Esther 4:10-17

God gives us moments

that make a difference.

A sermon preached by

Dr. William O. (Bud) R= eeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

August 24, 2008

One of the most popula= r game shows in the early days of television was called Queen For A Day. Adapted from a radio show of the same name, Queen For A Day started with the e= mcee, Jack Bailey, announcing, “Do YOU want to be …QUEEN FOR A DAY?&#= 8221; Women across America would watch as Jack B= ailey interviewed four women who would pour out their troubles and tell why they needed a new washing machine, refrigerator, or some other household appliance. At the end of the = show, the audience would applaud for the most deserving candidate. Then the woman with the most miser= able life, as judged by the applause meter, would be crowned “Queen For A Day.” Not only would sh= e win the appliances and things she needed so desperately, but Jack Bailey would actually put a sable-trimmed red velvet cape around her shoulders and a jew= eled crown on her head. She was the “Queen For A Day.” (I suppose the other three women just had one more item to add to their misery.) I admit I am old eno= ugh to remember my grandmother watching Qu= een For A Day when she kept me as a small child.

Maybe Esther felt like= she was “Queen For A Day” when she was elevated to the royal court = in ancient Persia. Not that she had been all that miserable, but it was like winning a game show. This simple but beautiful Jewish g= irl suddenly found herself favored by the king, and she stepped from the humble home of her cousin Mordecai into the royal court of King Ahasuerus.

Unfortunately, the king’s prime minister was the evil Haman. Haman was egotistical, hateful, vengeful—and those were his good qualities! He required everyone to bow down t= o him, and everyone did, except Mordecai, the faithful Jew who would only bow to h= is God. Mordecai’s refusal= to honor him made Haman so mad that he resolved to destroy not only Mordecai a= nd his family, but all of the Jews who still lived in Persia. Haman caught King Ahasuerus on a s= leepy afternoon and got him to sign an edict calling for the murder of every Jew = in Persia.=

When Mordecai heard ab= out this edict, he was in anguish. He sent word immediately to Esther, informing her about all that had happened. Esther was blissful= ly unaware of the political developments going on in the palace, because she c= ould only enter the throne room when the king summoned her. The penalty for intruding on the k= ing was death.

But Mordecai understoo= d that desperate times call for desperate measures. When Esther said that she couldn&#= 8217;t get to the king, Mordecai replied, “Don't think that just because you live in the king's house you're the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family (that would include me) will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just s= uch a time as this."[1]

This was Esther’s moment of truth. With the glo= ry came a responsibility. With h= er leadership came the burden of choice. Her life and the life of every Jew in Persia were at stake. What was she going to do? Would she risk her status and even= her life to save the Jews? Would = she stand up to the king and his wicked advisor Haman? Would she have the courage to spea= k for justice? It was not an easy c= hoice to make.

I love J. R. R. Tolkie= n’s trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. The basic story is that there is a = supernaturally powerful yet evil ring that has fallen into the hands of a little guy named Frodo Baggins. His uncle Bilbo Baggins had found it and passed it on to him. Assisted by the wizard Gandalf and several others, Frodo must take the ring to a volcano in the heart of the kingdom of evil to destroy it. Of course, he has lots of very exciting and frightening adventures along the way. At one point Frodo compl= ains to Gandalf, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happe= ned.”

Gandalf replies with wizardly wisdom, “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide= . All we have to decide is what to d= o with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the ring.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In which case you also were meant = to have it. And that is an encou= raging thought.”[2]

Here’s another encouraging thought. When doe= s God give anyone in Scripture an easy job? Think of the Old Testament heroes that we’ve talked about duri= ng this “Great Adventure” series.= Abraham, called to leave his homeland for an unknown territory. Joseph, working his way from slave= in prison to the most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharoah. Moses, called to liberate an ensla= ved nation. Ruth, taking care of = an aging mother-in-law in a famine. David, facing the giant Goliath.&nb= sp; Who gets it easy? Not = the heroes of faith! Why? Because hard is what makes it great! Great effort develops = great strength. Great challenges make great people= .

God gives us these opportunities, these challenges, these moments of truth, and sometimes it s= eems like maybe the reason we were born is to be in this particular place at this particular time to respond to this particular set of circumstances. What are we going to do? How do we make the right decision = when the challenge is in our face? How do we respond to the opportunity? How do we follow the call of God?&n= bsp; How do we make the most of our moment?

First of all, be spiritually prepared. You can’t make an intelligen= t or a faithful decision in a moment of crisis if you have no foundation to stand on. What if you get to the mo= ment of truth, and you don’t know what you believe, or in whom you trust, = or what you want for your future? Those things have to be decided ahead of time. When the chance of a lifetime come= s your way, it’s too late to build a life.&= nbsp; I have seen so many people achieve great things in terms of career a= nd wealth and fame, only to crumble on the inside because they had no substanc= e to their lives. I have seen tragedies—which seem to strike without rhyme or reason sometimes—totally undo and embitter people because they are not spiri= tually prepared to take the hit. On = the other hand, I have seen people absorb the most catastrophic blows imaginable—terminal illness, sudden death, bankruptcy, divorce—= and come through it with a stronger faith and a greater witness and a more compassionate heart than they ever had before. It’s a matter of being spiri= tually prepared. <= /p>
Esther responded to Mordecai’s challenge by calling for spiritual preparation. Before she tried to go see the kin= g, Esther and the Jews prayed and fasted for three days. Then she was ready for anything be= cause she was prepared spiritually.

Most people know of Ro= sa Parks as the black woman who refused to go to the back of the bus, and thus ignited the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, a boycott that bec= ame a key victory in the civil rights movement. To many, R= osa’s decision appeared to be a spur-of-the-moment act. However, Parks had spent the previ= ous 12 years helping lead the local NAACP chapter. The summer before, she had attended= a 10-day training session in Te= nnessee at a labor and civil rights organizing school. For some time, she had been studying other bus boycotts, and she had already been arrested in one, in <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two years earlier.[3] So when the time came for action, R= osa Parks was prepared.

When God gives us an opportunity to make a difference, we can act with boldness. Grounded i= n God, we can step out with holy courage to turn a bad situation to good, to redeem the time, to make a difference in a difficult moment. After praying and fas= ting for three days, Esther acted with boldness and dared to enter the king̵= 7;s chamber. And when she walked = in, he greeted her and asked her what he could give her, even to half his kingdom!= Salvation was on its way.

Prepared by years of p= rayer and training, Rosa Parks acted with boldness. She refused to give her seat to a = white man on the bus, and she was arrested. In her book Quiet Strength s= he wrote:

"When I sat down = on the bus that day, I had no idea history was being made—I was only thinkin= g of getting home. But I had made = up my mind. After so many years of = being a victim of the mistreatment my people suffered, not giving up my seat—and whatever I had to face afterwards—was not important. <= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I did not feel any fear sitting the= re. I felt the Lord would give me the strength to endure whatever I had to face. It was time for someone to stand up—or in my case, sit down. So I refused to move."[4]

In the New Testament, = the disciples of Jesus acted with boldness as they spread the good news of salvation. When Peter and John healed a man who had been lame all his life, the religious officials arrest= ed them, threatened them, and told them never again to speak in the name of Jesus. Their reply was, ̶= 0;Whether it is right in God’s sig= ht to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”[5] When Peter and John were rele= ased, they gathered with the other believers, and they prayed, “Lord, look at their threats, and grant= to your servants to speak your word with boldness, while you stretch out your = hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”[6] Then the Book of Acts says that wh= ile they were praying, the building itself was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word with boldness. When the people of God prepare themselves spiritually and act with boldness, God can’t help but shake the place up!

God gives us moments that make a difference. God presents the opportunities; he= puts the right people in place; the people respond; and things start shaking! Something positive, something good, something Godly happens. <= /o:p>

Esther eventually foil= ed the plans of Haman; it is an intriguing and even funny story you should read. The destruction of the Jews was av= erted, the enemies were destroyed, and they all lived happily ever after. Today, the Jews still have kind of= a wild party weekend called Purim, when they remember and celebrate the victo= ry of Mordecai and Esther—being at the right place at the right time and= making the right decision.

I wouldn’t close= with this story unless it were true. Dr. David Cerqueira is a pediatrician and a Christian. One Sunday he and his wife were te= aching Sunday School, trying to impress upon a group of children that everyone can= be useful to God. A little girl = named Sarah spoke up. "Teacher, what can I do? I don't know how to do anythi= ng useful."

David’s wife qui= ckly looked around and spotted an empty flower vase on the windowsill. "Sarah, you can bring a flower= and put it in the vase. That would be a useful thing."
Sarah frowned. "B= ut that's not important."

"It is," rep= lied the teacher, "if you are helping someone."

Sure enough, the next = Sunday Sarah brought a dandelion flower and placed it in the vase. In fact, she continued to do so each week. Without reminders or he= lp, she made sure the vase was filled with a bright yellow flower, Sunday after Sunday. Eventually the pastor= heard about Sarah's faithfulness, and he placed the vase upstairs in the main sanctuary next to the pulpit, using it as a sermon illustration on serving = others.

That very week Dr. Dav= id got a call from Sarah's mother. S= arah seemed to have less energy than usual, and she didn't have an appetite. Thinking it was probably nothing, he scheduled a visit, then some tests, and then the results came back. Sarah had a particularly aggressiv= e form of childhood leukemia. At the time, there was not much that could be done to save her life.

Time pressed on. Sarah= lost weight, became confined to bed, and finally quit responding to the family a= nd friends who came to see her. = One Friday afternoon, Dr. David stopped by, examined Sarah, and told her parent= s it would not be long before she went to heaven.

The next Sunday morning church started as usual. But there was a cloud of sadness hanging over Dr. David, his wife, and everyone who knew Sarah. At the end of the sermon, the past= or suddenly stopped speaking. Hi= s eyes widened in amazement, and everyone in the church turned around to see Sarah= in her dad’s arms, her mother by her side. They had brought her for one last = visit. She was bundled in a blanket,= a dandelion in one little hand.

Her dad slowly carried= her to the front of the church where her vase still perched by the pulpit. She put her flower in the vase and a piece of paper beside it. At = the end of the service, people gathered around Sarah and her parents, like she = was queen for a day, trying to offer as much love and support as possible.

Four days later, Sarah= died. After the funeral, the pastor= said, "Dave, I've got something you ought to see." He pulled out of his pocket the pie= ce of paper that Sarah had left by the vase. Holding it out to the doctor, he sa= id, "You'd better keep this; it may help you in your line of work."

David opened the folded paper to read, in pink crayon, what Sarah had written: Dear God, This va= se has been the biggest honor of my life.&nbs= p; Sarah

Dr. David Cerqueira wr= ote, “Sarah's note and her vase have helped me to understand. I now realize in a new way that lif= e is an opportunity to serve God by serving people. And, as Sarah put it, that is the b= iggest honor of all.”[7]

How are you going to h= onor God with your life today? How= are we going to be a community of faith, connecting people to God, to each othe= r, and to the world? Are you spiritually prepared to do that? Will you act with boldness? Will you seize the opportunities God gives to make a difference with your life? It won’t be easy—I’ll guarantee that—but maybe you as = an individual, and maybe we as the body of Jesus Christ called First United Methodist, have come to the Kingdom for just such a time as this. Amen!