October 3rd

Tattletale!

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22


“Tattletale! Tattletale!” Remember using that line growing up? We usually reserved it for that annoying goody two shoes who was always getting us into trouble by telling our parents, teachers, or other care givers about some of our more, well, creative endeavors. For example, like the time I tossed my sister’s Barbie clothes down the chute of my Mamaw Polly’s outhouse. I thought it was a rather clever stunt—that is, until I had to retrieve the clothes and wash them by hand!

Probably the cleverest tattletale in my life growing up was my older sister, Beth. You see, Beth did not always just run and tell on me—she timed her revelations to suit her purposes. The best example of her ingenuity came when she overheard a friend and I using 4-letter words in a conversation. She told my friend’s sister, who told her parents within a couple of days, and the parents promptly punished my friend.

Not Beth, though. Nooooooo! She held what I considered to be this potentially life-threatening information over my head for months! I did her bidding day and night, which was particularly humiliating for an 11 year-old little brother. Finally, in a fit of exasperation, and fearful for my life, I confessed my horrible secret to my father—as well as why I was doing so. Dad—from whom I had learned most of those 4-letter words, by the way—shook his head, smiled, and told me to never let it happen again. I am sure that he got a big kick out of the story; he just couldn’t let me know that he did!

But as annoying as the whole concept of “tattling” can be for children as well as adults, there is actually a time and a place for it. Since the 1970’s, tattling in the adult world has become known as “whistle blowing.” You see, sometimes there are products, policies, or procedures within an organization that can cause harm to customers, stockholders, or employees; but that information is being kept from the public. Whistle blowers are the folks who make this potentially harmful information public.

Now we might think that people would be grateful for receiving this information, and sometimes they are—Sherron Watkins, the whistle blower in the infamous Enron scandal—is a case in point. But most of the time, whistleblowers are despised—sometimes even by the people who benefit from their actions! Many whistle blowers face harassment and lawsuits. Sometimes investigators dog whistleblowers for months and even years. With all this stress, it is easy to see why many whistle blowers wind up emotionally distressed. So, to put it mildly, whistle blowing ain’t for sissies.
But while the term “whistle blowing” has been around only since the 70’s, the practice has been around since at least Old Testament times, and Esther is a prime example of a biblical whistleblower. Let’s take a look at her story.

Esther was a beautiful young Jewish woman who lived in Persia after the end of the Babylonian exile. She became queen after Queen Vashti was banished for refusing to appear in the Persian royal court at the king’s command. However, neither the king nor anyone in the Persian court realized that Esther was Jewish. So while Esther becomes queen, Mordecai, who was Esther’s guardian and cousin, was making a name for himself in the Persian court. He even discovered a plot to assassinate the king, told Esther, who told the king, and the plot was foiled. So far, everything was looking pretty good for Mordecai and Esther.

But things started changing for the worse when Haman was appointed second in command. You see, Haman was a leader who was full of himself, and became enraged when Mordecai would not bow to him, which was a way of acknowledging Haman as divine. But since Mordecai worshipped only the one true God, Yahweh, he would have none of that bowing to humans business.

So Haman decided to run and tattle to the king. But there was a twist to Haman’s tattling. He knew that the king liked Mordecai, so Haman had to disguise his plot by making his accusation generic. So, Haman runs to the king and says, “Oh your majesty! Your majesty! There is a group of people in your kingdom who are different than everybody else! They don’t even keep your rules! Personally, I wouldn’t put up with it. If I were you, I would annihilate them! Oh, and by the way, if you do, there is a nice contribution in it for the King’s Treasury.”

So the king—not one for details—issues the edict, not knowing that he has placed his own queen in danger. Mordecai, however, learns of the edict, and tells Esther. Now we might think that the next logical step would be for Esther to run and tell the king what the real deal is. But there was just one small problem. Even though she was queen, Persian court protocol dictated that Esther could not approach the king without being summoned by him. If she did so, Esther was risking her own life. And here is where we get to the point of our lesson today: the differences between “tattling” and whistle blowing.

Tattling is usually selfish in nature. Children tattle because they have been offended somehow by another child—you know, “He’s looking at me; make him stop! Tattlers also usually make the situation look worse than it really is. For example, “She took my blue crayon!”---even though there are about a dozen blue crayons all over the place.

Of course, children are not the only tattlers. Haman was a tattler. He was personally offended by Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him, and rather than at least trying to work through the situation with Mordecai, he ran to the king. And on top of that, out of his hatred for one person, Haman blew the whole situation out of proportion to where a whole race of people was put at risk!

We have examples of adult tattling in modern history, too. Sexist men and women were—and still are--offended by “uppity women” who have the nerve to demand equal pay for equal work; racists were—and still are--offended by African Americans who have the nerve to demand equal rights; homophobes were—and still are—offended by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people who have the nerve to demand equal rights. These people, like Haman, are offended because we do not bow to them as morally superior to us, so they run to our elected officials with promises of contributions to their election campaigns, if only they will issue edicts preventing equality for the people they don’t like. Then, on top of that, these folks bolster their claims by telling these elected officials how such equality is a threat to the moral fabric of society! In other words, “These people don’t follow our rules, your Majesties.”

Whistle blowing on the other hand is usually done for the common good of the community. Corporate fraud, unsafe health care practices, hostile takeovers, and terrorist plots are good examples where whistle blowing is not only the right thing to do—it is the only thing to do!

Children become whistle blowers when they report abuse of various kinds by family members, friends, or other caregivers. This type of reporting is so crucial not only for the safety of the children being abused now, but to hopefully prevent the abuse of future generations by these abusers. But again, children are not the only whistleblowers. Esther was a whistleblower. In her case, the issue was genocide. Failure to report Haman’s plot to the king would result not only in Esther’s death, but also the death of her people. She had to risk her life in order to expose this plot; but Esther—unlike Haman—was able to look beyond her own needs, and risked her life for the common good of her people.

Finally, whistle blowing that is rooted in goodness, is whistle blowing that is rooted in God. Haman did not consult even his own pagan gods for direction. But Esther asked her fellow Jews to join her in a three-day fast, which was a means of seeking God’s help and blessing.

When Esther took a calculated risk by “coming out,” so to speak, and that risk was rooted in God and for the common good of her community, she who risked her life saved it—as well as the lives of her people. And Haman, who sought to save his life, defined here as his position and reputation, lost it all—including his life.

Folks, effective, positive, long-lasting change does not come from always playing it safe. But neither does it come from a yearly parade, occasional protests, and pointing fingers at one another—regardless of the group whom is seeking the change.

Let’s take a lesson from Esther this morning. If we really want to see positive change in our world, let’s be willing to take calculated risks—risks that are courageous, but are also based on planning and common sense. And may those risks be rooted in God’s goodness, bathed in prayer, and for the common good of our communities.

Otherwise, our communities might just end up like our tattletale friend Haman—just swinging in the breeze.

God bless you and amen.