Do you ever wonder why your life is going no-where? Do you feel stuck in a merry-go-round of tiresome activities, leaving you defeated?
This remarkable story is a lighthouse to guide you out of your defeated self.
An Unlikely Hero
The story of Esther is set in the ancient Persian Kingdom of King Xerxes I (Ahasuerus), around the 5th century BC. It is one of the most compelling stories in the Bible. It exudes freshness and drama. The King is upset with his queen, and she is deposed.
A search is ordered for a new queen. After a stringent selection process, King Xerxes chooses Esther, a Jewish girl as his queen. But she keeps her Jewish identity a secret. Mordecai, her uncle, is her mentor. He is always watchful for Esther and the King.
Haman, an ambitious man, becomes the principle courtier in the King’s palace. He wants the Jews destroyed because Mordecai, the Jew, would not bow down to him. He persuades the King to issue a proclamation to slaughter this ‘certain’ people who ‘keep themselves separate.’
Mordecai implores Esther to go the King and plead with him for mercy. She is hesitant because she knows she cannot approach the King without being invited. The penalty for coming before the King uninvited is death. Mordecai convinces Esther that the fate of her people is entirely dependent on her initiative. Reluctantly, she agrees to go to the King. She says to Mordecai, ‘If I perish, I perish.’
However, the King is happy to see her in his court. In carefully thought out strategy, she invites the King and Haman for dinner that night. After an extravagant meal, Esther asks them again the following night for dinner. The second day, she narrates to the King, Haman’s plot to destroy her people.
It is this precise moment that Rembrandt captures in the painting. Overall, the scene is dark and foreboding. The artist has floodlighted Esther. In the scrutiny of the light, she appears frail and vulnerable. There is a trace of fear and uncertainty on her face. She has just spoken. With her head bowed, she awaits the outcome of her supplication.
The King is angry, and he has just lifted his sceptre to give a command. Haman is in the dark. The implication of what Esther just said is beginning to sink into him. His situation has become precarious, and he now has to beg for his life. But there will be no mercy. Guards will soon come to take him away to be executed on the very pole that he had prepared for Mordecai to be hanged.
In a total reversal of fortunes, Mordecai is made the principal advisor to the King. Jewish lives are saved.
In the painting, Rembrandt brings the hero and the villain face to face with the King in the middle as the final arbitrator. Esther scripts this moment very carefully. She is taking an enormous risk in approaching the King. She knew her fate could go either way before a mercurial King. She risks everything - her position, her comfort and even her life. In the face of a real threat to her life, she chooses to sideline her fear and take a leap into the unknown.
The only thing that will destroy you
It is not taking a risk that kills you. It is fear that ultimately destroys you and aborts the potential of who you could be. Fear is a natural response to any action that has the likelihood of making an impact.
But giving in to fear provides only a short term relief. On the surface, it would appear to maintain the status quo. But you have lost an opportunity to create a different future and a different reality.
The one thing needed
Esther’s story is part of the biblical canon solely because of her single act of courage. She did not do this after overcoming her fears. But she took this extraordinary step despite her fears.
What enabled her? Her own life was not under immediate threat. But she knew for certain that the fate of her people hung on her decision. When she took her eyes off herself and her survival, she could see the larger picture. That gave her the strength to take that first tentative step.
Any crisis that has a disastrous consequence for others becomes an opportunity. Leaders are born when they perceive these moments and espouse the cause of the afflicted. Though the risk of failure is real, you are winning or failing for a great cause.
Isn't that worth it?
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