Login / Signup

Free Access

It's More Than You Think

Commentary
Esther is not just the winner of a beauty contest. She, like us, has the potential to rise to the unexpected occasion! She turns out to be greater than we, and she, thought she was.

According to the most practical book of the New Testament, the letter of James, prayer is more than simply the channel for our hopes. Prayer is the practical avenue  for getting things done with God, and should be treated seriously. Prayer is more than you think.

And Jesus asks us to actually think when we apply words of wisdom, sharing in two gospel accounts two opposing proverbs that require us to discern the proper occasion for each.


Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 and Psalm 124
According to the Golden Rule, you should do unto others what you would have them do unto you. The Silver Rule is similar: don’t do unto others as you don’t want them to do to you. There’s another rule, or at least a warning, that suggests you’d better be careful that the evil you plan for others doesn’t bite back at you.

The Book of Esther is read aloud on the Feast of Purim. It is overblown, over the top, full of revelry and exaggeration. It’s thought by some that the reason that God is not mentioned even once in this book is that it is filled with merriment and joy at what happens to the enemies. One is supposed to cheer for Mordecai and boo for Haman.

By the end of the book the world gets turned upside down. Haman plotted the destruction of the Jewish people, and the destruction of Mordecai. He assumed he would be elevated over everyone else and become the King’s leading counselor.

Instead, Mordecai is promoted by the King, God’s people are empowered to destroy their enemies instead of being slaughtered by them and Haman is elevated -- to his doom -- on the gallows he’d prepared for Mordecai.

Along the way Esther discovers she is not just the winner of a kingdom-wide beauty contest. She, like us, has the potential to rise to the unexpected occasion. Despite her fears when Mordecai reminds her that perhaps she was placed in her position “for such a time as this” she rises to the occasion and sets the trap that exposes Haman’s dastardly plot and leads to her people’s triumph.


James 5:13-20
Although in our Bibles this is called the Letter of James you could get away with calling it “The Gospel of Jacob” for two reasons. First, the name James is the English version of Jacob. Second, no other book of the New Testament outside of the four gospels has so many echoes of the words of Jesus. James was the brother of Jesus, and either heard Jesus speak the words during the savior’s lifetime, or spoke with people afterward who travelled with him and came to know the richness of his brother’s words.

This letter of Jacob’s is filled with echoes of the words of Jesus. It is also one of the most practical of New Testament books. Don’t favor the rich (that was a theme of Jesus). The tongue causes more problems than anything else. The Heavenly Father is the source of all good things. True religion is taking care of widows and orphans in their distress (the most vulnerable demographics in the ancient population) and keeping oneself unstained from the world. Faith without works is dead.

And if we consider this book authoratative because it contains the words and thoughts of Jesus, and if it is an eminently practical book, then that means this last section about prayer is practical. Prayer is not simply earnest. Prayer works. Prayer is a part of healing. Confessing our sins and praying for each other is also a part of healing. The prayers of the righteous are powerful. Elijah provides a good example of just how powerful -- and cosmic -- prayer can be, shutting the heavens up. Most of all, praying for sinners restores them back into the fold, and doesn’t hurt us either.


Mark 9:38-50
It’s interesting, and a little confusing, that here, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” However in Matthew 12:30 Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” These are two very different statements. Did Jesus say one or the other or both?

The passage in Mark follows a discussion by the disciples about which one of them is the greatest, which Jesus redefines by saying “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me (9:37).”

Having described a situation in which servanthood and acceptance of the marginalized are the true hallmarks of discipleship, not power as the world defines it, can there be any wonder that in the context of this story Jesus would expect his disciples to abandon jealousy and rivalry for inclusion and acceptance?

The statement from Matthew is made in the context of false accusations, in this case that by casting out demons Jesus is allied with them. Matthew’s version of this saying warns us that those who literally demonize their opponents, who demean and dismiss others, are in danger of blaspheming against the Spirit present in all of us.

(adapted from Side by Side: Interpreting Dual Stories in the Bible, by Frank Ramirez, based on materials on pp 46-48.)
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 23 | OT 28 | Pentecost 18
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 24 | OT 29 | Pentecost 19
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 25 | OT 30 | Pentecost 20
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
Dean Feldmeyer
George Reed
For October 19, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Jeremiah 31:27-34
John Calvin makes very clear why a new covenant is needed according to this text. He observes:

… the fault was not to be sought in the law that there was need of a new covenant, for the law was abundantly sufficient, but that fault was in the levity and the unfaithfulness of the people. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.X/2, p.130)
David Coffin
What happens when one’s past life narrative or goals in life have drastically shifted or collapsed? How do they rebuild hope? For Israel, they lost their land, monarchy, and national identity. In the days of the New Testament,they could easily be identified as living in the “fourth world” country. That is, existing in substandard conditions in one’s own native land?

StoryShare

Peter Andrew Smith
Rose sat back in her chair and opened her magazine. She heard the thump of the stairs and caught a glimpse of her daughter and son in the corner of her eye. She turned her head as they put water bottles in their backpacks.

“What are you two doing?” she looked over at the clock. “Don’t you have homework?”

“All done,” Paul and Linda announced at the same time.

Rose ignored Linda but locked eyes with Paul. He met her gaze for a few moments and then sighed.

“Okay, I’m almost done but still have some math questions,” he admitted.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:

Jesus told us that we should always pray and not lose heart, for God is on our side. In our worship today let us pray to the Lord for the needs of others and for all our own needs.


Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, sometimes you don't seem to be there when I pray and I feel like I'm talking to myself.

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes my prayers seem so dry and boring that I give up.

Christ, have mercy.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Psalm 119 is well-known as the longest chapter in the Bible. The poem is actually an extended, and extensive, meditation on the meaning of the law. Given the sterile connotations often associated with "law" and "legalism," it's hard sometimes to appreciate the lyrical beauty of these reflections. One thing is for certain, the writer of this psalm does not view the law as either sterile or void of vitality.

Schuyler Rhodes
There is perhaps no better feeling than knowing that someone "has your back." Having someone's back is a term that arose from urban street fighting where a partner or ally would stay with you and protect your back in the thick of the fray. When someone has your back, you don't worry about being hit from behind. When someone has your back you can concentrate on the struggle in front of you without worrying about dangers you cannot see. When someone has your back you feel protected, secure, safe.
David Kalas
I wonder how many of us here are named after someone.

Chances are that a good many of us carry family names. We are named for a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, or an aunt somewhere on the family tree. Others of us had parents who named us after a character in the Bible, or perhaps some other significant character from history.

All told, I expect a pretty fair number of us are named after someone else.

John W. Clarke
Our reading today from the prophet Jeremiah is one in which the Hebrew people, not knowing what else to do in terms of addressing their predicament, decide to blame it all on God. They believed their problems to be the result of their sins and the sins of their fathers. Of course, one person's sin does indeed affect other people, but all people are still held personally accountable for the sin in their own lives (Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:2).
Donna E. Schaper
As usual, the epistle is a little more graphic than we can quite grasp. Itchy ears: what a concept just in physical terms. Experience it for a minute. You itch, you scratch, you sort of know you shouldn't scratch because it will only make the itch worse. But still you scratch, while wondering how the itch ever got started in the first place. What a concept: itchy ears as a vehicle for spiritual truth.

John E. Berger
Did Jesus ever do comedy? Indeed he did, and the Parable of the Unjust Judge is partly comic monologue. The routine began with a probate judge so ridiculously dishonest that he announced, "... I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone...." (There must have been a gasp of disbelief from Jesus' audience.)

The Unjust Judge was nagged by a widow, however, who had every right to nag, because she had been cheated by somebody in the community. A good judge would have helped the widow, but remember, this judge "neither feared God nor had respect for people."

CSSPlus

And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? (v. 7)

Good morning, boys and girls. Yesterday, I was riding in my car and I kept hearing this noise. I call it a squeak. Do you know what a squeak sounds like? (let them answer) Squeaks are very annoying. It is hard to find a squeak in your car, so it is still squeaking.

I also have a chair that has a squeak and I brought it in with me today because it is

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL