August 23rd.
This morning we have the story of the child Moses being found by Pharaoh's daughter. There are several characters in this little story.
First, there is Moses Mum. She is not named here but later we will learn that she is Jochebed. Jochebed lives in a time of political tyranny. The nasty king orders the midwives to kill all the Hebrew baby boys. So when Jochebed gives birth to a boy she is keen to hide it for fear of the child’s life. It must have been a bitter sweet time. After 3 months there is only one course of action left. To send him away. I cannot imagine what that must have felt like and what that decision cost Jochebed. She has no way of knowing what will happen to her son, whether he will survive, grow up and flourish, or whether he will perish. All she is really sure of, is that if the child is discovered in her care, death will follow swiftly.As I will point out next Jochebed is actually reunited with her son while she breastfeeds him and then for a second time she must hand him over to Pharaoh's daughter. So I find myself having the deepest admiration and sympathy for Jochebed.
Secondly there is the older sister of Moses. She has a pivotal role in all of this, for she follows the little raft and just coincidentally happens to be there when Pharaoh's daughter discovers the precious cargo. And she just happens to know a suitable wet nurse who will look after the child. Even though she is quite young, her quick thinking saves Moses' life. Even more powerfully, she reunites Moses and Jochebed for a little while. Thirdly there is Moses himself, who as a three month old has no idea of his sailing trip which means he is to grow up in Pharaoh's household, faith and culture, instead of with his mum and Dad as a faithful Jew.
And then there is pharaoh's daughter herself. She sees the basket and gets one of her lackey’s to retrieve it. When she looks inside, she sees a baby. What's more it is a boy and she rightly identifies his faith.“This is one of the Hebrew children”.Later on Pharaoh's daughter will call him Moses which means ‘pulled out’ for I pulled him out of the water. Now while this is a very old story indeed, it resounds fresh, clear and loudly today. All sorts of people from different cultures and different ways of life come to us on the water. It would have been very easy for Pharaoh's daughter to say “Nup! This is a baby boy from the Hebrew faith and he will be nothing but trouble. Send him back to where he came from”. But pharaoh's daughter acts with compassion and Moses goes on to be one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith and therefore our faith.Our response to those who, out of fear, are sent to us for a fresh chance, a fresh opportunity and a new beginning ought to be the same.
Not just because it's a cute, adorable 3 month old child, but for those of us from a Christian faith, all we have to do is remember that Jesus too was once a squawking 3 month baby boy. Life is sacred and holy; no matter the age, the culture or the gender. Like Moses' older sister and Pharaoh's daughter, we can make a very real difference in people's lives and especially those people who are as different from us, as pharaoh's daughter was to a Hebrew baby boy. Something else to think about.You may have already noticed several parallels between Moses infancy and Our Lord's infancy. Both were born in political instability. Both flee, both are actively sought after to be killed. Another similarity. If you were to read on from this morning's first lesson you would see that we jump from Moses being an infant, to Moses being an adult in one fleeting sentence.“ In the course of time Moses grew up.” And that’s it. He’s now a fully grown guy. We are told nothing about his toddling around or teenage years.
So too with Our Lord. There are about 30 years that are hidden. We are told next to nothing about them. And while it might be frustrating and of course we would like to know more, I see it as a golden opportunity to ponder and imagine. There are no wrong answers here. What if …???It’s also an echo of our hidden ministry. Yours and mine. I conclude with some words from Nouwen who put it this way.
“We should never forget that before all his mighty works and words,
Jesus lived most of his hidden life in a small town far away from all the great people,
great cities and great events.
If we want to follow Jesus by words and deeds in service of his kingdom,
we must first of all strive to follow Jesus in his simple,
unspectacular and very ordinary hidden life.”