DAY 171

FLOURISH

Esther 1 & 2 and Acts 5:1-21

We start another short story of the Bible, the Book of Esther. You might notice that the name of God is never mentioned in these first two chapters. His name will never be mentioned in it, and yet it is a story of God’s faithfulness.

We start with the king having a 180 day celebration that culminates in a private 7 day party. The king ordered each man to do as he desired. Do you get a sense of how wild things must have been? Then the king wants his queen, Vashti, to come out with her crown on and show everyone her beauty…meaning naked. She refuses. So the king, after getting advice, determines he should act in a way to “let every man be master of his own household.” How? The king sets in motion a process to pick another queen.

It is a long process, involving 12 months of “beautifying.” Esther is selected all the while hiding her Jewish heritage. Our reading ends with her uncle Mordecai uncovering a plot against the king. The story of Esther will continue to develop in the coming days as we see her flourish.

In the Acts of the Apostles we are much further into the story. The Apostles are having tremendous success. The religious of the day are becoming jealous as many are added to their ranks day by day. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit is palpable as those who are ill merely want Peter’s shadow to fall upon them, and they will be healed.

In the middle of this tremendous moment is sin. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira is not that they withheld money, it is that they lied. They wanted people to think they had sold their property and given all the proceeds to the church, but they didn’t. The Holy Spirit reveals this to Peter and the consequences are grave. He even confronts Sapphira, after Ananias’ death, giving her a chance to recant, but she sticks to her lie.  

It sounds wonderful, maybe you are thinking you wish your parish were like this, and that your priest or pastor had the power that seemed to be flowing through St. Peter. I often wonder if we have a sufficient level of maturity to handle this kind of Holy Spirit power flowing through us. Week after week people we thought were great Christian leaders fall from grace. Financial and sexual scandal seems to abound. Below the headlines countless others leave the pastorate and priesthood.

Yet in other parts of the world we do hear stories such as what we have read today. In China we hear of a tremendous number of people being healed, and similarly in South America. In these worlds we see a great poverty and lack of opportunity, and yet God seems to flourish. I do not have much more to say other then I am struck by this idea of flourishing. I usually try and caution myself to not turn Christianity into some sort of Western ideal of here-and-now prosperity - and yet I am struck by the here-and-now success in the readings. As both Esther and the Acts of the Apostles unfolds I will be looking to sort out more of this idea of flourishing.