In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Esther 4:3-4 NIV

What are you wearing? Depending on the context and relationship, intimacy seeking may start here.

In Esther’s case, she knew that Mordecai, her adopted father, in torn clothes and sackcloth lay at the palace gate. But why is he there?

Easily missed in the excitement of Esther 4:16 is the attempted erasure of the issue in Esther 4:4.

Before the brave declaration the busy dismissal.

Doubtless the Queen knew the significance of sackcloth and ashes.

Ashes accompanied sackcloth in times of national disaster or repenting from sin. Esther 4:1, for instance, describes Mordecai tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and walking out into the city “wailing loudly and bitterly.” Got Questions

Yet Esther does not seek to find out the context or the why of Mordecai’s mourning or how she might help.

In our day we often wear black for funerals as a sign of respectful mourning. In contrast, the visible expression of grief, personal or national, for the ancient Jew, was torn clothes, along with sackcloth and ashes. This is what the Jews of Persia collectively wore to signal their bewildered reaction to King Xerxes’ decree to spitefully slaughter them.

Esther: Unaware of the Deal?

Word reaches Esther about Mordecai, her adopted dad, wearing sackcloth. Apparently, she is ignorant of Haman’s deal with her husband:

“When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.” (Esther 4:4)

Esther doesn’t ask why Mordecai mourns. No. Esther doesn’t send a query.

Esther sends clothes.

Let’s sit with this.

Mordecai, her adopted father and older cousin raised Esther, loving her “as his own daughter” (Esther 2:7).

This is no nameless person in trouble. It is her father’s turmoil, which, so loud, so obvious it is reported to Queen Esther. She, upon hearing of his distress does not ask questions seeking understanding but clothes to cover his condition.

A Literal Cover-Up

Esther’s seeming evasion was likely doing something much more human for herself: she may have trying to address the pain without getting too involved.

It isn’t always because we don’t care. There’s something almost universal to prefer the “solution” of sent “clothes” rather than to “sit-with” the person in their sorrow, repentance, worry, sickness, lack and danger etc.

Of these messy things, however, ministry is made.

Isaiah’s Suffering Servant

Centuries before Esther’s court, Isaiah described a Figure treated dismissively:

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:3–4)

The verse is one of the Suffering Servant passages in Isaiah. We Christians interpret them as prophetic foretellings of the life, rejection, and crucifixion of Jesus, our Saviour.

Verse 3 highlights how the Servant would be rejected, ignored, and undervalued by the very humanity He came to save and serve.

As one from whom men hide their faces…

• the averted gaze;
• the unwillingness to be included in another’s suffering is not new.

The willfully blind ignorance is that “surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,” and that our pain we arrogantly and wrongly label His problem, calling Him “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”

Cover-up or Confrontation?

To be clear Esther’s gift of clothes to Mordecai and sinful humanity’s prophesied figuratively averted face from Jesus’s suffering are not the same event.

However they share symmetry in that they depict a very human and sometimes, sinful tendency to reject the sufferer or cover visible sorrow without entering it.

In complete contrast there is the God-man, Jesus who calls the heavy laden to Himself:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; Matthew 11:28 KJV

AND,

Who also enters into troubles and sorrows;

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. enter into our sorrows with comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV

Why Might Esther Have Been Distracted?

I speculate that Esther’s response didn’t arise from indifference toward Mordecai, instead, she may have been consumed by her own precarious situation.

Just verses later, Esther tells Mordecai’s through a messenger that she hasn’t been called into the king’s presence in thirty days (Esther 4:11).

In a court where royal favor could evaporate overnight, thirty days of silence from King Xerxes might be a crisis.

Esther may have been living in fear about her own standing:

• waiting to see if she’d fallen out of favor,
• wondering whether another woman had caught the king’s eye,
• worrying about her position, and possibly her life.

Was Esther’s position secure?

Absorbed in our own uncertain future we may have less capacity to lean into someone else’s grief.

It’s possible Esther wasn’t avoiding Mordecai’s pain so much as she was preoccupied by a private, parallel fear: Vashti, the previous queen had been suddenly and summarily dismissed.

Could the same fate await her?

Look to Jesus, Our Ultimate Source

Though likely the best that Esther could do in the moment, she made an offer to Mordecai which was initially inadequate to the crisis.

Finally, it’s not helpful to be hold onto anger at those who give less than what we need. Let us, by faith, look unto Jesus, the ultimate provider.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

One thing that makes this moment in Esther powerful is that Mordecai refuses the garments.

Thank God!

• God will not allow our attempts to look away from sorrow ultimately succeed.
• The grieving faithful refuse new garments; but will, instead,
• wait for God’s rescue, in this case, through divinely appointed people.

Whether you (like Mordecai) need rescue or (like Esther) are being called upon to to assist, one of the first steps is to see the need.

Let me ask you, What are you wearing and why are you wearing it?

What has brought you to this time in your life? How can I help you to continue believing God while you wait for His answer?

Blessings,

Kimberly