The Beauty Queen

 Participants: Moderator,  Queen Esther, Mordecai, Queen’s maid

(Queen Esther pacing the floor back and forth, seem upset)

Queen’s maid: What is wrong? Why is the queen sad if I may ask?

Esther: It is my cousin. Some thing is wrong(Pacing)

Maid:   Miss, who are you talking about? Who is your cousin?

Esther (Stops pacing, looking at maid) Mordecai, he is my cousin

Maid:   But how is it possible? Mordecai is a Jew, isn’t he?

Esther: (Low voice) Yes. So am I

Maid:   Does the king know about it?

Esther: No. He never asked, so I did not reveal it to him. That doesn’t matter now. I want to help cousin Mordecai but I don’t know what to do

Maid:   Come, let me make you a hot cup of tea.

Esther: I don’t want tea, I want to find out why cousin Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes and crying bitterly.

Maid:   Very well, I’ll find out what is going on but will go lie down till I come back?

(Both leaving)

Moderator: Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took the Jews into captivity in 606B.C., because they sinned against the God of heaven. Few years after that, Babylon was conquered by Cyrus, king of Persia who was kind to the Jews. Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. But some exiles choose not to return to their home land. Esther’s parents must have been among those who did not return. Esther’s story begins in 483B.C. Esther became the queen of Persia, with some help from her older cousin Mordecai, who was a government official at the palace. There was an evil man named Haman who was 2nd in command in the empire. When Mordecai refused to bow in reverence to him, Haman became furious and decided to destroy Mordecai and all the Jews along with him. So Haman deceived the king and persuaded him to issue an edict condemning the Jews to death. When Mordecai heard this he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city waling loudly and bitterly.

(Both queen and maid entering)

Esther: Well, did you find him? What did you find out? Is he sick? Why are you looking at me? Say something.

Maid:   Don’t be mad at me. You have not stopped talking long enough for me to say anything.

Esther: Would you please tell me what is going on with my cousin

Maid:   You know Haman don’t you?

Esther: The prime minister? Of course I know him

Maid:   He doesn’t like your cousin because he refuses to bow to Haman.

Esther: Of course he won’t bow to Haman he is a Jew.

Is that all? Is that the reason he is crying and carrying on? (Thinking for a minute) I know him, there is something more than that.

Maid:   Let me finish.  When Mordecai refused to bow in reverence to him, Haman became furious and decided to destroy Mordecai and all the Jews along with him. So Haman deceived the king and persuaded him to issue an edict condemning the Jews to death.

Esther: Oh no! What do I do now. I want to do something to save my people but, what?

Maid:   Here is what Mordecai wants you to do. He wants you to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for your people.

Queen: All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days. Go back and give him this message. However, I will go as soon as I am due and plead for the life of my people.

(Both leaving)

Moderator: And as news of the king’s decree reached all the provinces, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and wailed, and many people lay in sackcloth and ashes. So the maid gave Esther’s message to Mordecai.

(Mordecai and maid entering)

Mordecai:  Tell the queen that I would like to see her in person.

Maid:   When and how are you going to make that happen?

Mordecai:  Tonight at ten o’clock I will come to her palace

Maid:   Yes sir. I’ll give her the message

(Both leaving)

(Mordecai and the queen entering)

Esther: It is good to see you cousin Mordecai

Mordecai: Same here. We are in trouble, even your life is in danger

Esther: How can I help?

Mordecai:  You have to go to the king and plead for our lives.

Esther: It is not time…

Mordecai (Interrupting the queen) I know it is not time for you to go to the king. Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed.  If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?

Esther: Very well, I will go to the king.

Mordecai:  I know you are risking you life, but there is no other way

Esther. You must do something for me. Gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.

Moderator: So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. On the third day of the fast, the brave Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter. She informed the king of everything that Haman had done. The brave and beautiful queen had saved the Jews from being destroyed. And every year after that, even till today the Jews have remembered how God rescued them by celebrating the feast of Purim. Because she acted at the right time, God used her to save the nation. With or without us God will accomplish His purpose .If we don’t act at the right time we will loose. God has not placed each and every one of us in our present position for our own benefit. He put us here to serve Him. Let us ask ourselves

”What am I willing to risk for God?”