Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?’ Esther said, ‘A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, July 6, 2026
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Ahasuerus maybe wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. When Haman told him to pass a decree requiring his people to worship him, and another decree allowing the genocide of the Jewish people, did it even give him pause? And when Esther began describing what was going to be done to her people, did it ring any bells? Yeah, I know. Melodrama. Ahasuerus needs to be clueless for the big reveal to be such a shock to him.
I also wonder whether Haman knew Esther was a Jew. I mean, after all, when they rounded up all the young women at the beginning of the story to see who would become the next queen, he had to have known some of them were Jewish. Then again, his ego was enormous, and his selfish focus on gaining power and influence (and punishing Mordecai and his people) blinded him to the truth that was right in front of his face.
Both men, Ahasuerus and Haman, were oblivious to the obvious for different reasons, and we can find similar patterns all around us today. The call embedded in this text is to open our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts to the people around us, in our own families, communities, states, nation, and the world, so that we are awake to the suffering created by unjust systems, and can speak up in love wherever we can.
Do I sometimes miss the obvious signs of suffering in my neighbor? How can I be more awake to what God wants me to see?
