The text doesn't tell us why Queen Vashti refused to appear
before the king and his court but the sages said that it was for one of two
reasons, either the king wanted her to appear naked, wearing only her crown for
all to see or that she had some disfigurement that caused her to be modest
about her appearance. At any rate, she
refused to be nothing more than a pretty face and said no to the king's drunken
demand. The king was apparently a weak
man, easily swayed by advisers. He decided,
upon their advice, that she must be removed from the court and her place was
now open for another to take it.
Those who believed in Jesus were not willing to openly
confess that belief and follow Him. The stakes
were too high. The Pharisees had
pronounced that if anyone confessed Jesus they would be de-synagogued, not
allowed to worship with the community, in essence shunned from the nation. These were afraid of losing something and
were unwilling to take a stand for Jesus.
There were so many questions about Him, and the danger to Him and His
followers was all too real. He didn't do
much to help Himself and He wasn't stepping into the role of king and Messiah
in the way they expected. He wouldn't
declare Himself as they hoped or wanted.
He never made it easy and clear by taking over the kingdom. His kingdom is not of this world and even
today it requires faith to see it and to declare it.
In Paul's time it was a dangerous thing to proclaim Jesus as
king. The Romans recognized no king but
Caesar, an unfortunate and sad proclamation which the Jewish leaders made
during the trial of Jesus. The Jewish
leaders were able to mobilize some of the rabble in Thessalonica against Paul
and Silas when they saw the Gospel being proclaimed and received in the city,
accusing them of inciting a rebellion against Caesar when in fact they had done
no such thing and the Jews knew it. Are we
prepared to face persecution in our own day for proclamation of the Gospel as
true in a way that other religions are not?
We may soon face such a decision in our world and I pray that we will be
found faithful if that day comes.
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