AProp16

Exodus 1:8 – 2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20

August 24, 2008

Kids – choices &/or ‘odd’

Some of you will remember Joseph and his many colored coat.

He was sold by his own brothers into slavery in Egypt.

When he grew up, he had the gift of interpreting dreams.

Pharoah called upon Joseph to interpret his dreams

and Joseph gained Pharoah’s trust.

He actually became Pharoah’s right hand man,

a very powerful man in Egypt, second only to the Pharoah.

Skip forward – some 400 years after Joseph died.

He was no longer remembered in Egypt.

But his family, the people of Israel, all of his father Jacob’s descendents

had multiplied to many, many people –

so many that Pharoah feared them,

that they might gain too much power in Egypt.

So he forced them into hard manual labor.

They made bricks and built pyramids, worked in the fields.

Pharoah became so fearful of the sheer magnitude of the Hebrews

that he ordered midwives, as they assisted in childbirth,

to kill all newborn babies who were boys.  

Looking back onto the story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt

is like looking down on a giant ant hill.

Hundreds of anonymous tiny workers endlessly moving, carrying their loads

to build the world they are entrapped in.

But if we zoom down into the vast population of the Hebrews in Egypt

we come upon two midwives.

So close to them do we get that we know their names.

Shiphrah and Puah

To these two there must have been

many more midwives and others doing as Pharaoh ordered.

Just as to one Deitrich Bonhoeffer there were hundreds of

‘Christian’ soldiers in Hitler’s regime, conforming to Hitler’s program.

What we see in Shiphrah and Puah

is two women who clung to what they deeply knew to be true about life.

Who heard the voice of truth very near them

enough stake their lives on it.

The God of the living was near them, we read in Exodus.

And this source of Truth and Life led them into dangerous subversive service.

They chose to act on behalf of the God of abundant life

rather than this King of fear and death –

and so baby boys continued to be born and to live.

When these two women were confronted by Pharaoh,

they used their wits and told him a sort-of truth

that the Hebrew women were strong and vigorous

and their babies were born before the midwives could arrive,

babies born and hidden away

before the midwives could carry out Pharoah’s orders.

That’s similar to a story told by a priest in Birmingham, Alabama,

back when the Iranians had taken American hostages.

One day some men were hanging out on a sidewalk in Birmingham

And they saw a man coming toward them on the sidewalk.

He clearly looked like he was from the Middle East.

The men bristled when they saw him

and muttered under their breath about their hate for Iran.

So, as this man was passing by them, they surrounded him and said,

‘Hey you! You’re one of them Iranians, ain’t cha!?”

He faced them, and said, respectfully

‘Oh, no, my friends. I am from Persia!’

Well, we know by name one baby those midwives helped protect - Moses.

One little baby was hidden until he was three months old

and could no longer be kept in hiding.

His mother put him in a little boat, a waterproof basket,

and hid him among the reeds along the bank of the river Nile.

His sister watched from a distance

and when Pharoah’s daughter discovered him

and instantly took pity on him and wanted him for her own,

she drew him out of the water and named him Moses –

which means ‘to draw out’ .

Two midwives, a mother, a sister, and a royal Egyptian princess…

How many women does it take to fool a Pharoah?  5

-       -    -

Jesus stood with his disciples in Caesarea Philippi,

built by Herod the Great.

It was the sight of a shrine to the Greek god Pan

and a temple to the Roman emperor, Augustus.

It was in this context of this shrine and

the white temple with Corinthian columns gleaming in the sun,

that the disciples would have pondered the question Jesus put to them:

Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

They reported that people saw Jesus

as a new prophet to lead the way to God.

Who do YOU say that I am?

Peter was the one to make a personal statement.

Peter saw something different in the shadow

of this temple that revered the Emperor,

who was known by title as ‘the Son of God’,

And Peter said – YOU are the Messiah, the anointed one promised by God.

YOU, not Caesar, are the Son of the LIVING God.

You are – in both worlds – that of Israel and that of Rome –

You are what I know to be most true.

And Jesus told Peter in so many words

that he spoke from a moment of revelation,

a moment in which he had heard the voice of Truth

and it had transformed him and freed him

from second-hand conformity to what others were saying.

Blessed are you, Simon!

For you are speaking from the rock solid Truth

that will reveal to you what is of God and what is not.

Two midwives and a disciple

Who were touched by the nearness of the God of the living.

And many have come after them –

All those holy ones, willing to be the odd one out.

It’s as though God has never wavered in calling to those who will hear

Who will speak and act on behalf of the Giver of Life.

And with every brave or subversive act, successful or failed,

we hear echoed again…..for God so loved the world.

Peter, in his moment of truth,

Saw the fullness of that Love revealed in the One he followed.

As did others.

John’s gospel prologue says:

And the Word, that voice, became flesh and lived among us

And we have seen his glory, full of grace and truth.

And Paul to the Philippians:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ

Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.

How do we know?

How do we know how to choose between the voice, the Word of God

and the many voices of this world imposing on us a lower, less alive, existence?

The midwives knew, had reverence for, that voice of God.

God who was nearer to them than the Egyptian Pharoah.

God who brought forth life in the midst of death.

They staked their lives on it.

Peter knew, at least in that moment of clarity,

That it was Jesus who was offering a life more alive, more true,

more deserving of allegiance than the Roman Emperor or the Greek gods.

Jesus staked his life on it.

Paul asserts that this kind of knowing is possible for us

together seeking the mind of Christ, the rock solid voice of truth,

something we can stake our lives on.

[Our baptismal vows ring with that voice so near that rings through life:

That we continue together in community –

In study, in fellowship, in worship, in communion, and in prayer.

That we persevere in the subversive work of resisting evil.

That we will live – in our words and deeds – this truth,

this good news of God in Christ.

That we will seek that Truth and serve that Truth,

reverencing God’s love for all persons

reverencing God’s love for our selves.

That we will strive for justice and peace among all people,

and respect the dignity of every human being.]

In his words to the Romans:

Let love be genuine;

Hate what is evil,

Hold fast to what is good;

Love one another with mutual affection;

Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope

Be patient in suffering

Persevere in prayer.

Two midwives, a disciple, and you and me.