The Price of Peace (II)

Sermon on Esther Addition E (16:1-24)

This is the second time I am speaking on the topic of peace. The first time I spoke, I expounded on the first edict issued by Haman. In that first edict, Haman called upon the destruction of the Jews in the name of peace. For him, peace could be attained by removing those who are different. At least, that was the official argument given. In response, I taught that that was not true peace. Peace is not achieved by uniformity but by unity. Instead of seeking to remove those who are different, we must learn to embrace them. Instead of seeking to change others, we should learn to change ourselves. The price of peace is not bloodshed for those who cannot conform. The price of peace is egos that are shed for the sake of others. “Only a life lived for others is worth living.”

But the edict of Haman was nonetheless issued. It was therefore, by the Persian laws, irrevocable. Even though Haman had been punished and his power transferred to Mordecai, the legitimacy of the old edict remained. Esther and Mordecai may have preserved their lives, but not so for the rest of the Jews. Even though Mordecai could not revoke the edict of Haman, he could however neutralize it with a new edict of his own. And this is the content of today’s passage. Mordecai issued a new edict which allowed the Jews to defend themselves. On the day that the Jews would be attacked by Haman’s people, they will instead be protected. It was an ingenious way to reverse the effects of Haman’s edict. Given that the power of Haman had shifted to Mordecai, we can expect that those neutral bystanders will support the Jews instead of their attackers. With this new edict, it was no longer the Jews that were in trouble but their enemies.

But some of you might respond to this new edict negatively. This retaliation of the Jews against their enemies is against the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught us not the way of revenge but the way of pacifism. This means that we should repay attacks with nonviolence. In Matthew 5: 38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” Is Mordecai's edict of self-defense in contradiction to Jesus'?

I have 3 responses to this. Firstly, I want to affirm the value of Christian non-violence. To respond to evil with good deeds and well intentions is a perfectly viable choice. Let all violence and grievances be sacrificed by the work of Jesus on the Cross. As it is taught in 1 Peter 3, 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing. 13Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed.” This is a path that is well proven to work real changes as seen in the lives of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. So my first response is that choosing Christian non-violence is fine.

Secondly, even though Christianity, in most cases, is a strong proponent of nonviolence, Mordecai’s edict was not in contradiction to Jesus’ teachings. To assume this would be to misinterpret Jesus. Many wrongly thought that Jesus was condoning or rewarding violence. No! Rather, Jesus’ teaching is about exposing evil for what it is. To turn the other cheek is not to ask for more punishment but to ask the person to respect you by not insulting you with the backhand slap. “This cheek, not the other cheek”. To give your cloak as well as your tunic is to show everybody that the person suing you is leaving you naked. It is not just something material, the evil person is leaving you to die. Likewise, to go two miles instead of one is to deliberately show the injustice of the punishment. Essentially, Jesus is teaching a new kind of justice other than retaliating with vengeance. It is far more important to shine light on evil and darkness. Let the ugliness of the misdeed be laid bare, so that the evildoer will be defeated without a fight.

This was indeed the core of Mordecai’s edict. The purpose of the edict was to allow for the self defense of the Jews and for the rest to support them. But the way Mordecai argued for this was to expose the evil of Haman. Let us now look at the text of the edict found in Addition E.

Chapter E

1
The following is a copy of the letter:
"King Ahasuerus the Great to the governors of the provinces in the hundred and twenty-seven satrapies from India to Ethiopia, and to those responsible for our interests: Greetings!
2
"Many have become the more ambitious the more they were showered with honors through the bountiful generosity of their patrons.
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Not only do they seek to do harm to our subjects; incapable of bearing such greatness, they even begin plotting against their own benefactors.
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Not only do they drive out gratitude from among men; with the arrogant boastfulness of those to whom goodness has no meaning, they suppose they will escape the vindictive judgment of the all-seeing God.
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"Often, too, the fair speech of friends entrusted with the administration of affairs has induced many placed in authority to become accomplices in the shedding of innocent blood, and has involved them in irreparable calamities
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by deceiving with malicious slander the sincere good will of rulers.
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This can be verified in the ancient stories that have been handed down to us, but more fully when one considers the wicked deeds perpetrated in your midst by the pestilential influence of those undeserving of authority.
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We must provide for the future, so as to render the kingdom undisturbed and peaceful for all men,
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taking advantage of changing conditions and deciding always with equitable treatment matters coming to our attention.
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1 "For instance, Haman, son of Hammedatha, a Macedonian, certainly not of Persian blood, and very different from us in generosity, was hospitably received by us.
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He so far enjoyed the good will which we have toward all peoples that he was proclaimed "father of the king,' before whom everyone was to bow down; he attained the rank second to the royal throne.
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But, unequal to this dignity, he strove to deprive us of kingdom and of life;
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and by weaving intricate webs of deceit, he demanded the destruction of Mordecai, our savior and constant benefactor, and of Esther, our blameless royal consort, together with their whole race.
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For by such measures he hoped to catch us defenseless and to transfer the rule of the Persians to the Macedonians.
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But we find that the Jews, who were doomed to extinction by this archcriminal, are not evildoers, but rather are governed by very just laws
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and are the children of the Most High, the living God of majesty, who has maintained the kingdom in a flourishing condition for us and for our forebears.
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"You will do well, then, to ignore the letter sent by Haman, son of Hammedatha,
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for he who composed it has been hanged, together with his entire household, before the gates of Susa. Thus swiftly has God, who governs all, brought just punishment upon him.
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"You shall exhibit a copy of this letter publicly in every place, to certify that the Jews may follow their own laws,
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and that you may help them on the day set for their ruin, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, to defend themselves against those who attack them.
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For God, the ruler of all, has turned that day for them from one of destruction of the chosen race into one of joy.
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Therefore, you too must celebrate this memorable day among your designated feasts with all rejoicing,
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so that both now and in the future it may be, for us and for loyal Persians, a celebration of victory, and for those who plot against us a reminder of destruction.
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"Every city and province, without exception, that does not observe this decree shall be ruthlessly destroyed with fire and sword, so that it will be left not merely untrodden by men, but even shunned by wild beasts and birds forever."

We can see from the edict that Mordecai was trying to show what a scheming, sly and conspiring evil plotter Haman was. He is the dog that bites the hand that feeds him. He was doing all of it to feed his clandestine goals. He was shedding innocent blood. And he did all of it in a devious manner. I’m sure that all the Persians who read the edict would be enraged by the deception of Haman, and rallied themselves alongside the Jews. In short, Mordecai was exposing the evil of Haman.

After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour, then American President Roosevelt had an important task. He needed to convince Congress to pass a declaration of war against Japan and hence officially bring U.S. into WWII. Yet, the Isolationists who favor non-intervention, had a well-organized and powerful presence in the Congress. That was when President Roosevelt gave his famous “Infamy speech”.

“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
Roosevelt intended for his speech to have a strong emotional impact. He was appealing to the anger felt by Americans at the nature of the Japanese attack. So he purposefully framed the speech around the perceived low moral character of the Japanese government. Some notable lines include:
“But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.”
We see how Roosevelt was exposing the evil of the attack. Congress passed the declaration of war shortly.

So my first response is that nonviolence is a perfectly Christian way to respond to violence. In short, Mordecai’s solution is not the only solution. However, my second response is that Mordecai’s edict does not contradict Jesus’ teachings. The aim of Jesus’ teaching is not to condone evil, as commonly thought, but to expose evil. And that’s exactly what Mordecai has done.

I have a third response to this matter of peace. I have this response because Christian nonviolence often becomes an excuse for Christian apathy towards violence. In such cases, this is not self-sacrifice but rather self-interest at work. Our failure to fight violence is not because we want to fight it with love, but because we are afraid of being harmed. Like an ostrich with its head in the sand, we thought that if we ignore the violence, it will leave us alone. That is not true peace. That is passing the buck （推卸责任）. Passing the buck in international relations theory involves the tendency of nation-states to refuse to confront a growing threat in the hopes that another state will. That is sadly demonstrated by England and France before WWII. They tried to appease the Germans by sacrificing Czechoslovakia. They were hoping to pass the buck of confronting the Germans to the Russians. After signing the Munich Pact, then British Prime Minister Chamberlain announced to a cheering welcoming British crowd,
"My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.”

But is there peace? It certainly wasn’t peace with honor. We all know the history. Violence cannot be appeased. It can only be confronted. So as much as I am a non-violent person by nature, I have to admit that Mordecai’s edict of self-defense is also valid. To condone the evil of Haman would be morally inadmissible. “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” We have to learn from history and be peace-makers of our generation. But if evil is already happening, the edict is sent and irrevocable, we have to deal with it actively, with or without violence. This is what it means to live forward. For the sake of righteousness, we must do what is necessary, though it may be costly. We cannot pass the buck.

What is the implication for us? Violence is just as real today. It can be huge in the form of terrorist attacks. It can also come in the form of bullies in our school and workplace. We can choose to fight evil with love. That is a viable response well grounded biblically. We can also follow the footsteps of Mordecai to expose evil for judgment. That may lead to confronting violence aggressively out of self-defense. But what we must never do is to pretend that evil is not our problem to deal with. We may have “peace for our time”, but that is not true peace. As the people of God, we must live forward in sacrificing ourselves for true peace. It can be alerting the authorities for a neighbor or maid in trouble from domestic abuse. It can be standing up for a colleague against an unreasonable boss. It can be blowing the whistle on corruption or gangsters in school.

I shall end with the words of Patrick Henry, "It is in vain, sir, to extenuate (to lessen the seriousness) the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

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Footnotes

Albert Einstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infamy_Speech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_buck_stops_here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_for_our_time
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement

Soren Kierkegaard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_Liberty,_or_give_me_Death!