Thursday of the First Week in Lent
When I started writing reflections for Ite Missa Est in early June of 2017 I thought of it as a form of service to our (now) family of parishes. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that writing these reflections is not just service. It is also a gift—to me. And that is because I have learned so much in doing this every other week. Just spending time with Scripture that I either had never read or very rarely read was a gift.
Getting out a volume from my commentary is always fun. I get to read about what sort of text is before me for the day (letter, narrative, sermon, etc.), when it was written and by whom, what was going on at that time, and so forth. Of course, my favorite part is learning from the careful explanations and interpretations that biblical scholars provide in those commentaries. Their expertise helps me read the Bible better.
So, today, as I was doing just that—enjoying my commentary and trying to figure out what these passages are saying to us—I learned something brand new to me and, to my mind, rather incredible!
I was especially intrigued by the passage from the Book of Esther. I knew the basic story of that book, and it’s a great story! Wanting to understand this text better, I got my commentary out. First question: where is this text in that book? I looked at the citation for the reading on the USCCB daily reading and it said “EST C:12, 14-16, 23-25.” What the heck does that mean?
Knowing the basic story, I thought I had a pretty good idea of where this passage would appear in Esther. So, I just paged through my commentary on Esther and when I got to the point in the story where I thought this prayer must have appeared, it wasn’t there. How could that be? It has to be there somewhere.
I flipped through to the end of the commentary just to be thorough. Nothing. For whatever reason, I turned the blank page at the end of the commentary on Esther and saw this: “The Additions to Esther.” What? Additions?
Yes. The text in front of us today from Esther is not, in fact, in Esther. Well, better put, it is not in the Hebrew version of Esther. It comes to us from the Greek version of Esther. There are two different versions of Esther, it turns out. Incredible!
Even more, the Addition we are reading today is just one of nine!
Stumbling on these Additions blew me away. I had no idea there were two versions of Esther. Of course, I wanted to know more. How should I think about these Additions? What do they add?
Sidnie White Crawford (the biblical scholar who wrote the commentary) put it this way: “The so-called Additions to Esther . . .make the book of Esther a very different literary work from that in the Hebrew Bible. The additions add drama, plumb the emotional depths of the characters, add information to fill in the gaps of the [Hebrew Bible], and, most important, supply an overt religious element that is lacking in the [Hebrew Bible].”
No wonder I was intrigued by the Esther’s prayer. I got to know Esther better as I read her urgent plea to God. I learned that she was pious, that she utterly depended on the Lord, that she understood God to be on the side of those who are in distress, and that God is all powerful and merciful.
For some folks, it might be distressing to discover that the Bible is not neat and tidy. For folks like me, that’s what makes me want to read it over and over. That also keeps me humble.
Oh, and then the Bible can also be super straight forward. In the passage from Matthew today, Jesus has a very wise and clear word for us: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” And these days, when even some family members can’t have a civil discussion about US politics with one another, this is a word we really need to hear.
Lord, help us to be humble as we read and seek to understand this sometimes bewildering book and bold in living the teachings of Jesus. Amen.
-Sue Trollinger