Esther 7:3-10      It's Payback Time!

Rev. David Holwick   ZB                                          Esther, #3

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

September 15, 2013

Esther 7:3-10; 9:12-15


IT'S PAYBACK TIME


  I. Revenge fantasies.

      A. In a Tarantino movie, American death squad is unleashed on Nazis.

          1) Hitler is killed in a movie theater with all his henchmen.

          2) Loads of blood splatters - Tarantino's usual style.

          3) Of course, the Holocaust did not end like this.

              a) Hitler did die in the end, but he took untold millions

                    of Jews with him.

              b) Tarantino is Italian but his movie is the ultimate

                    Jewish revenge fantasy.


      B. Esther goes beyond fantasy.

          1) While some would say it is not much different from the

                movie, the book presents itself as a historical event.

              a) The Jews were threatened with extinction by powerful

                    pagan forces.

              b) They found out about it, they intervened with King

                    Xerxes, and they turned the tables on their enemies.

              c) As a crass saying puts it, they did unto their enemies

                    before their enemies did unto them.

          2) How does a Christian handle the ending of Esther?

              a) Many believers have been bothered by the bloodlust.

              b) Doesn't Jesus say we are supposed to behave in a

                    different way?

              c) How should a follower of Jesus treat their enemies?


      C. There are different forms of payback.

          1) Sometimes it seems to come from God alone.

          2) At other times, we have a direct hand in it.


II. Inadvertent payback in the book of Esther.

      A. Revenge that happens by chance.

          1) You don't plan it, but you like how it turns out.

          2) Perhaps God is behind this kind of payback.


      B. Haman's humiliation fits this nicely.                     6:6-12


            Throughout the book, Haman tries to promote himself and

               destroy the Jew Mordecai.

            King Xerxes, because of his insomnia, has just found out

               that Mordecai had saved his neck years before.

            The king then asks Haman, who doesn't know about this

               episode, what should be done to honor such a hero.


            Haman thinks the king is talking about him, and comes up

               with a lot of grand gestures that would be appropriate:

                  a robe, a horse, a crier, a parade.


            The king says, Great! -- and orders Haman to do all these

               things for Mordecai, whom he despises.

            He has to do it, but afterwards he runs home weeping.


      C. It is not hard to relate to this.

          1) Perhaps there is someone at work that you would love to see

                this happen to.

          2) They have it in for you, and do what they can to sabotage

                you and your reputation.

          3) But YOU are made Employee of the Month, you get your

                picture on the poster and the special parking place,

                   and they have to pout in a corner.


      D. The Bible has many examples of this, even for Christians.

          1) Recall Jesus' teaching that the first will be last,

                and the last, first.                           Luke 13:30

              a) Scholars call it the "Great Reversal."

              b) It is not something to gloat over, but we can be assured

                    that God will fix the injustices we have had to put

                       up with.

          2) But keep in mind that God's payback is based on his

                spiritual and moral assessment of us.

              a) If we are not careful, maybe WE will be the ones who

                    end up last.


III. Deliberate payback in the book of Esther.

      A. Esther and Haman.

          1) After Esther drums up enough courage to approach King

                Xerxes, he wants to know why she is so upset.

          2) She accuses "this vile Haman."                           7:6

          3) Xerxes storms off in a rage and Haman throws himself

                on Esther, pleading for his life.

              a) His doom is already sealed, but he has the further

                    indignity of looking like a pervert.

              b) He is taken out and hanged on the 75-foot gallows he

                    had built for Mordecai.

          4) A Christian's question.

              a) Shouldn't Esther have extended mercy to Haman?

                  1> She never lifts a finger to save him.

              b) What would Jesus have done for Haman?

                  1> What does he expect us to do for people like that?


      B. The Jews and their (potential) persecutors.               8:3-13

          1) Esther again risks her life and approaches Xerxes.

              a) Haman is gone, but his plan is still in place.

              b) Persian laws could not be canceled, so Xerxes lets

                    Esther come up with a new law that will balance it.

                  1> The Jews give themselves the right to kill and

                        plunder their enemies.                       8:11

                  2> They cannot attack anyone they want - the people

                        have to threaten them first.

              c) The results.

                  1> Five hundred enemies are killed in the capital.  9:6

                  2> 75,000 enemies are killed in the outer areas.   9:16

                  3> The ten sons of Haman are killed.                9:7

          2) Esther even ups the ante.

              a) She requests an extra day to kill their enemies.  9:13

              b) She asks for Haman's sons to be hanged as well.

                  1> They are already dead, so this is for humiliation

                        only.

                  2> Jews thought that leaving a body to hang was the

                        ultimate disgrace.

                      A> This is why the crucifixion of Jesus was such

                            a stumbling block for the Jews.


IV. I can appreciate the desire for revenge.

      A. Justice seems to demand a pound of flesh.

          1) Letting enemies off the hook might encourage them to

                continue harming others.

          2) Revenge is even the hope of the martyrs in Revelation 6:10.

              a) God does not rebuke them, but tells them to wait.

              b) Retribution is a main principle behind the Judgment Day.


      B. Revenge seems to be hard-wired into our God-created biology.

          1) Researchers at the University of Zurich did experiments

                where they could measure the brain waves of people

                   while they played games of trust with money.

             If a player betrays your trust, you have the option to

                fine them.

             But sometimes the fine was taken from your own money, too.


             The researchers found when people were betrayed but got

                to retaliate with a fine that didn't cost them, the

                   pleasure areas of their brains lit up.

             It even lit up, though a little less, when the fine cost

                both parties.

             We instinctively believe that those who hurt us must pay.

                                                                   #64214

          2) Even the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, shows

                how central the desire for revenge is for people.

              a) It gives examples of people taking revenge.

              b) It gives teachings that try to moderate revenge, but

                    it also contains teachings that seem to demand it.


  V. There is a big downside to revenge.

      A. Revenge, or even just the fantasies, eats away at you.


            Psychiatrist Mardi Horowitz had a patient named Ellen.

            Her husband, Max, had taken their 10-year-old son on a

               ski trip.

            Instead of taking the son on an intermediate slope as they

               had planned, Max impulsively took him down an advanced

                  slope.

            The boy hit a tree, received a severe head injury, and died

               a short time later.


            Ellen held her husband responsible for their son's death.

               She had persistent revenge fantasies about him.

            She spent hours filling her mind with this, and even did

               destructive things to Max like destroying his mail.

            But she also felt she no longer controlled her own life,

               was severely depressed and didn't feel safe.

            And it could never bring her son back.                    [1]


      B. Payback fuels more payback.

          1) Revenge fantasies can linger for generations.

          2) The bloodshed in the Middle East right now gives abundant

                testimony to this.

          3) It always produces more hatred instead of more justice.


VI. Christians have an alternative to payback.

      A. We can destroy our enemies by loving them.

          1) This is one of the best-known teachings of Jesus:

              a) Love your enemy, pray for your enemy, do good to them.

              b) Forgive someone who sins against you 490 times.

              c) Forgive people, if you want God to forgive you.

          2) It is well-known but very hard to practice.

              a) Perhaps this is why it sets Christianity apart.

              b) Bono (BAWN-o), the lead singer of the group "U-2,"

                    is an outspoken Christian,

                 In an interview with Larry King he was asked, "Aren't

                    all religions basically the same?"


                 Bono replied, "All other religions offer Kharma

                    (=payback) - only Jesus offers grace."

                                                                   #22348


      B. The best revenge of all.


         John Sawyer is a 44-year-old Denver businessman.

         Every day he lived with an urge to exact revenge after being

            shot one February night in 1987 during a robbery attempt.


         It took Mr. Sawyer six months to recover physically from the

            gunshot wound.

         It was about a year before he stopped being angry at the

            three men who hurt him.


         He said, "I felt that forgiving them was its own kind of

            revenge.

         "It showed they hadn't defeated me; it was like I had risen

            above what happened, and above them."

                                                                   #64213

          1) God is concerned about the wrongs and injustices that

                are done against us.

          2) We are better off when we let him deal with them, rather

                than trying to do it ourselves.



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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:


[1]  Understanding and Ameliorating Revenge Fantasies in Psychotherapy,

        Mardi J. Horowitz, M.D., American Journal of Psychiatry 2007;

        164:24-27. doi:10.1176. <http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=97634>


#22348  Bono On Jesus' Grace, Dr. Tony Campolo, 2002 Annual Session of

           the New Jersey American Baptist Churches, September 21, 2002.


#64213  Payback Time: Why Revenge Tastes So Sweet, Benedict Carey,

           July 27, 2004.  <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/27/science/~

           payback-time-why-revenge-tastes-so-sweet.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm>


#64214  Just Desserts, Elisabeth King, September 14, 2004.

           <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/14/1094927518356.html>


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