Readings in Holy Scripture
Additions to Esther 13:8-17
St. Matthew 20:17-28
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 Jn. 1)
This evening, we hear Jesus speak from His holy Scripture. And later on, you will head home and look for Esther chapter 13 in your Bible and you will not find it there. If you are extra curious, you may investigate further and find that many books are mentioned and quoted in your “regular” Bible that are not to be found in a “regular Bible”.
The Book of Jude in the New Testament is our most obvious transgressor here. Obvious because we probably read it more often than the other books I will mention. In v.9 of Jude, he quotes a book by the name of the Assumption of Moses saying, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’”
And again in v.14-15, he quotes the Book of Enoch saying, “It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’”
What are those books? Who wrote them? Why are they not in the Bible if they are quoted in the Bible? On top of those two, there are some 21 other books similarly mentioned and missing from the Bible, including the Book of Jasher mentioned in Joshua 10:13, the Book of the Wars of the Lord in Numbers 21:14, and The Manner of the Kingdom in 1 Samuel 10:25. Most of these are lost to us, but the Additions to Esther, heard this evening, are still to be found in the Apocrypha.
The Apocrypha is part of the Greek Old Testament called the Septuagint. As far as we know, it was compiled two centuries before Jesus’s birth and could be the oldest recorded Bible we have access to. Even older than the Hebrew version we know by several centuries. Does this make one Bible better than another? No. But it does give us more of God to ponder.
During the Reformation, these books were not removed, but were simply called into question regarding their authorship. Since the Apocrypha cannot prove that the books it has were authored by the men it says, we can not be sure of its authority to produce doctrines of faith. Hence the name “apocrypha” means “hidden”, as in the real authors are hidden from us.
But calling them into question does not mean they are worthless to the Church. In fact, Dr. Luther included them in his German translation of the Bible and said “These books are not held equal to the Scriptures, but are useful and good to read.” (LW 35:232).
So what are our lessons for this evening? First, is to realize the depth of the riches and wisdom of God in that He really has been involved with us since the beginning of all things. That He has not stopped caring for His creation and He has not stopped watching over us, such that these apocryphal books and other, non-biblical books of wisdom can be useful to us.
Second, is to repent of our ignorance and inability to comprehend such vastness and of our pride and arrogance in thinking our days are the height of excellence. That we know so much more than our ancestors. In fact, I would argue that we know less.
And third, is to bask in the glory of God’s mercy and grace that He shows to us, even through apocryphal books, and begin to find ourselves praying like Mordecai in the reading from Esther. For we do not deserve to sit at God’s right hand or His left, as the Lord spoke in St. Matthew’s gospel this evening, but in mercy He grants us to drink from His cup and find only forgiveness. In kindness, He grants us His baptism which only restores life and faith.
Going back to our Esther reading: For God does indeed rule over all, as Mordecai tells us and as we hear elsewhere in the Bible, and yet Jesus thinks of men so much that He comes down to save us. No one can resist this plan. Not sin, not death, and not the devil, for who in their right minds would go through with a crucifixion to atone for enemies?
These three foes strive to eliminate us, yet our Lord spares us by drinking to the dregs, God’s wrath and leaving only blessing for us in His cup. This mercy turns our mourning into feasting, not just in eternity next to Him, but even today at this Altar. For we now live in a time where we sing praise to the Lord’s Name in His Divine Service and instead of destroying our sinful mouths, He places His true Body and true Blood in them, fulfilling His promise to us.
Mordecai of course is praying for the Messiah to come and do His work that He promised to do. Of ruling in mercy, saving by grace, justifying by faith, all of which are only found in the cross of Christ. There is no other way to interpret his prayer or any other part of the Bible or books in it that claim to talk about God.
So read and enjoy the Additions to Esther, the Book of Wisdom, and the Maccabees. Enjoy the non-biblical snippets of wisdom God grants to all people in Aesop, poetry, and other classics. And hear in them the rest and relief of having a God that is near and not far off, not just sharing in wisdom, but sharing in life and Body and Blood.
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