Today's Scripture Reading (October 31, 2023): Esther 4
One of the
great things about Halloween is that, for a few hours, you can be anyone or
anything you want to be. And if you pick the correct disguise, no one will know
who you are. And there is a freedom that goes with the ability of being unknown.
Even the shyest or most reserved people can become outgoing entertainers if
they just wear a costume. The best actors do precisely that with every role
they undertake, turning themselves into someone else, sometimes without a
costume that hides their identity. They become someone else and act as the
character would instead of how the actor would. It can be a liberating
experience.
But the reality
is that the less we are known, the more unrestrained we are to act; for the
commoner, Halloween comes every day. The truth is that I can go and do mundane
tasks only because I am unknown. No one cares if I go through the McDonald's
Drive-through at three in the morning; I am just another night visitor, and no one
cares as long as I pay my bill. But at the same time, it is something that
someone famous or influential would find hard to do. Could you imagine the
President of the United States sneaking out of the White House to grab a three
a.m. Big Mac, hoping no one will know of his nighttime journey? For years, rumors
of a secret exit out of the White House for such escapades have existed. Still,
the reality is that even if the President could get away from his bodyguards,
every person he ran into on his nighttime expedition would know precisely who
he was. Rumors would grow until the President and his Big Mac were front-page
news on almost every gossip rag. Anyone with any fame knows that being known
can be a curse.
Esther was Queen.
It must have once seemed like a dream come true to an orphaned Hebrew girl. But
the dream was also a nightmare. Esther couldn’t do whatever she wanted to do.
She was known, under careful guard, and her movements were severely restricted.
A life where she once would have been able to go anywhere now was limited to
the places reserved for the King’s harem. Even something as simple as going to
meet the uncle who had raised her became a hard thing to do.
Esther had
seen Mordecai and knew that something was wrong, but it seemed beyond her
ability to meet with her uncle and find out what was bothering him. Instead,
she sends a handler to him to ask what is wrong. It was an action that Esther
would have liked to have undertaken herself, but her position and fame made
that impossible. Once, she could have gone wherever she wanted, but now she was
limited by her status and fame. The result was that the man who was once the
most important person in her life had now become someone she felt she could
only talk to through a go-between. It was the price that had to be paid to go
from an orphan girl to a queen.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Esther 5
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