"God Finds a Way"
Sermon Presented August 24, 2008
Exodus 1:8 - 2:10
Our text this morning is about five assertive women - women who challenge the edicts of the most powerful man in Egypt - the Pharaoh - and succeed. Challenging the authority of any man is highly unusual from women of that era. Their role in society is one of submission - to their fathers, husbands, ruler - all male authority figures. As I read the text, look for the five women. I'm reading Exodus 1:8 - 2:10.
The new ruler in Egypt is far removed from the time when Joseph, an Israelite, was living and in great favor with the Pharaoh. Then, Joseph was like royalty and was encouraged to bring his family to Egypt where they were given choice tracts of land and everything they needed to flourish. And flourish, they did! Their numbers increased by leaps and bounds. However, this new king isn't a student of history, and all he can see is a rapidly increasing immigrant population that he fears will escape, join his enemies, and fight against him. He needs the labor force that the Hebrews provide; he just doesn't want any more Hebrew men around. So he decides to stop the growth of the male population.
From this point, our story is consumed with danger, fear, brutality, courage and desperation. We see extreme characters - a frightened - and yet powerful king, abused laborers, helpless infants, and five defiant women - two midwives named Shiphrah and Puah, a young mother and her daughter, and the king's daughter, the Egyptian princess.
The king can't envision a community where all people live together in peace. He is afraid! His fear may be likened to that of southern landowners who feared the emancipation of their slaves, or of the Texas landowners along the Mexican border who fear the influx of immigrants across that border. In order to control the population, the king in our text resorts to ordering the murder of all Hebrew boy babies at the time of their birth. He also plans to whip the people into submission by crushing them under oppressive workloads so that they can erect monuments to his power by making bricks and constructing cities. In this atmosphere of fear, destructive power is released.
The Pharaoh is more successful with increasing the capacity of forced labor than he is with population control. For the latter, he begins by approaching the Hebrew midwives - Shiphrah and Puah - and ordering them to kill all male babies born to the Hebrews. The role of these women is to help bring life safely into the world and now they are expected to snuff it out. It's a bad plan and the women refuse to follow orders, using the lame excuse that the Hebrew children come so quickly that their births occur before they can be summoned.
Since this plan isn't working, the harshness of the pharaoh's policies escalates as his anxiety escalates. He now orders all Egyptians to snatch the Hebrew boy babies and throw them into the Nile River. This irrational policy expands the instruments of death from two midwives to untold numbers. However, his plan doesn't work for one special baby who, when grown, will lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt.
This is a most familiar story - a favorite of my childhood! We're familiar with the basket-bed the baby is placed in and the spot among the reeds beside the river where he is hidden so that the Egyptian princess will find him. When Pharaoh's daughter discovers him and recognizes him as a Hebrew child, she has compassion on him and takes him as her own - naming him Moses - meaning "drawn from the water." Moses' sister, who has been watching from a safe distance, comes forward and offers to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child. She then brings the child's mother to the princess, who hires her to nurse him until he is old enough to live in the palace. Moses lives because his mother and sister refuse to give into fear; and because the pharaoh's daughter knowingly defies her father's orders and rescues the boy.
This morning we aren't going to focus our attention on the cruel king or the vulnerable infant, but on the brave women who challenge the king's policies. These women exhibit real courage and power, even though their power isn't legally delegated. Because they do what is right, they become God's instruments to save the Hebrew people.
What possessed these women to ignore the king's rulings? What gave them the courage to act contrary to the royal edicts? It must have been love - love of life, love of family, and love of helpless infants. These women become pro-active as they challenge the king's authority.
The biblical book of Genesis focuses on a family - the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now we have moved to Exodus and the writer transitions from family to the nation of Israel. Here we see how God leads the people of Israel through courageous people who commit acts of civil disobedience. In spite of seemingly impossible obstacles, God finds a way - through conspiring midwives, a young mother, a quick-thinking sister, and Pharaoh's own daughter. And the child Moses enters Pharaoh's household where he gains the skills to further God's plan by leading God's people out of slavery.
These faithful women find ways to further God's mission, but they risk their lives to do it. Because they believe that what they are doing is the right thing to do, they find creative ways to challenge the status quo. Today, as the Democratic and Republican parties prepare to begin their conventions, and as we prepare for a new U.S. government to be inaugurated in January, we will see if it is politics as usual, or if courageous individuals will emerge with a desire to chart a new course for our country. Will they provide a new vision, and will the elected officials and the electorate buy into that vision?
In our story, the faithful women are heroes. They have courage in the face of personal harm. They exhibit strength and power, and they succeed by initiating an extraordinary twist to the story.
One of my all-time favorite novels is The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This novel is usually required reading in college English classes, but I didn't read it until much later in life. It's the story of a Southern-born African American in the early 20th century. He was brilliant with great potential for helping his people, but every time he tried to bring justice for himself or his people, he was thwarted by those in power. The black president of his college was so interested in maintaining his position of power with the white trustees that he forced this student out of school. The white head of an organization in New York that purported to help blacks was only interested in using him to gain political power, and again this idealistic young man's efforts were thwarted.
This character, who remains nameless throughout the story, ends up living alone and underground - his brilliance and gifts lying idle. He lost his voice as he ceased to challenge the powers-that-be for fear of rejection and more persecution.
It's often risky to stand up for what we believe is right. Even when we believe God is directing our actions, it takes great courage to take a stand that challenges the majority because the consequences can be dire. It takes courage for a weaker spouse to stand up for what she or he believes is right in a marriage or a parenting situation. It takes courage to advocate changes in a church, school, business, community, state or nation because of the negative consequences of challenging a powerful person or majority. It takes courage for a student to stand up for an unpopular classmate. Our biblical story is a powerful message to stand up for what's right, even in the face of danger from those in positions of power.
About 30 years ago, when I was a member of a small Southern Baptist church in Missouri, a constitutional change was proposed to allow women to become deacons. I believed women should be deacons. When I was young, it seemed totally unfair that my mother who was a spiritual leader in the church was excluded from the diaconate because of her gender, and my dad was accepted because he was male. This was a burning issue with me. However, at the business meeting when the change was presented, a large block of members spoke out against it. I stood up and said that even though I believed women should be deacons, I felt we should leave things the way they were because the issue was so divisive. I wanted peace more than justice. The change was defeated by a narrow margin, and my position still haunts me.
Peace at any cost isn't peace. Succumbing to the wishes of a few in order to stifle the conflict isn't God's way. Challenging power and authority when justice is needed is an important part of who we are called to be as followers of Jesus.
In our text, God worked through those who were brave enough to stand up for what was right. God helped them conquer their fears and do what God wanted them to do. God's people were eventually delivered from slavery in Egypt through the birth of Moses - the male infant who was placed in a basket beside the river. The deliverance of God's people here at home and abroad depends on God's people standing up for what is right against the pharaohs of our world. There is no age limit for making our voices heard. Both young and old are called - even though we need wisdom for how we should speak out! Let's conquer our fears, shed our cloaks of invisibility, and become the people God is calling us to be. We can make a difference!
09/03/2008
