This morning when I woke up and looked out our balcony window at about 5:00 and saw snow on our balcony and saw that it was still snowing I said, “This is the day that the Lord hath made, blessed be the name of the Lord, let us be glad in it.” No I didn’t. I said you’ve got to be kidding me, this is unbelievable! I thought we had moved on to Spring. I was ready to put on shorts and enjoy Spring and the flowers. I mean we know every year we have a freeze that zaps the blossoms, but snow, this is ridiculous, you know? Then I came on to church and we had our 8:45 service and we had the initial anthem by Julian Peagus, our guest instrumentalist, and you will be hearing him shortly on his cello. And I found myself saying, “Man am I glad I came today.” It’s amazing how things can be turned around. Monday as I looked at the lectionary text that was assigned for this Sunday and saw that it once again was out of the book of Isaiah and seemed almost identical to the one we just had and I preached on just 2 weeks ago, I said “what a marvelous hermeneutical opportunity this will be for me.” No I didn’t. I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me, we just did this, and we talked about it we exhausted as if you ever exhaust a scripture passage”. But in wrestling with the text and going over it I am glad that it is our text for this morning. Because I think it lifts up the theme of unlikely heroes as we ask ourselves who will be leading this new exodus? It seems to me that sometimes the Lord surprises us.

In following the March Madness College Basketball tournament, I know UT fans have been very saddened at the early exit of the UT team for which there were all sorts of expectations this year. At one point they were Number One in the nation, 17 and 0 and Wake Forest beat them in the first round. They were interviewing the Wake Forest coach after the game and he said “Well I drew that play up and I chose this one young man to make this shot. And even though he’s got a low free throw percentage and his three point shooting percentage is very low, I knew this was the right guy for us.” And he turned out to be exactly right; he made this clutch shot at the buzzer to win the game in overtime for Wake Forest. His coach had chosen him to be the leader, to be the one to win the game. This morning we are asking ourselves who will God chose to lead the people back to Jerusalem in the new exodus. Listen carefully as we begin with verse 16.

Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord,
     who makes a way in the sea,
     a path in the mighty waters,
who brings out chariot and horse,
     army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
     they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things,
     or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
     now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
     and rivers in the desert.
The wild animals will honour me,
     the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
     rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people, 
     the people whom I formed formyself
so that they might declare my praise.

Will you remember the context, the Babylonians conquered the Israelites, and they took the people away from Jerusalem. They took away the flower of Jerusalem, meaning not only the leaders, but the poets, the story tellers, everybody who would contain and preserve the story of the Israelites were brought back to Babylon and put to work. These Babylonians were good at empires. They knew what they were doing and so as the decades passed and the old guard passed away there were Israelites who were actually not Israelites anymore they were born in Babylon and they had become quite comfortable. In Isaiah’s passage we remember the call to remind themselves of who and whose they were and to invite them, indeed, encourage them, command them to return to Jerusalem. The people were not oppressed but they were displaced and Isaiah is trying to make this case. But one thing we did not talk about two weeks ago is it is all well and good for the chosen people to say, “You know it’s time to go back”. But I am not sure the Babylonians would have given them permission to go back. You know after all they were the ones that took them away in the first place. So it raises the rather sticky question of who is going to liberate them. Who’s going to overthrow the Babylonians in order to make their freedom possible? Who’s going to be this new leader that’s going to bring about this liberation? And once they do get into the wilderness assuming they do ever escape Babylon who will look after them? Who will make sure that they are not devoured by wild animals like jackals? Who will give them water in the wilderness? Who will give drink to them?

This passage in Isaiah begins with a reference to the old exodus talking about the warriors, the chariots, the horses and the army that went down in the Red Sea or the Reed Sea. This is a marvelous image of liberation for the chosen people when the Egyptians who were chasing after them. Remember Pharaoh changed his mind, “You know I changed my mind. Go and get them, bring them back to bondage”. But they perished in the sea. So on the one hand, Isaiah references that and then turns right around, I don’t think it’s my imagination, and says oh by the way do not remember the former things. Remember that marvelous exodus we had when the Egyptians perished? Does everyone remember that? Ok don’t talk about that, seems like a contradiction, doesn’t it, like a disconnect. What is Isaiah about? I think what he is about is saying listen to what God has done, God can do again. What God has done once, God can do even better. So let’s not worry about the old exodus any longer. Let’s talk about the new exodus and get excited about that. And even though you are not oppressed, you are displaced and we need to get back to our destiny, we need to get back to our calling. We need to get back to Jerusalem and once again, the truth is, there wasn’t a very pleasant scenario waiting for them there. But once again, who is going to be the leader? Who is going to be the king that will liberate them and lead them through the wilderness?

Well as you start thinking about it, Moses needs to be somebody in the midst. It needs to be a devoted person who is steeped in the law and the traditions of the Israelites, right? I mean wouldn’t that seem to follow? And yet God has a way of surprising us with unlikely heroes. Because you move on to chapter 45 and who does Isaiah name as this liberator? It’s Cyrus the Great, who’s not even one of them. Cyrus does not know their God at all, Cyrus the Great. Who is a Gentile or a Pagan, a non-believer? Isaiah refers to him as the anointed one, a messiah who will liberate them. Isn’t that amazing that God would choose someone who isn’t even among them. Such is the surprising nature of God and yet let’s talk about that for a minute, because Cyrus was an amazing human being and a great leader and truly deserving of the adjective Great. Cyrus was a grandson to a king and his grandfather much in the same way. Herod was paranoid. He had a Magahi tell him that his grandson would usurp his authority so he ordered him to be executed… killed as a small child. But his followers didn’t have the heart to do that and they gave him out to a shepherd family who they raised him and finally he made his way back in and did become the king.

In 546 BC he became the King of Persia. And his leadership was marked with this style, he believed in religious tolerance. He was very concerned with the welfare of the common woman and man and he wanted benefits for them. And he cared about how they lived and as word got out to surrounding empires and surrounding peoples around him about the way he treated the people they did not resist him, they welcomed him. In Babylonia Nebuchadnezzar was the Emperor of the King, but he was harsh in his policies and he was not caring. So when Cyrus came with his armies to the Euphrates River they diverted the waters to canals so that it would lower the water level to mid thigh and his soldiers could wade across. They were preparing for war. They were ready to invade and beat down a protective army, but guess what, not one soldier raised a sword against them because they had decided this was a better deal for them. They welcomed him with open arms, because he cared about the welfare of the people. In the vault of the temple Cyrus placed what looked like a huge Congo drum on its side…only, it’s made of stone and it’s called the Cyrus cylinder and on it, it has all of this ancient writing…that details the great works he did as a leader. He believed in repatriating displaced peoples and when he found out the plan of the Israelites he sent them back to Jerusalem and he even gave them money to rebuild the temple. Isaiah knew exactly what he was talking about and he understood that sometimes God chooses unlikely heroes even in Cyrus.

I like the story of the 3^rd grade Sunday school teacher who is trying to convey the notion of incarnation to her students. It is a rather challenging concept for 3^rd graders. And finally she said do you understand what I am saying? Jesus is the Son of God. One little girl raised her hand and said, yes I think I do. Jesus is God, only with skin on. You and I this morning have the opportunity to leave this place and go out and be Godlike only with skin on and to care for people and to make a difference.

In some way Cyrus reminds me of John Wesley who left his holy club to go out and make a difference in the community around him. Wesley is often credited for preventing the type of revolution that took place in France where the aristocrats finally got their comeuppance because no longer were the common people willing to listen to the Mary Antoinette’s say “Let them eat cake,” which is another way of saying “who cares?” History is about kings and queens and those of noble birth and blue blood and who cares about the average woman or the average man? Wesley cared, Wesley went out and made sure there were schools, Wesley went out and made sure they had medical care. Wesley went out and made sure that laws were passed to protect children who were working 16 hours a day in the textile mills. Wesley cared and it made a difference. Well yeah, but that was then, God did that then, but can God really do that now? Well yeah, actually God can and let me give you an example.

Right here in our midst we have Reverend Larry James who is the director of the Central Dallas Ministries. A couple of years ago Larry shared with me his plan, his dream to take this abandoned building 511 Akard, all 21 stories of it and turn it into affordable housing. He recognized the fact that for low income people, for the working poor, downtown is nothing but a wilderness. Either you are homeless or you have to leave because you cannot afford to live anywhere around the downtown area. And so Larry set out with his team, Central Dallas Ministries, and he brought together many different entities to the table, bankers, community people, foundation grants and this Thursday evening from 4:00 to 7:00 we have the grand opening of 511 Akard, 21 stories of affordable housing. 50 units made available to people who have been homeless and he’s going to make it work and it’s going to be well run. They’ve even moved their own offices there and there is even going to be a 7-11 on the first floor. And that means I can walk a couple of blocks, Larry, and get a slurpee, so who’s making sure we have something to drink? In this case Reverend Larry James and Central Dallas Ministries, in this way you and I can go out and say thank God it’s Monday and be God with skin on. Would you pray with me?

Oh God as we gather together this morning, we confess that we are prone to getting comfortable. We confess that sometimes we don’t want to hear your call to remind us of who we are and what our ultimate destiny is and what Your ultimate purpose is for us. Yet Lord remind us that we are called to make a difference. That when you taught us through our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus that we are called to love You and love our neighbor. We are to take that seriously and not be hearers of the word only but doers as well. Lord energize us and give us holy boldness that we might leave this place and move forth and truly make a difference in Your name. In the name of Christ Jesus the Messiah we do pray, Amen.