Do Wrong Right; A Sermon

*2nd sermon wrote and delivered to the Episcopal Lectionary; Exodus 1:8-2:10*

Jessica Cole Robinson

8.27.17

Sermon for SJE

Do Wrong Right

            The Old Testament passage today lays out a wealth of lessons.  Some of these lessons come in the form of the unexpected; promoting deceit and creative disobedience for the well being of God’s people, to the glory of God.  A twist comes from when we learn that the lies and deceit aren’t something we are supposed to run away from but rather run towards. 

            The passage begins with the narrator pointing out that Pharaoh saw that the Israelites were more numerous and more powerful than the Egyptians. The Israelites become a threat to the security of the Egyptian nation and Pharaoh must  do something to protect the thriving of the Egyptians.  Pharaoh’s solution to the problem was to treat the Israelites harshly and employ slave drivers over them to oppress them with forced labor.  However, the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.  This created a fury in the Egyptian people, especially Pharaoh, towards the Israelites.  It becomes a classic case of “us verses them”.  In the Egyptians anger, they made the Israelites lives even more brutal by means of more difficult forced labor than before.  As they suffered in the hot sun and cruel, violent, work conditions, Pharaoh devised a new plan of subduing the Israelite people, since his last plan of oppressing them had failed.  His new plan was one that would leave all newborn boys dead.  He instructed two Hebrew midwives (MIDWIVES OUT OF ALL PEOPLE) to kill all newborn, Hebrew, boys.  The two women, however, had different plans.  They ignored Pharaoh’s decree and let all newborns live.  When Pharaoh learned that the women were letting baby boys live, he inquired as to why.  The two women lied to Pharaoh and made up a creative story, stating that the reason the boys lived was that the Hebrew women were robust and birthed their babies before the midwives could get to them. 

            God honored the midwives strength and faithfulness and multiplied the Israelites more AND gave them more strength.  As you can imagine, this REALLY upset Pharaoh.  His next plan for oppressing the Israelites was to mandate the Egyptian people to carry out mass genocide.  They were to take newborn boys and throw them into the Nile River.     The next part of our text brings us to the birth and survival of Moses…a baby, HEBREW, boy.

            These two women, THESE TWO seemingly insignificant, lowly women, through their faith and reverence of God, set in motion coming reign of God’s kingdom.  Their faith and reverence of God is displayed to us through lies, deceit, and ignoring the decrees of the land.  Their reverence for God’s creation, in recognizing the sacredness of life, gives way for the life Moses; the man who ultimately frees the Israelites from the bondage of slavery and oppression.  Their acts of civil disobedience honor God.  Refusal to cooperate with oppression marks the beginning of Israel’s liberation.
             If you’re anything like me, you shy away from confrontation when you can.  You don’t like to ruffle people’s feather or offend them.  It’s often times seemingly better to let sleeping dogs lie or simply turn our heads to the injustices going on around us.  It can be even more difficult for those of us coming from a place of privilege to address the injustices of marginalized people. In our text for today, it quickly became an, us verses them, situation.  Two groups of people existing in close proximity of each other were divided by the group in control; the Egyptians.  A simple act of CIVIL disobedience changed the course of God’s people forever.  A LIE blessed God’s people and MULTIPLIED them. 

            Pharaoh’s daughter, a woman of immense privilege, was overcome with basic human values such as compassion, justice, and courage when she had Moses drawn out of the water and adopted him.  A deepening sense of justice works much like a propeller.  Out of a sense of justice we are drawn into depths of compassion for humanity and God’s creation.  In justice and compassion there is no, us verses them.  Justice for humanity doesn’t seek to separate but rather redeem and drawn us closer into the heart of God in Jesus Christ.  When we experience compassion towards another, it’s our justice propeller telling us that something isn’t right. Something here goes against God’s good design for humanity.

             God used the gifts of a non-Israelite for his redemptive purposes.  We can conclude that God’s love for all of humanity extends into even those who do not know him.  God’s humanitarian efforts are a collective effort; from the lowly, God fearing midwives, to the privileged daughter of Pharaoh.  God could have hardened her heart but he didn’t.  She extended grace, compassion, and life to a boy that she knew was Hebrew! Something that at the time was UNTHINKABLE for any other Egyptian.  She drew him out of the very river, that very river she was supposed to throw him into so that he would die. 

            Our city has many divisions. Our church has many divisions.  Our nation has many divisions.  If we train our eyes and open our spirits to see these divisions amongst God’s beloved creation in humanity, often times the, us verses them, can be overwhelming.  

            An interesting thing to note in today’s passage is God’s use of the socially marginalized, seemingly small people, to carry out God’s promises.  Throughout the Bible, God chooses the lowly, downtrodden, unknown, unprepared but faithful for God’s purposes.  Spirits that are open to seeing the injustices of the world are moved to compassion. 

You cannot have compassion for what you don’t allow your soul to see.

In pure faith, God undoubtedly removes the blinders that dull our ability to extend compassion towards others.

            Compassion, when we are moved to seek justice in this world, is not just for others. God wants us to extend compassion to ourselves, as well.  When injustice happens to you, recognize it for what it is and extend compassion to yourself.  Just as the midwives and Pharaoh’s daughter were propelled by a sense of justice to compassion, we must work to do so for others – this includes ourselves, as we are members of the same body & same flesh in Jesus Christ. 

            One of the best things we can do for humanity and for ourselves is to open our eyes and spirits to the injustices of this world.  To not sit idly by while we witness division and injustice but rather be moved to action through compassion.  When the minorities of this world are slandered against and oppressed, DRAW THEM UP OUT OF THE NILE! When our sisters and brothers of color face systemic racism and hate day to day – DRAW THEM UP OUT OF THE NILE!  When our LGBTQ brothers and sisters live in fear of being found out & prejudice abounds – DRAW THEM UP OUT OF THE NILE! Since Charlottesville, in JUST two weeks, there have been more than two dozen, recorded, ANTI-SEMITIC incidents across the U.S.; DRAW OUR JEWISH BROTHERS AND SISTERS UP OUT OF THE NILE!  When we, as a parish, experience, us verses them, see the division and DRAW US UP OUT OF THE NILE!

            God made it known in Genesis what the people of Israel were going to experience. In the Book of Genesis chapter 15 verses 13 and 14, God says to Abram (who is to become Abraham) “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years.  But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions”.  This is God’s foretelling of slavery, bondage, and residency in a foreign land that Abraham’s offspring would endure in Egypt.  It is also a foretelling of the riches that were to be gained by lowliest of the low; those that were slaves, beaten, and oppressed.   

            I had a college youth pastor tell a group of us students once that the body of Christ should function like our natural body does.  Imagine you were shot in the chest.  What would your natural, bodily response be to this?  Your hand would immediately go to cover up the wound to slow the bleeding.  And thus, so shall we, as one body and one flesh in Christ, need to be and should be functioning.  When a brother or sister in humanity is hurting, we must work to cover it, care for it, and slow the pain.  Division in any shape or form creates pain.  Oppression in any shape or form creates pain. 

            Our world has seen some radical people go against social norms, prejudice practices, religious decrees, and even the law.  It takes courage to see the injustices of the world and do something about it rather than choose to be blind or silent.  I’m reminded of more than a few people who did what was wrong in either society’s eyes, the law, and/or chose to do what was unfavorable.  They did so because of driving compassion to change injustice to justice and bondage and slavery to freedom and redemption.  I’m reminded of the famous German pastor and theologian, Deitrich Bonhoeffer.   Bonheoffer was unwavering in his resistance against Nazi dictatorship. He fervently spoke out against the many injustices of Nazi Germany. Bonheoffer disregarded Nazi orders and ran underground seminaries, he was forbidden to speak in public, and forbidden to publish or print a thing.  Bonheoffer kept his nose to the grindstone and pressed on in all facets.  This eventually led to his imprisonment in a concentration camp and his execution.  I’m reminded of Rosa Parks. I’m reminded of Archbishop Oscar Romero who was ultimately assassinated for his relentless work serving the poor, speaking out against poverty, social injustices, assassinations, and torture in San Salvador.  Despite many threats, he continued bleed, sweat, and advocate for the marginalized.  We have witnessed the treatment of the most well known advocate for civil rights and liberties; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Who despite many threats on his life, being told pretty much to “stop it” by the President, and being hated and despised, pressed onward towards obtaining justice and equality for African Americans. And lastly, for the purposes of time,  I am reminded of Corrie Ten Boom; A Christian in the Netherlands was so moved by her sense of justice and compassion that she and her family began what is referred to as “The Hiding Place”.  After Nazi invasion, she and her family saved nearly 800 lives during the reign of Nazi Germany. During that time she was imprisoned and released on a technicality. She daily lived in lies and deceit for the care of creation and humanity of the Jews. 

There are so many figures in our history (even multiple in the Bible) that lied, deceived, broke laws, and ignored decrees to help eradicate oppression, act with compassion, work to end division, and move injustice to justice.

Compassion is a manifestation of our desire for justice.

Open your spirit and let a sense of justice move you to compassion, and compassion move you, if need be, to act as the midwives did and/or act as Pharaoh’s daughter did and draw our oppressed brothers and sisters up out of the Nile to experience God and experience God, fully.

Amen.