Women with a Story to Tell. Esther.7. "If I Perish, I Perish."

 In the 1800s, Christian missionaries from England and Australia sailed to the South Seas to preach the Gospel and gain converts. Often new converts joined them in spreading the Good News to the next islands. The London Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the Wesleyan Methodists all sent missionaries who began in the east (Tahiti and the Cook Islands) and sailed across Polynesia to the west (Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji). Catechisms were developed and schools were established.

 In the early 1870s, a small group of Australian Methodists led by Rev. George Brown arrived in Fiji on the missionary vessel named the “John Wesley.” A measles epidemic had just killed thousands, so it was a difficult time. Brown addressed the students at the training institute for pastors at Navuloa. He challenged them with a vision to go and preach the Good News of God’s love in New Guinea. At that time, that was a daunting thought. New Guinea was in Melanesia, culturally different from Polynesia and barely explored by colonialists. The British administrator of Fiji opposed such an expedition.

 The adult students considered the vision and prayed about their answer overnight. The next day they had chosen Aminio Baledrokadroka as their spokesperson. He stood and announced their decision to the British governor of the territory. Every student had volunteered, and they assured the governor that: “We have fully considered this matter in our hearts; no one has pressed us in any way. We have given ourselves up to do God’s work, and our mind today, sir, is to go with Mr. Brown. If we live, we live, and if we die, we die.” A large group of 50 Polynesians joined the mission.  

 Where did Rev. Baledrokadroka get that phrase? It sounds suspiciously like what Esther said in her response to Mordecai. 

”Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish’. Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him” (Esther 4: 15-17)

 Let’s unpack this paragraph as we weave the story together with the Fijian, Tongan, and Samoan missionaries who volunteered to go to far away New Guinea. Mordecai had challenged Esther, actually he reminded her of her calling as a child of God and daughter of Israel.  

Mordecai said first that destruction was coming and Esther should not think that she and her family would be spared. In a broader sense, that is true of all of us. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Both Biblical notions.

Mordecai said second that if Esther kept silent and did not act, then salvation for the Jews would come from another quarter. In other words, she would be sidelined and when God’s salvation is in sight, that is probably not a good place to be.

Third, Mordecai reminded Esther about her position at the pinnacle of society, she was the highest-ranking woman in society, the Queen of Persia. Mordecai asked her to consider why she had been put in that position. Again, though God’s name is not mentioned, God’s actions on behalf of the Jews is implied. 

Finally, Mordecai asks that Esther consider that she might have been put in her position “just for a time such as this.” Remember that phrase the next time you are faced with a difficult decision. 

Esther did consider God’s hand in her life and her response was robust. 

Esther asked Mordecai to organize all the Jews in the capital city, Susa, to fast (which implies prayer) for three days. She promised to do the same. After three days she would go see the king though it was dangerous to do so without being called. 

Look at a couple of things. First, Esther asks for fasting to discover God’s will in this matter. I remind you that the reason for fasting is to spend time in prayer. Likewise, the Polynesian seminary students spent the night in prayer consulting with God and each other about the challenge to go to New Guinea as missionaries. 

Second, Esther reminds Mordecai that going to the king is dangerous, actually as dangerous as going to New Guinea in the 1890s. Esther is going to act, even “though it is against the law.” The law in Fiji was the British governor who opposed the students sailing away to New Guinea. As the Apostle Peter said to the law, “You do what you have to do, and we will do what we have to do” (a paraphrase of Acts 4: 18). 

 Third, Esther is fully committed to the mission of saving the Jews from destruction. She famously says, “If I perish, I perish.” 

 The Fijian, Tongan, and Samoan missionaries sailed with Rev. Brown to New Guinea. One day near Rabaul in New Britain, when the Reverends Naucukidi, Levu, Naboro, and Tunaka were walking through the bush to minister in a particular village, they were set upon by warriors and killed. The place is named Taliligap. Talili was the name of the ‘big man’ in charge of the ambush, gap means ‘blood’. I give you their names because the names of indigenous missionaries are not often written down though they should be.

Missionary Anthropologist Alan Tippett notes that, before they left Fiji, another missionary was asked if he was afraid to die. He said, “No, we died before we went.”*  

What does that mean? Think about it for a moment.

• Alan R. Tippett, The Deep Sea Canoe. Update Version, 1977. Page 38.

• See also: Neville Threlfall, One Hundred Years in the Islands: The Methodist/United Church in the New Guinea Islands Region, 1875-1975, Chapter 4, “Sacrifice in the Islands.” 1975.

• And: John Garrett, To Live Among the Stars: Christian Origins in Oceania, Chapter 9, “The Lure of New Guinea,” 1982.