When we are bewildered……..

The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.  Esther 3:15

That’s the very last sentence of Esther 3. The people of Susa are bewildered. And who can blame them?

• the king has made Haman his right hand man
• Haman has it in for all Jews because one man, Mordecai, a Jew, refused to bow down and honour him
• the day on which to destroy all the Jews is decided by a lot
• the king listens when Haman says ‘There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.’ (v8)
• the king gives Haman his signet ring – his seal of approval. ‘Basically, just do whatever you want.’
• Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews – young and old, women and children – on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. (v13)

An horrific act of genocide is planned right there and the king and Haman sit down to drink. No wonder the people are bewildered.

We look back on the horrific atrocities of the Holocaust and we are bewildered. Or the genocide in Rwanda. We are bewildered that anyone could want to indulge in this kind of unspeakable cruelty. That anyone could be allowed to. That anyone watching on could think that it was OK.

But let’s be honest, we can find ourselves being suspicious of people who keep themselves separate. We can be judgemental when people hold onto their traditions and refuse to accept the traditions of our land. We can find their customs uncomfortable and hard to understand. We can find it hard to be tolerant basically.

That’s why UKIP and Britain First and the BNP and the far Right can seem so attractive. That’s why a certain level of racism in our newspapers and our Facebook feeds is deemed to be reasonable and acceptable. We want to hold onto our traditions and values and these feel threatened by other traditions and values. We want Britain to be Great again and we have a pretty clear view on how we can achieve it. We see tolerance as weakness. We think our way is best. The most civilised.

I use the word ‘we’ loosely there. As a generalisation. I apologise. You may not recognise yourself in any of those statements at all. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to show that the underlying attitudes are not always so very different from the extreme examples that leave us shocked and bewildered.

I want to be someone that embraces diversity. That values the individual. That sees the best, the divine, in everyone. I do believe that we have much to learn from other cultures and traditions and faiths. I want to learn. I do not believe that we have got it right, that we are the best, that everyone has to be like us. I believe in tolerance. Much more than tolerance actually. More like celebration.

One of the key things for the people of Israel in the Old Testament was caring for the poor and the foreigner. Being hospitable. Speaking up for the oppressed.

Nothing has changed. God hasn’t changed. This still matters. Matters more than most of the stuff we think is important.