Who's tan, rested, and ready for another full week of saintly action? That was rhetorical. Of course you're tan. Today we have an intriguing Biblical matchup between Esther and Lazarus. Courageous queen vs. friend of Jesus. Who will advance? That's up to you.
After a depressing weekend without any voting, you may have forgotten what transpired on Friday. Edith Cavell, yet another one of the 2018 Cinderellas, took down theological heavyweight John Wesley 68% to 32%. She'll face Anna Alexander in what should be a lively Saintly Sixteen matchup.
It's hard to believe we're exactly halfway through the first round. But it's true. Eight matchups down, eight matchups to go before it's on to the the next round. Hang on to your halos!
Esther
Esther, a saint from the Hebrew Bible, lived between 520-450 BCE, in the Persian Empire. She was an orphan raised by her devout cousin Mordecai. King Ahasuerus was king of Persia, but he was not known for being a nice guy. When we first meet him, he summons his wife Vashti to appear before a room of visiting dignitaries. When she refuses to appear, he orders her to be killed. Yikes.
To replace Vashti, the king holds an ancient beauty pageant: Women from all over the empire are summoned so that he may choose his favorite. Esther is declared the most beautiful in the kingdom and becomes queen—but she has not told anyone at the court, including the king, that she is Jewish.
Meanwhile, Haman, the king’s chief advisor, is struggling with some major ego issues. Because he believes Mordecai slighted him on the street, Haman convinces the king to order the murder of all Jews in the kingdom.
Mordecai informs Esther, urging her to do something. So Esther concocts a plan. In Persia, a law forbade entering the king’s presence unless he sent for you, under penalty of death. Esther asks the Persian Jews to pray and fast with her. Then, she gets dressed up and goes before the king—unrequested—and risks her own life.
Thankfully, the king has pity on her and grants her an audience. She takes the opportunity to invite the king and Haman to dine with her that evening. That dinner party goes so well that she suggests a second dinner party the next evening. The second night, after dinner is winding down, and everyone is in a good mood, Esther seizes the opportunity to come out as Jewish and announces that if Haman is to kill all the Jews in the land, then that would include her. MIC. DROP.
The king immediately decrees that Haman should be executed. He stipulates that the Jews will now be allowed to fight in their own defense on the day of the proposed mass execution. And so Esther saves the Jews of Persia.
Esther’s story has come to be seen as emblematic of how a minority can wield power within a majority culture. She negotiates power imbalances and exercises her privilege on behalf of her people and in the service of God. Through her story, she is wholly herself and still protects her people.
Collect for Esther
O God of the dispossessed, kindle in us the confidence and certainty of Esther, that we may hold fast to who we are, and seek to do your will, even in the most difficult of circumstances, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany (also Lazarus of the Four Days, referring to the time he was dead for four days) is intimately connected with the life of Jesus.
According to the New Testament witness, Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, were some of Jesus’ closest friends. The eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel recounts Jesus’ deep grief over the death of Lazarus, and the subsequent miracle of his resurrection.
Like many biblical figures, Lazarus only makes a brief appearance in the text itself, but numerous extra-biblical traditions have been handed down and provide deeper detail. According to John 12, Lazarus’s resurrection garnered a great deal of attention, both from those who were inspired by the story and from those who were threatened by it. Later tradition suggests that Lazarus fled Judea for someplace safer, perhaps in response to threats upon his life.
Two theories developed about Lazarus’s flight from Judea; a more recent tradition tells of his travels to Marseille, France, while an older tradition tells of him settling in Cyprus. In both traditions, Lazarus lived for another three decades and continued to witness to the work and message of Jesus.
Although there are few details of Lazarus’s personality, it is not hard to imagine that his death and resurrection must have profoundly changed him. According to one story, seeing death made him very somber, and he smiled only once in his remaining thirty years.
Some scholars have suggested that Lazarus is the unnamed “Beloved Disciple” of John’s Gospel, a view that adds even more poignancy to the scene of Jesus’ grief outside the tomb of Lazarus.
In Western traditions, the witness of Lazarus is remembered, along with his sisters, on July 29. In the Orthodox church, the day before Palm Sunday is known as Lazarus Saturday—a foretaste of the joy of Easter Sunday as the church prepares for Holy Week.
Collect for Lazarus
Generous God, whose Son Jesus Christ enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany: Open our hearts to love you, our ears to hear you, and our hands to welcome and serve you in others, through Jesus Christ our risen Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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215 comments on “Esther vs. Lazarus of Bethany”
Esther's story is really compelling, and relevant today...but she might not have actually existed. I'm going with Lazarus, who might have been the Beloved Disciple, but who definitely was a friend of Jesus'.
It's interesting to note a parallel between today's saints, though: neither of them asked for the thing that made them famous! Esther had no choice in the matter of being taken as the king's wife, and Lazarus certainly didn't ask to be brought back from the dead!
Perhaps that’s why he smiled only once —-in the thirty years that he lived again!
So torn. Our congregation's Bible study had a whole discussion last week about people (like Lazarus) being raised from the dead. Also I had a pet mouse named Lazarus after we thought he had died from nibbling the wrong thing but miraculously returned to life.
But it's hard to argue with "all he did was be dead," despite his subsequent solemn life. So, with Esther I go!
I went into this thinking about how God is not ever mentioned in the Book of Esther, and besides, aren't saints by definition people who profess faith in Jesus? But Esther in her sacrificial courage is a forerunner of Christ, and indeed as someone upstream pointed out, in her actions may have made his birth possible. And actions speak louder than words -- indeed in the Hebrew word for "word," debar, word and action are essentially synonymous. And so, in times like these, Esther got my vote.
Hmmm, I would've thought Lazarus would have done nothing but smile for 30 years after getting yanked back from the brink! He must have been something special to have been one of Jesus' besties, and I wish we knew more about him and his sisters. I think Jesus truly grieved over Lazarus' death, and for the pain he caused Martha and Mary by dilly-dallying around before responding to their message.
But my vote today is for Purim, for the Sheherazade of the Hebrew world (although Esther's story came first!), for the brave woman who never forgot her roots, despite fame and fortune. Esther for the gold!
Actually, I'm not so sure Esther's story preceded that of Sheherazade. . .
Today was a harder choice than I thought. My Mom’s name ( and now my granddaughter) was Esther. Both touched the world with their devotion. In the end Esther won out.
Esther. She is an inspiration of how one person can change the course of history.
I voted for Esther because of her courage and willingness to be a martyr, the willingness to act against evil. I just want to know exactly what she did at those dinner parties to have such an impact, so that I may go and do likewise!
Rise again, Lazarus, rise again.
Although there are some more convincing arguments for Lazarus here than I would have thought possible, I voted for Esther, if for nothing else inspiring a Jewish friend's favorite holiday. But of course, there is so much else!
"Oh once there was a wicked wicked man and Hamman was his name sir, he lied and lied about the Jews but they were not to blame sir!" Esther all the way, from my roots in Judaism she has always been a hero to me.
I love the symbolic symmetry of Esther's story, and the non-biblical oral traditions that follows Lazarus. Thank you for a wonderful Monday morning read. Oh, I voted for Esther.
Lazarus has had a somewhat repelling fascination for me ever since I saw _The Last Temptation of Christ_, where he is depicted as, well, death warmed over, still somewhat decayed from his death experience. Another similar influence has been Carrie Newcomer's song about him. I think it probably was very difficult to be the one the Jesus raised from the dead, and so I'm giving him my sympathy vote, although I was happy to learn about Esther.
I think Lucy said it best... “Jesus is always doing for and with us that which we cannot do for ourselves“ and the story of Lazarus bring that point home. Going with Lazarus.
I gotta go with the risen guy. For me there's nothing of historical substance in either of these stories. (Don't @ me.) The question is, Which makes the better narrative? Going by the principle "best story wins" I choose Lazarus. He's almost constructed to be the blank screen upon which we all imagine our own death and resurrection. I imagine myself bound up in white linen and suspiciously well washed, stepping out of a sterile dry enclosed space with the wrappings falling off and feeling the sun on my skin for "the first time," how delicious that would be, how wondrous, how lovely.
Sutra
I blinked painfully.
After three days the hot white ball
was unfamiliar, and shocking
and yet intimate as a cat's tongue
licking newborn fur.
The hot liquid of those rays
poured into my bones
and hardened, and each joint
clacked into vitality.
As I stepped on feet as soft
as the pads on a kitten's paw
the linens fell away
and my skin, which had been washed,
sloughed into pure light.
My whole body tingled with singing.
St. Celia, that is lovely! Thank you for sharing.
I believe that the Lazarus story was included in the gospel of John to echo the story of Elijah raising the widow's son, thereby comparing Jesus to Elijah. While the details of the actual Esther story are lost in antiquity, I think she actually existed. Therefore I voted for the real person as opposed to the fictional one.
Much as I love the story of Lazarus, I have to go with Esther. Risk taking pays off, making a stand for her people.
I am going to renew my protest from the first day of Lent Madness. The seedings are terrible. Esther v. Lazarus should be at least a second round match up.
"your breath smell like some cigarettes"
That's the only lyric I can quote. Are you sure you aren't trolling us all this morning? Esther would not have joined the gucci gang. And Dat Boi does not seem like the resurrection type. So I'm a bit confused about your contribution. Perhaps you could provide a hint as to your aim for joining this little party ambling to Canterbury.
Well, Lazarus is a Christian saint.
Although Lazarus is favored by Jesus Esther save her peple
Strong woman Esther! Minority women do what must be done to save family and culture. Be like Esther! Those of dominant and supremist ilk take note.
Esther, for all the reasons others have given, especially the "acting versus acted upon" argument.
I think Esther was a quick thinking Woman
before her time. She saved her own people
by risking her own life going before the King!
Lazarus was a friend to Jesus and spread the good news, but Esther was more forthcoming in her decisions!
I just checked in the Book of Esther and it says the King put Vashti away, but not that he had her killed.
Vashti was always an unsung heroine of this story to me. The impression I always got was that Xerxes wanted her to dance like a trained monkey for his friends and that she refused because she was "proud." He thought he was getting someone more compliant in Esther, but he thought wrong.
Like.
It seems every one has seriously thought about their vote. That's good. I had to vote for Esther because that was my grandmother's name and it is my daughter's middle name. What can I say?
Notwithstanding pious traditions to the contrary, I always thought that the logical conclusion to John 12:10 is that the' chief priests' succeeded in their plans to have Lazarus killed, just as they succeeded in having Jesus killed.
Esther was a hero, but Lazarus is us, living the reality of death and grief, living in hope of resurrection, being a friend of Jesus, hearing and responding to his voice to come out of the tomb. Realistically I'm not going to be a hero, I certainly won't win a beauty contest and I won't hoodwink a king. I will live in obscurity as Lazarus did before and after this episode. My hope is to live as a friend of Jesus faithfully, responding to grace as he did. This is not to say that Esther didn't have those qualities too, but I cannot translate that to my life.
I like the sound of "Saint Esther."
I didn't vote for "John the Evangelist" because I am one of the people convinced that Lazarus was actually the "beloved disciple." So I voted for him today so I could cast a vote for that fourth gospel. I don't mind that Esther will advance -- she is certainly admirable.
In case anybody is interested in the reasoning behind the "beloved disciple" question, here are some rationales. John 11:36: So the Jews said, "See how he [Jesus] loved him [Lazarus]." Lazarus is the only person specifically mentioned as having been loved by Jesus. John 18:15: That disciple was known to the high priest -- how was a fisherman from Capernaum supposed to have been known to the high priest? John 21:21-22. Peter asked Jesus "What about him?" -- meaning "the disciple whom Jesus loved. Jesus said, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" This interchange makes very little sense applied to the disciple John. But it's a very reasonable question to ask about somebody who has already died once -- will he die again?
Gotta love Esther! And I have a certain grinchy feeling about Lazarus’ having recently horned in on his sisters’ long-established feast day, which is also my birthday! (So much for theological rationale.)