Jul 16 | Resistance Lectionary Part 3: Nevertheless, she resisted

Citation: Esther 1:1-5, 9-20

Vashti is the kind of character that makes some of us want to get up and cheer. Her story may even sound a little familiar – if you’re a Shakespeare fan! This story was almost certainly in the Bard’s mind as he penned the famous final scene from The Taming of the Shrew. Vashti, like Godot, is one of those famous folks who is famous despite never being seen or heard from in the story which contains her.

There’s something refreshing about this moment full of pomp and ostentatious wealth being popped like a balloon because one woman refused to be objectified. This one act of defiance has made Vashti a hero for many women, Jewish and Christian alike, and in the era of the #MeToo movement she’s a most appropriate matron saint to women tired of being sexualized against their will.

Unfortunately, we don’t know what happens to Vashti after her husband’s childish display of masculine fragility. Since he’s rich he can fix his problems by throwing money at them, and so he disposes of Vashti and seeks out a new queen by – no kidding – arranging the ancient version of a beauty contest. The winner, he decides, will be his new queen. Lest the reader despair, his new wife is Esther, whose methods may be more cunning than Vashti’s, but proves that she too is not afraid of her husband, using her privilege and power in court to save her own people from annihilation.

Both Vashti and Esther show us that women have many ways of asserting themselves. Over the course of a lifetime, we may find that some days it’s more effective to be clever and cajoling like Esther, and some days it’s best if, like Vashti, we choose open defiance, refusing to participate in our own oppression no matter the consequences.

May we all embody both the courage of Vashti and the cunning of Esther.

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