From one of the dumbest scenes in movie history and one of the best feel good movies of all time… Bonnie Tyler in 1984 – I need a Hero - Footloose
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the Gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need
I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero
'Til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
We have never not needed heroes. People of every age in the history of humanity have always looked for someone to step up and do hero work. Today is certainly no exception.
We need a hero…lots of heroes! In the next 4 weeks we are going to do a mini-series on heroes…see if we can motivate a few of you to step up and do hero work! The biggest idea of this series is: Everybody can be and should be a hero. You have the capacity to be one and we are going to show you what it will take.
But before I introduce our first hero…or I should say heroine…let me take a moment to give you a preview of the near future at Grace…in particular our weekend services.
· Save the date – 2nd Sunday in September we are going to celebrate our 25th Anniversary at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
o 9/11
o I will be emailing you all a brief video with some FAQ about it.
o Invite all your old Grace friends who have moved away…it’ll be a homecoming in addition to a preview of the future
· The weekend services leading up to and following the 25th anniversary celebration will be monumental.
o 2nd weekend of July I am beginning a 4 month series – longest in our history
§ When I look back on 25 years a few sermons and sermons series stand out as most important…and I have a sense that these four months of sermons will become landmark messages in the life of Grace.
§ It’ll be about the Holy Spirit and prayer and power.
But…back to heroes…our first is Esther…whose life has been defined by this statement by her uncle Mordecai: “….for such a time as this…”
What defines a hero is not just what’s inside of them but how they respond to the need of the hour.
· The need of the hour. The priority of the moment.
· Joseph Campbell referred to it as the Call to Adventure (the invitation, the mysterious challenge)
You are going to see that true Heroes understand the times in which they are living. Heroes have a sense that the moment in which they are alive requires something of them.
· Heroes are timely. They know what needs to be done.
· Heroes have a sense of destiny.
· Heroes sense need or danger or threat
· Heroes sense opportunity.
I want to tell you a story about a heroine who knew the need of her hour and responded. When we are finished with her story you will have a sense of the need of the hour around you and then you’ll have a choice to make…will I take the hero’s journey or will I not!
What defines your life is not just what’s inside of you but how you respond to the need of the hour.
Esther 4:6 page __________
5 Characters in this story: Xerxes, Vashti, Mordecai, Haman, Esther
5 parts to the story
Part 1: (I will tell you most of the story which you can read on your own later)
The story begins with a party thrown by Xerxes – egomaniac and narcissist – ruled Persia (which was most of the middle east from Mediterranean to India) around 480 B.C.
- banquet and display of wealth and power for 6 months for the leading men of Persia.
- lots of bling, lots of showing off and lots of drinking
- Near the end of the thing he called for Vashti to come and show herself to the men (my guess is that he asked her to come and uh…offer a little adult entertainment)
- she refused
- Xerxes banishes her (kills?) and began a nation-wide search for another queen
- a miss Persia contest in which Xerxes would choose the one
This is where Esther and Mordecai come in
- she was beautiful and she was chosen
- Esther was the adopted child of Mordecai – after her parents died
- Esther and Mordecai were Jews.
- Jews had lived in Persia for about 100 years…since taken captive…Diaspora…they were an ethnic minority
- it was this fact that Mordecai told Esther to keep to herself…you’ll see why…he knew that certain people hated him and them.
Part 2:
Sometime later - Several of Xerxes military officers plan a coup – to depose him
- ironically Mordecai of all people here about it – he passes the word to Esther
- Esther tells Xerxes and the coup is averted.
- all of this was recorded in the annals/history of Persia … and forgotten
Part 3:
Haman – one of the highest officials in Xerxes court
- he launches a plot to exterminate all the Jews
- all started with Mordecai who refused to bow to Haman
- Haman is so incensed he decides to kill not just Mordecai but all the Jews…to launch an ethnic cleansing (a holocaust)
- Haman makes his case to Xerxes (without telling him which people) …to issue and edict to have this ethnic cleansing begin.
When the edict is issued nationwide Mordecai is appalled and devastated…realizes the Jews have but one chance…leverage the only person close enough to Xerxes to talk him out of it…Esther.
- he begins an email exchange with her…series of letters through a courier (Ho-thach)
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. 9 Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 "All the king's officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king." 12 When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." 17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions. Esther 4:6-17
Part 4 -
Esther goes to the King and makes her plea, he hears her and responds…Esther becomes a hero/heroine
- Interestingly when Esther makes her move God also makes a move
o Xerxes can’t sleep…decides to have the annals read
o what’s read is the story of how Mordecai saved the kings life!
o Xerxes decides to honor Mordecai at the very same time Esther reveals the plot to kill Mordecai and the Jews…
§ this combined circumstance leads to Xerxes revoking the order…the Jews being saved…and Haman being executed.
It’s a fascinating story with contemporary ramifications…to this day Jews everywhere celebrate Purim (poor‘imm) remembering this story…this year it was March 23-24.
But there are other more personal ramifications for all of us in this hero’s journey…
What defines a hero is not just what’s inside of them but how they respond to the need of the hour.
· Heroes understand the times in which they are living.
· Heroes have a sense that the moment in which they are alive requires something of them.
· Heroes are timely. They know what needs to be done.
· Heroes have a sense of destiny.
Summarized in this most famous passage: And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14
· the word time means - timely = opportune moment = need of this hour
What was the need of the hour for Esther?
· intense racism and ethnic hatred
· intense objectification – treating women as a commodity
o misogyny – mistreatment of women
o Male chauvinism – male superiority
o it is so very ironic that the hero was a woman.
What is the need of your hour? In what time are you living? I am about to mention a series of places in which you inhabit and describe what might be the need of your hour.
· I have no doubt you are going to hear a “such a time as this” call…and you will have to decide whether you will act as a hero…
Your family – what is the need of the hour?
· a spouse who is struggling? a household feeling out of control?
· a child or children wrestling with life?
· parents who are slipping?
· are you a family in transition?
· do you have a extended family that is spiritually lost?
Your workplace – what is the need of the hour?
· a company losing its way and its vision
· a business with a suspect culture
· an workplace of distrust and disunity
Your relationships – what is the need of the hour?
· a friend or friends who are falling apart?
· small group that is in need of a reason to exist?
· acquaintances who are far from Jesus?
Your community – what is the need of the hour?
· neighborhood that is distant and detached from one another?
· neighbors who are lonely or lost?
· schools that are struggling?
· families in great need?
· ethnic and racial tension and disunity?
Your nation and world – what is the need of the hour?
· Separation from God?
· Loneliness?
· Pain?
· Decay?
· Injustice?
· Hatred?
Side note: Part 5 of the story: Jews commit ethnic cleaning. The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. Esther 9:5 (75,000 people)
But the point remains…are you ready to act the part of a hero?
“And who knows but that you have come to this (place in your life) for such a time as this?”
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows, and in miseries.
Shakespeare.
What defines a hero is not just what’s inside of them but how they respond to the need of the hour.