All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. – Esther 3:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 5, 2014): Esther 3

I recently read a blog post regarding a couple of politicians who refused to pledge allegiance to the flag in the United States. Most of the comments recorded on the post responded in anger. And some even suggested that anyone who would refuse to pledge allegiance must have been communists – at the very least they were traitor’s to the nation in which they resided – and most likely the nation of their birth.

But the reality is probably quite different. There are many reasons for not pledging allegiance, and the truth is that someone who was angry with the nation and intended to the country harm probably would not have any reservation with pledging allegiance. But the blog posting reminded me of another refusal to pledge allegiance. This incident happened in the days after 9/11 when national pride was running at its peak. And this time is was a prominent pastor who refused to pledge allegiance. He said that he felt strange standing on the platform with other dignitaries but when it came time for the pledge of allegiance, he simply let his hands hang at his side. It was not that he was not proud to be an American or felt like this was the time to exercise some form of civil disobedience against his nation. But in all seriousness, even at this point in history, he felt that he could not pledge allegiance to the flag – or to the country. His allegiance could only be in one place – and that was in Jesus Christ. And he could not afford, even at this time in history, to allow his allegiance to be divided.

The reality of the situation is that Christians have had to make this decision often throughout history. But another part of this is that the nation – any nation – could only be well served by those who take their pledge to Jesus seriously. They are the ones that will be in prayer for their nations, standing in the gap for their leaders, and these are the men and women that will do their absolute best for the country that they serve because they believe they are serving a higher power. And for that reason they are also hard to corrupt.

Mordecai faced a similar problem. In Persia, kings were elevated to the status of god (Xerxes was a Zoroastrian follower, and the followers of Zoroaster had no problem with multiple gods), and it is likely that Haman, although not a king, was being raised to a position that was like the god status of the rulers over the empire. And Mordecai was being asked to bow down and pledge allegiance to Haman, the new god, and the empire– and that was something that he was unable to do. It was not that he meant Haman, or the king, or the empire any harm – but his allegiance could be to none of them. His allegiance could only be pledged to his God – the one and the only God of Israel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Esther 4