"For Such a Time As This": The Calling of Women as Leaders ~ Esther 4:10-17

 

There are some stories in the Bible that we know so well that we stop hearing how surprising they actually are. Esther is one of those stories. We have heard the phrase “for such a time as this” so many times it can almost sound like a greeting-card slogan. But when you stop and listen to Esther’s story, set in a time when men held all the power, it’s a powerful story of a woman exercising courageous leadership in the face of genocidal madness. The person God uses to save an entire people is a woman. Not a male ruler, warrior, or priest. But a woman.

And Esther is not some biblical superhero who begins the story knowing exactly what she’s doing. She is a young Jewish woman living in exile—an orphan, raised by her cousin Mordecai, caught inside an imperial harem system of sexual exploitation.

And the story challenges that male domination system before Esther ever enters the spotlight. The first woman we meet is Queen Vashti, who is commanded by the king to appear before his drunken guests so they can admire her beauty. And Vashti says “No!” The king and his court panic. They are afraid that if one woman can say no, other women might discover that they can say no too. So the king issues a decree that “every man should be ruler over his own household.” That language is striking because the only other place in Scripture where we find that kind of male rule discussed is in the curse of Genesis 3. Sometimes the Bible narrates a patriarchal system without presenting that system as God’s ideal. In fact, if we read Scripture carefully and redemptively, we discover a pattern: God repeatedly challenges and redeems the curse  - systems of male dominance that subjects women - by calling women to participate fully in God’s redemptive work of dismantling them.

And Esther is the star of that redemptive story. We should not turn her entrance into a Cinderella story. She did not audition for a dream job. She was caught inside an imperial system of sexual exploitation and male violence over which she had very little control. But God always works to bring courage and redemption out of gendered trauma without calling the trauma good.

And eventually Esther discovers something important. Even though she did not choose all of her circumstances, she does have a voice. She still has influence. She has access. And now the question becomes: What will she do with what she has been given?

That brings us to chapter four. Haman has developed a plan to destroy the Jewish people. Mordecai is mourning publicly, and Esther learns what is happening. But Esther is afraid. And I appreciate that about her because sometimes we turn biblical heroes into superheroes. Esther is not fearless. She understands the rules and the dire consequences. No one—not even the queen—is simply allowed to walk into the king’s presence uninvited. Doing so could mean death. And Mordecai says those famous words: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

We often hear those words as though they mean, “God has a wonderful plan for your life.” But in context, they mean something much more demanding and dangerous: You have been given access that other people do not have. You have a voice that other people do not have. You have influence that other people do not have. Will you stand up for others and use it?

And notice something else: Mordecai does not make the decision for Esther. He challenges her, but Esther has to decide. And notice something, Esther receives no miraculous assurance from God. There is no burning bush. No voice from heaven. No angel announcing God’s plan. Unlike Moses or Jeremiah, who protest their calling and then receive divine encouragement, Esther is met with silence. In fact, the book of Esther is remarkable because God never speaks. And yet Esther, even in the face of fear and silence, still acts and follows God any way.

She tells Mordecai to gather the Jewish people and fast. She and her attendants will fast too. She pauses. She thinks. She prays. She prepares. She develops a plan. And then she says, “I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” That is the moment Esther becomes a leader. Not because she was a queen. Not because she stops being afraid. She becomes a leader when she decides that fear and silence will not have the final word in the face of what harms.

And notice something else: Esther does not confuse faith with impulsiveness or courage with foolhardiness. Esther teaches us that prayer and preparation can belong together. Courage and fear can belong together. Faithfulness and God’s silence can belong together. I think that is one of the reasons Esther is a gift not only to women but also to men.

Men, we need Esther. We need to learn from her courage when God seems silent. We need to learn her strategic wisdom. We need to learn what it looks like to use privilege for the sake of people who have less access. We need to learn when to listen and when to speak. Because leadership is not about controlling the room. Sometimes leadership means recognizing that someone else has wisdom you need—and having enough humility to follow it.

Women, you need Esther too. But Scripture does not give us Esther merely as a lesson in “girl power.” Esther is a faithful human being. Her courage, wisdom, discernment, solidarity, perseverance, and willingness to risk herself for others are kingdom virtues. 

 

But—and this matters—the person God chose to embody and demonstrate those virtues in this instance was a woman. And Esther is not an isolated example. Miriam was called a prophet. Deborah was both prophet and judge, exercising leadership over Israel. Huldah was a prophet whom the king’s officials consult when they need to understand the rediscovered book of the Law. The biblical text never stops to apologize that these women were doing things women supposedly should not be doing. They simply do them.

And perhaps that is important for how we read these stories. Some Christians talk about women in leadership as though the Bible contains a few embarrassing exceptions that we have to explain away. But what if we read these stories differently? What if these women are not exceptions to God’s redemptive purposes, but evidence of God’s redemptive partnership?

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God uses women. God speaks through women. God entrusts women with authority. God offers women wisdom. God gives women prophetic voices. God places women in positions of leadership and calls women and men into mutual partnership – restored, together.

We see that pattern of female empowerment continue into the New Testament. Jesus entrusts the first announcement of the resurrection to women. Priscilla teaches men. Phoebe is commended as a house-church leader and benefactor. Junia is remembered as an apostle. The early Christian movement continues the Old Testament trajectory of women whose faith, courage, generosity, teaching, leadership, and witness, helped build God’s kingdom. The point is not that women are better than men. The point is that we diminish God’s salvific work whenever we exclude the gifts of anyone because of their sex.

Think about a chessboard. Imagine deciding that the queen, simply because she is female, should be kept on the back row. “She can participate,” you say. “We just don’t want her moving all over the board.” Well, that is not a very good game of chess. The queen does not have to become a king in order to exercise her power. She does not have to apologize for having a different kind of movement.

And perhaps there is something there for the church. Women do not have to become less like women or adopt male strategies in order to lead. And men do not have to be threatened by women’s leadership. The goal is not to make the queen smaller. The goal is for her to move so that the whole side to flourish. That is what “Better Together” means.

When Esther finally goes before the king, she uses her access to advocate for people who have less access. She uses her privilege for people who are vulnerable. She puts her own safety on the line because other people’s lives are at stake. She speaks truth to power. That is leadership. Leadership is not ultimately about who gets to be in charge. Leadership is about what you do with the power you have.

King Xerxes has a throne. Esther has courage. Xerxes has an enforced empire. Esther has spiritual solidarity. Haman has ambition. Esther has wisdom. Haman uses power to destroy people. Esther uses power to protect them. And that is the question Esther puts before all of us: What are you doing with the power you have?

 

Because you have some kind of power. You have some kind of influence. You have some kind of access. Maybe it’s at work. Maybe it’s in your family. Maybe it’s in the church. Maybe it’s in a classroom, a hospital, a boardroom, a nonprofit, a business, or around a kitchen table. And there are people all around us who are standing up to speak and care for others “for such a time as this.”

The Bible repeatedly tells stories of reversal in which God works through people whose society or circumstances make them unlikely candidates for influence. Esther is an orphan and an exile. Ruth is a foreign widow. Hannah is a woman who suffers emotional turmoil. Again and again, God lifts up people whom the powerful might overlook. The people we expect God to use are not always the people God uses. Sometimes God gives the microphone to the person the room has ignored. Sometimes God turns a pawn into a queen.

Most of us will wake up tomorrow and go to work. We will care for children. We will make decisions. We will sit beside someone who is hurting. We will walk into meetings. We will have difficult conversations. We will notice someone being excluded. And somewhere in all those ordinary places, there may come a moment when we realize: Perhaps I am here for such a time as this.

Not because everything that has happened to us was God’s plan. Not because God caused every painful thing. But because wherever we find ourselves, we can ask: How can I use whatever influence I have to participate in God’s healing work? That is Esther’s question. And the question that Esther asks to all of us.

 

Women: your voice matters. Your wisdom matters. Your courage matters. Your leadership matters. You do not have to become less a woman or more masculine in order to be faithful.

Men: sometimes faithfulness means making room. Sometimes it means leaning into humility and listening to women called by God. Sometimes it means recognizing the wisdom and authority of a woman and following her lead. Sometimes the most courageous thing a man can do is refuse to let his own privilege become an obstacle to someone else’s calling.

And all of us: you have been given something. A voice. Wisdom. Influence. Access. Courage. An opportunity.

Esther reminds us that God can work through the person nobody expected. God can give courage in the midst of fear. God can bring leadership out of unlikely places. And God calls women. 

 

And when women and men bring their gifts together—when we listen to one another, challenge one another, empower one another, protect one another, and serve together—we begin to see the beautiful vision God intended from the beginning. Not domination. Not competition. Not one gender above the other. But partnership. Mutuality. Love. Better together – “for such a time as this.”