Esther's Story

Story of Telemachus!

The great N.T. scholar, William Barclay tells the story:

It was a Roman holiday in the fourth century A.D.

80K people filled the Roman Coliseum to watch the gladiator games

Men captured in battle had to go into the arena and fight against each other to the death

It was for the entertainment/enjoyment of the emperor/people

But this particular day was different

A holy man, Telemachus—a monk who worshipped God out in the desert, had come into Rome and wanted to see what everyone was gathering to see in the Coliseum.

As the gladiators began to fight and kill each other, Telemachus was horrified by what he was watching. He was equally horrified that all the crowds were reveling in the brutality playing out in the arena.

Telemachus felt he had to do something.

He began to yell and scream for the gladiators to stop…but no one could hear him over the cheers of the 80k.

He made his way down the steps, jumped over the rail, down onto the arena floor itself.

Then he ran over to the gladiators fighting and stepped between them yelling for them to stop!

At first, the crowd laughed at the little raggedly dressed man standing between the two hulking gladiators.

But Telemachus wouldn’t leave, so the crowd began to cheer “kill him, kill him!” over and over again.

The Emperor, wanting to please the crowd, gave the “thumbs down” signal, and at that signal, the two gladiators shoved their swords through the holy man, and Telemachus died on the spot.

But instead of cheering, the crowd went silent.

80K were shocked by what had happened; ashamed that they’d been a part of it; stunned that an innocent holy man had been killed in such a brutal way…a mass realization of how wrong and senseless ALL the killing was.

And suddenly, one man got up, went down an isle of steps, and left the coliseum. And then another, and another, and another…until everyone had left.

The brutal gladiator games, which had gone on for 100’s of years, ENDED that day, and were never held again.

The reason I told this story is this: it was a nobody, just an ordinary person, committed to living for God, who understood the moment he was living in, and he stood up for what was right; he seized the moment for God’s glory, and because of his actions, the course of history was changed, and the lives of thousands in the future were saved.

This story reminds me of the story of Esther.

Esther, like Telemachus, was just one person, but by giving their little, God was able to do much to change history through them.

Story of Esther

In an earlier time, long before Rome, King Xerxes, from Persia, ruled the A.N.E.

He ruled from India to Ethiopia—127 provinces.

The King became unhappy with his present queen, cast her out, and began the search for a new queen.

Esther, a young, beautiful, Jewish girl, being raised by her uncle, Mordecai was gathered into the group of young women from whom the King would pick his new queen.

In due time, Esther is selected the new Queen.

Haman, the King’s right hand man, is in charge of all the King’s officials.

And he hates Mordecai, because Mordecai doesn’t bow to Haman, or anyone, other than God—because he’s devoted to Yahweh, the one and only living God.

So Haman sets into motion, by the King’s authority, a plan with a date posted all over the Empire, that’ll make it legal to kill not only Mordecai, but also exterminate all the Jews in the 127 provinces.

Mordecai tells his niece, Esther the Queen about Haman’s plans, and insists she must do something about this—or they will ALL die, including Queen Esther.

Esther struggles w/ the implications of what’s being asked of her...

She had it made! She was the Queen! She had the best of everything the Empire had to offer—all was hers, why wade into this mess? why put herself potentially in harms way? Who was she?

READ from chapter 4:13b-14

She realizes, I have to do something. Someone has to take a stand. Someone has to stop this unnecessary killing. Maybe this is MY moment. If I die, I die; but I have to act!

Esther does act. She seized the moment. She boldly offers her little, and God makes it into much.

AS a result, the nation of the Jews is saved (which Jesus will come from later), Esther and her family are saved, and Haman is eliminated because of his evil plot.

Esther goes from being a part of a harem, to becoming a national hero!

Esther seized the moment!

I don’t think she asked for it…but it came

Have you ever sensed this was your moment? Maybe at work? In a relationship? Some special occasion when something stirred in your soul, and you had to decide something, or change a direction, or do something…and you just knew somehow the time was NOW—maybe never to return again?

Do these opportunities come once in a lifetime? Or maybe many times?

Maybe every day there are moments that carry eternal significance depending on which way we act.

You might be thinking, yep, for Presidents, and CEO’s, and those in leadership positions...

Yep, for them for sure, but it’s also true for any and every one of us who follows Jesus, loves God!

God is always willing, always ready, to take our little offered, and make it much because that’s how good God is!

Joseph, in prison, seized the moment for God’s glory and saved two nations

Gideon, hiding from the Moabites, angrily, seized the moment for God’s glory become a Judge of Israel,

Hannah cried “Give me a son lord, and I’ll give him back to YOU!” and Samuel became a great priest!

A little boy in a crowd of 10 thousand said to Jesus’ disciples, “here, I have 2 fish, and 5 little loaves of bread...”

They seized the moment God gave them even when to say something, or do something…was dangerous, or didn’t make sense, or the situation seemed hopeless—IT NEVER IS WHEN GOD IS INVOLVED!

God loves to take our little and make it into much

But how many know of times when we passed on the moment?

Maybe because of fear, or insecurity, or just because we refused to believe God could work through me, so

We let the moment slip by, and do nothing.

Psychologists tell us that every time we have this kind of experience/feeling, if we don’t act on it, then we are less likely to act later when other significant moments present themselves.

I read an interesting story about the Pimas, a Native American tribe.

They believed that inside of them was a stone next to their heart.

The stone had spikes sticking out of it.

If they did something to hurt someone, or neglected someone, or avoided responsibility, that stone next to the heart would begin to turn slowly and the spikes would rub against the heart.

They believed the stone would continue to turn until the situation was resolved or corrected by the person.

According to Pima legend, the spikes did not cut or puncture the heart.

The spikes just slowly rubbed and rubbled the heart until it became calloused and hardened over time.

I.O.W. Failing to seize the moment for God’s glory in our lives…we become more closed, more desensitized, more calloused.

Oh that this would never happen to YOU, or ME…but I have to ask:

How many letters/emails have not been written?

How many phone calls have never been made?

How many visits have not been planned?

How many compliments have not been said?

How many commitments to join God in making a difference in this world are still not made because we passed on our opportunity to seize the moment?

How many times have we sensed the moment, but let it pass, because we’ve thought, “who am I? I’n no one.”

Listen to the words from an old United Theological Seminary poster entitled The World’s A Better Place:

Michelangelo didn’t say, “I don’t do ceilings.”

The German monk, Martin Luther, didn’t say, “I don’t do doors.”

Moses didn’t say, “I don’t deal with Pharaoh’s.”

Noah didn’t say, “I don’t do arks and animals.”

Mary didn’t say, “I don’t do virgin births.”

Jesus didn’t say, “I don’t do crosses.”

And from our stories today, Telemachus didn’t say, “I don’t want to get involved.”

Esther didn’t say, “I can’t take a chance; it’s too risky.”

She seized the moment.

Is God asking you to do something? to say something? to commit to Him?

Will you let the moment pass? Or will you seize the moment?

Prayer: All we have is THIS moment, all we are ever promised is NOW, Lord like Esther, give us a willingness to recognize the weight of the moment in front of us, and grant us the strength and courage to seize the moment for Your sake and Your glory. Help us NOT to shrink back, or put it off, or to think to long…less the moment pass, and as Mordecai reminds us, The Lord will surely raise up someone else who will. Let that not be true of us. Help us say YES to whatever/however you want to work through us, your willing vessels. Father God, take our little offered to you, and make it much we pray...