to die, regardless of her position.
Applying this story to ourselves we might consider that our attendance at services (akin to being in the palace) is not a saving grace. The rules are the rules and we must speak out. I am still searching, but I have not yet found the “silent Christian” in scripture. There does not seem to be anyone commended for just being a Jew, or just being a Christian. A point that brings us to the next warning of Mordecai: “…if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.”
“Someone else will take care of it”; a common truth. Someone will take care of it. Classes will be taught, songs and prayers will be led, sermons preached – God will be glorified. Mordecai promises Esther as much. But his warning is not that salvation will be lost, it is that SHE will be lost. If Esther does nothing she is lost. If she just sits there, allowing someone else to do it, she is lost. If she is not participating in something she could (and will) accomplish, she is lost.
Two warnings and then hope: You are not exempt from anything. You are not absolved from service or duty. You are in the right place, at the right time to help someone be saved.