I haven’t blogged in a while – ten hour days 6 days a week
don’t leave much time for thinking no less writing. With the onset of the New
Year, I am going to try and get back to some writing, but until I get some
things written I am sharing something I wrote last year. While finishing up my
BS in Religion, I thought and prayed, long and hard, about a Master’s program.
I was already accepted into the program I am now part of, but I seriously
wanted and considered a Theology program. I found out that the London School of
Theology was starting a brand new program called Integrative Theology dealing
with the intersection of faith with real life. To kick off the program they
were having an essay contest and if your essay was chosen as the winner, you
attended school for free. I decided I had nothing to lose and the possibility
of a free degree, so I wrote an essay. Since the essay had to be written about
integrating theology with a secular job such as public leadership I decided to
write about someone who, in my opinion, did an amazing job of
integrating faith with his job. Mordecai is one of my favorite men from the
Bible. And while his story is told in the book of Esther, there would have been
no Esther, person or book of the Bible, without Mordecai. I did not win the essay contest, but I was
pleased that my essay stood out among the many and was shortlisted. Here is the
essay I submitted to the London School of Theology for their consideration.
Integrative Theology
Is the Future
Theology is thought by many to be a
subject primarily for pastors or missionaries. Their jobs require them to be
familiar with the character and person of God. They are often questioned
regarding the purposes or will of God, they are asked for Godly wisdom and
advice, and they teach great truths about God. They need to know about God. In America it is estimated that less than
20% percent of people[1] go
to church on a regular basis, so a majority of the population does not get
anywhere close to a pastor. Even with technological advances there are not
enough missionaries to reach the unchurched in America, no less the rest of the
world. But besides salvation, with the lack of knowledge about God, how is
society to be influenced for God? Society is influenced for God when those of
us who are Christians, and are not pastors or missionaries, take our beliefs
and convictions to the workplace. If Christians are the hands and feet of the
church then they are the ones taking God into society, so it seems as though
perhaps regular Christians, not just pastors and missionaries, need to know
about theology as well. This would be especially important for someone in a
position of public leadership. A Christian in a public leadership position has
many opportunities to influence people, businesses, and even nations for God.
We see several examples in Scripture of leaders who brought about civil, moral,
and even national change in their positions of leadership, but in this essay we
are going to consider Mordecai, prominent leader and cousin to Esther, who
became Queen and wife of King Xerxes of Persia.
Mordecai was a Jew who was from the tribe of Benjamin. (Esther 2:5) We
know from the Scriptural text that earlier generations of Mordecai’s family had
been taken from their home in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar. Esther 2 indicates that Mordecai was a cousin of Esther and he
had adopted her as both of her parents had died. Nothing is said of Mordecai’s
religious beliefs, however, the many accounts of his behavior and character
throughout the book of Esther lead me to believe that Mordecai, like Daniel,
another well-known Jewish captive, had a strong faith in God.
It was not a single act Mordecai did that changed the lives of the Jews
living in the provinces controlled by King Xerxes; it was his entire life. It
has been said that true character is revealed by how a person acts when no one
is watching. Even when no one was looking at Mordecai, his life was an example
of discretion, discernment, and integrity. Mordecai, being the observant and
aware man that he was, knew the character of Xerxes. While it is likely that
Mordecai was not in attendance at the banquet (1:4), he would have heard the
story of Xerxes’ command to Vashti (1:11) and her refusal to be paraded in
front of the drunken citizens of Susa. (1:12) He knew that Xerxes, in his
insecurity and pride, had not considered Vashti’s vulnerability. It is not
surprising then that when Esther was taken to the palace, Mordecai advised her
to keep her ancestry a secret. (2:10) And even though he knew the king’s true
character, Mordecai did not stay silent when he overheard the plot to take the
king’s life. He knew that if the king were killed, then Esther would likely be
killed too. So he spoke up saving the life of Xerxes and the life of Esther,
the girl he had raised as a daughter. (2:15)
While Esther is credited with saving the nation, and it was no small
thing she did, in reality, Mordecai saved the nation. It was he who had always
acted with such wisdom and discernment that Esther, even when she was queen,
(2:20) still followed his instructions. It was through Mordecai that Esther
found out about the edict permitting her people to be annihilated (4:8) and it
was Mordecai that counseled Esther as to her course of action with the king.
After Esther expressed her fear at going before the king unannounced, Mordecai
reminded her that she would not escape death just because she lived in the
palace. He told Esther that, “relief and deliverance would come for the Jews,”
and perhaps this was why she had been made queen.
(4:13-14) Mordecai’s response to Esther mirrors the response of some other
well-known Jewish captives who told their king whether by life or death, their God would save them from the
king’s hand. (Daniel 3:17) Those captives were willing to die to obey God just
as Esther stepped out in faith and obedience by saying, “If I perish, I perish”
(4:16)
The linchpin in the Jews victory over
their enemies is found in Esther 9:3-4 where it says,
“And
all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s
administrators helped the Jews, because fear
of Mordecai had seized them. Mordecai
was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the
provinces, and he became more and more powerful.”
(9:3-4)
I don’t believe Mordecai
set out to be a powerful person; I believe Mordecai was trying to be faithful –
faithful to his God, his family, and himself. And because Mordecai was faithful
in a few things, he ended up being put in charge of many things. (Matt. 25:21)
Mordecai was given the king’s signet ring and was second only to King Xerxes,
(8:2) he was held in high regard by the Jews, (10:3) high-ranking Persians,
(9:3) and is remembered as working for the good of his people. (10:3) Mordecai
was not a rabbi or a priest. He was an ordinary man, a Jewish captive in a
foreign land, who brought his faith into the workplace and literally changed
his world.
