4 minute read
The Transformist In Us
“Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favour and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.”
Esther 2:17-18
This part of the story of Esther reads as the climax of the king’s process of selecting a queen to replace Queen Vashti who had been expelled. Esther is chosen among multiple beautiful virgin girls who had been under the king’s palace for a 12-month beauty therapy programme. Esther is chosen by the king who doesn’t even know Esther’s secret, that she is a Jew (an inferior race in the eyes of the powerful Persian king) and an orphan (a despised social position). Here begins some real drama with queenship bestowed upon a nobody, an inferior orphaned girl.
Many difficult questions come to the fore in the setting of this story. Is it right to treat the virgin girls like this where each evening one girl would is brought to the king as a virgin and in the morning she returns to a new group – as one of the king’s concubines! Do these girls have a had expelled Queen Vashti for refusing to be displayed before a drunken crowd? Will these girls ever feel the love of a husband or experience a mutual marital relationship with anyone ever or are they doomed to a life of giving the king attention once in a blue moon? Is this crowning really a favour for Esther, or a jail sentence where if she doesn’t obey she too will be expelled, or worse still, killed?
It is in this context of no real choices, a pre-determined destiny, no human rights, a dictator king and an inferior social position that Esther finds herself crowned as queen instead of Vashti. Yet Esther is not a weakling to be pitied, but a humble force to be reckoned with, a person who changed the dictator king’s mind against his own law!
Vashti was a ‘NON-CONFORMIST’ – she was expelled for disobeying the king. Esther was expected to do the opposite choice considering that this same king
and be a ‘CONFORMIST.’ Esther became neither a ‘conformist’ nor a ‘non-conformist’ – she became a ‘TRANSFORMIST’ - a revolutionary, a game-changer, a pathfinder, a creator of solutions, an empowerment discoverer, a pacesetter, an alternativist.
With God’s Spirit we are called to be transformists in our societies. To be wise about standing up to the present systems of oppression and suppression. To create a revolution that brings about wholeness and safety for all rather than revolutions of blood and war. To change the rules of the unfair classification of people according to skin colour in our societies.
To use the gifts that God has given us in order to fulfil our calling even in tough circumstances. To find solutions that are Christ-centered and Christ-directed. To dig deep into ourselves and find that God has empowered us to make a difference despite our human limitations. To set the pace and show the world that violent means can be fought with non-violent methods, and that hatred does not get rid of hatred. To find and execute the alternative paths that could help heal our communities rather than the same old methods that create cycles of wounding in our lives. To create flourishing communities by taking our place in dishing out compassion to the world.
To stop making excuses about our upbringing, our social status, our inferiority complex, or our weaknesses. To take responsibility for our actions and especially for our inaction. To realise that life flourishing communities do not create themselves, but that we have the mandate to create them and live them out together with all humankind. To stop blame shifting and having a life of pointing fingers as if that will change anything – to stop finding fault and rather find the remedy.
To take on our role as transformists so that we refuse to be ‘conformists’ who just accept and watch the decay and destruction around us. To be courageous enough to name them and face them in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than in our own limited power. To take on our role as transformists so that we refuse to be ‘non-conformists’ who simply rebel but do not bring restoration. To know the difference between retributive justice (revenge) and restorative justice (healing). To take on our role as transformists so that we take our place wherever God has placed us, and in this time and with what is before us. To take on the mantra “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
To realise that as a transformist there is some undeserved favour bestowed upon you just like the king found favour with Esther. And so, to embrace God’s favour with humility and gratitude and use that favour for fighting the destruction around us, or the impending destruction in our societies. To recognise each level of favour that we enjoy – the favour of being educated, of having a voice in some social circles, of having some resources, of being gifted or talented in some ways or of being placed in a “king’s palace” type of situation in our own setting.
And to do all this with the spirit of a transformist who doesn’t give up, is persevering and is Spirit-driven.
- Rev Lydia Neshangwe
