THE HEROINES DILEMMA

The Heroine's Dilemma - ESTHER

A Sermon by Rev. Mark R. Thomson

Harundale Presbyterian Church

May 11, 2003

4^th Sunday in Easter

Scripture: Galations 3:27-28, The Book of Esther

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.^{^[1]} Amen.

t is an unfortunate but necessary admission that there aren't many female heroines in the Bible. Of the 1,426 names mentioned in the Bible, only 111 are women's.^{^[2]} It is an admission that the Bible is an ancient document that comes out of a very male oriented culture. But it is not an admission that God has not or does not work through women.

Paul says in Galations,

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.^{^[3]}

The church has been striving to live out that truth, unfortunately only very recently in the span of church history with the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1956.^{^[4]}

Esther is one of those 111 women mentioned in the Bible, and one of only two to have an entire book named after them.

An interesting bit of trivia: No where in the book of Esther is God mentioned. It holds this singular honor in all of Scripture. That fact caused quite a debate about whether it should even be included in the books of the Bible.^{^[5]} Yet all agreed that God is clearly at work behind the scenes throughout the plot of the story, and God is clearly at work in the faith and courage of Esther.

We must admit that the story of Esther still bears the marks of a male dominated culture. After all, Esther rises to her position based solely upon her looks. She is queen, which simply means the first of many women in the harem.

But putting that aside for the moment, for a woman of her time, she had achieved what on the outside seemed like success:

comfort,

security,

popularity,

status,

but all this...

at the cost of keeping hidden her true self,

her identity,

her Jewishness.

But then comes the dilemma,

the heroine's dilemma:

save yourself

risk it all to save others.

Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.^{^[6]}

We know the end of the story. Esther is the heroine who through the courage of faith risks it all, revealing her true self to the King at the risk of death, and saving her people from the hateful Haman. She is a true heroine, and worthy of our admiration and emulation.

s a father of a seven year-old daughter, I am keenly aware of the lack of good female role models in our media and culture. As I reflected upon Esther, I found myself reminded of a book I read by Mary Phipher called Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls.

In it she makes the rather shocking statement that, "America today is a girl-destroying place."^{^[7]} That stops any Father or Mother of a daughter in their tracks. It is of course an extreme statement. Compared to some middle eastern and African cultures, America is a haven for women's rights. But Phipher wants to draw our attention to issues within our culture that can deeply affect young girls growing up in America today. I see the see the struggle of the many girls in her case studies akin to the dilemma that Esther faced.

Phipher spends the entire book bringing to the forefront the enormous unhealthy societal pressures that try to squeeze the life out of our daughters.

Think about it! Has much changed since Esther's day? Our culture judges women by how they look as well. Phipher laments that the media portrays women as, "expensive toys, the ultimate recreation"^{^[8]} Is that how I want men to think about my daughter?!

There are TV commercials where I have no idea what the product is, but there's some scantily clad female hawking it.

Teen magazines emphasize makeup and how to get boys interested rather than professional and educational development. Already underweight models are airbrushed even thinner and more perfect than humanly possible.

The messages are everywhere.

Men, we can't imagine what its like. I think of some popular sit-coms on TV like "King of Queens" where an overweight man is married to a gorgeous brunette. Or the one where Jim Belushi, not exactly an icon for male attractiveness, is married to a beautiful blonde. We laugh, but the double standard is glaring. Father's of daughters notice this stuff.

All of these pressures bear down on our daughters and it creates a dilemma, just like it did for Esther:

Girls can be true to themselves and risk abandonment by their peers, or they can reject their true selves and be socially acceptable. Most girls choose to be socially accepted and split into two selves, one that is authentic and one that is culturally scripted. In public, they become who they are supposed to be.^{^[9]}

It makes me angry that we have to teach our daughter to navigate this tumultuous sea of competing values. Right now, Jessica still lives in the world of fun where anything is possible. Soon she will start to notice the not so subtle message of our culture:

Don't worry about feeling good,

or being good,

worry about looking good.^{^[10]}

Plastic surgery is on the rise.

Girls are harassed in school. Date rape.

Women in our culture aren't allowed to age gracefully. Every other commercial is some magic tonic that takes away wrinkles and gray hair.

Depression and eating disorders among women are symptoms of the problem.

The Heroine's dilemma for women today,

the example of Esther for women today,

is to stay true to yourselves in the face

of enormous cultural pressure to be what you are not.

Because its not you who is wrong....

It’s our culture.

hile we can not simply ignore or instantly change the culture,

we as the Church can stand up and point out that it’s wrong!

Armed with our passage from Galations and the example of Esther's courage we can declare:

The pressure to be beautiful and thin is wrong!

The pressure to wear the right clothes is wrong!

The pressure to not be smart is wrong!

The pressure to have sex is wrong!

No one has the right to harass you!

Be who God created you to be, and if others aren't happy with it - tough.

Our culture is mixed up. It’s like when a bunch of pranksters broke into a large department store. They didn't steal anything. They simply rearranged all the price tags. Costly items went for the price of a sweater. Cheaper items went for the price of a lawn tractor. What's even more embarrassing is that it took a while for the store to notice.

Have we noticed yet that our culture is often shallow: giving away things of great value, while spending tons on things that don't matter?

was asked to prepare a sermon for our "Lady's Day" church celebration. This sermon came out of my prayers for my own daughter. I want my girl to grow up in a world where she can be who God made her to be. But I know the world can be a tough place and I have to prepare her for the open seas which can be turbulent.

Yet I know too that in Christ there is no male or female. Here in this place we as Christians show forth the love of God and live out the alternative to our mixed up culture.

I issue the challenge of the Gospel to you on this Lady's Day Celebration:

First, to the ladies:

· let your faith strengthen you to reveal your true self even at the risk of rejection.

· Don't give in to our culture's attitudes and stereo-types for women.

· Don't buy into the pressure to look or act a certain way.

· Be who God created you to be,

· and be proud of it.

Jesus once said, "Blessed are you when [people] revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."^{^[11]} He knew that Christians would live lives differently than the world and the world would taunt, tease, mock, or worse abuse us. Have the faith of Esther to face the world and be who God made you to be.

Second, to the parents of daughters:

· teach them and prepare them for those stormy seas as best you can.

· be critical of the images you see on TV and in the media and help them to know that our culture is mixed up and wrong, not them.

· love them the best you can.

Teach them the courage of Esther. They will make it through.

Third, to the parents of our sons:

· teach our sons that girls are not conquests.

· teach our sons to look past appearance.

· teach our sons to not be threatened by smart girls.

· teach our sons that what they see on TV isn't always something to be emulated.

Men, we have to set the example by what we do. Imagine how you'd want your daughter treated.

Fourth, to the Church:

We are the place where there is no Greek or Jew, there is no male or female. We are all one in Christ. We live out this Gospel truth here in this place, and in so doing, the Church becomes an island for our children, and for all persons who feel discriminated against, harassed, or rejected by our culture.

Here,

there is love for every person,

because God is love.

sther faced a choice: The Heroine’s Dilemma. Do you do what is safest and easiest, or do you risk doing what’s right? It’s easy to say, but its not as easy to do.

Let us celebrate today the Heroines in our midst.

To him who loves us

and has freed us from our sins by his blood

and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father,

to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.

Amen.^{^[12]}

^{^[2]} Newsome, Carl. Ringe, Sharon ed. 1992. The Women's Bible Commentary. Pg. 244. Westminster/John Knox Press. Louisville, KY.

^{^[4]} Boyd, Lois. Brackenridge, Douglas. Presbyterian Women in America. Two Centuries of a Quest for Status. Pg. 109-156. The Presbyterian Historical Society. Greenwood Press. Westport, Conn. The first official questions regarding the status of women in the Presbyterian Church began appearing at the General Assembly in 1892. The PCUSA General Assembly finally approved women's ordination in 1956. Margaret Towner, graduating from Union Seminary in New York, became the first Presbyterian woman minister when she was ordained on October 24, 1956.

^{^[5]} The original Hebrew version of Esther did not mention God at all. This caused considerable debate among Jewish and later Christians as to the "canonicity" of this text. In the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) there are an additional 107 verses added to Esther which mention God fifty times. However, only Roman Catholic Bibles include these verses as an appendix to the original story. Protestant Bibles are based on the Hebrew version of the text. ( Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. "Esther, Additions To." )

^{^[7]} Phipher, Mary. 1995. Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Pg. 44. Ballantine Books, New York.