The First Sunday In Lent
The First Sunday In Lent
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan; Make speed to help thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and, as thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one find thee mighty to save; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The First Sunday In Lent
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, Executive Vice President and Chief Ecclesiastical Officer of the Church Pension Group, and Honorary Assistant of Saint Thomas Church
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Shiphrah and Puah
The first in a Lenten series of five sermons on Women of Faith
For this series on Women of Faith, I have plunged into Hebrew Scripture – the Old Testament – for the two women who will be our inspiration for today: Shiphrah and Puah.
Shiphrah and Puah were midwives to the Hebrew women. I can picture them perfectly as members of the cast of the popular BBC drama series Call the Midwives. They were courageous, compassionate, and bold. What happened ultimately is that they became midwives to the Hebrew people’s liberation.
To understand their story, which is mentioned briefly in the Book of Exodus (1:15), we must first remember Joseph.
As you will recall, Joseph was a Hebrew man who was betrayed by his own brothers who sold him as a slave. Joseph ended up in a foreign land – Egypt. Things could have been really bad for him, but Joseph found favor with the king (Genesis 39:4). Scripture recounts a series of developments made possible because Joseph was faithful and brilliant, and because the king recognized his value in spite of being “the other” (a Hebrew).
As the years went on, Joseph gained stature and influence, and consequently, his family and the Hebrew people were able to flourish in Egypt – in spite of being strangers in a strange land.
But inevitably, things changed. Joseph and his brother and that generation died (Exodus 1:6). The king who had valued Joseph so much also died. There was a new king.
This new king had not known Joseph nor appreciated his important role in Egypt’s history. Instead, by temperament this new king was insecure and felt threatened by the Hebrew immigrants. Those foreigners were good for nothing but trouble, he was certain of it.
His fear turned into hate.
He forced the Hebrew men into hard labor. He constructed systems of oppression to keep them down. And still they flourished and his fear of them grew stronger.
So Pharaoh devised a plot of extermination that would remove the threat once for all.
He ordered the midwives – this is where Shiphrah and Puah come in – to kill every Hebrew baby boy that they delivered from that day forward.
But we learn in Exodus that Shiphrah and Puah feared God more than the King. They chose a higher authority. They chose love.
Shiphrah and Puah defied Pharaoh’s command. At great risk for their own lives, they let every baby live.
Their love literally allowed for life to happen.
It didn’t take long for the king to notice all the little Hebrew baby boys crawling around his kingdom, and he demanded an explanation. Playing right into his prejudice, Shiphrah and Puah were quick to reply: “Oh these Hebrew women are not so refined as Egyptian women, they are vigorous – like animals – and give birth before we can even get to them!”
That was plausible to the king and he accepted their explanation.
With the failure of that approach, Pharaoh came up with Plan B. It was even worse.
If the midwives could not catch the Hebrew babies at birth, then every Hebrew baby boy would simply have to be killed.
This horrendous policy decision was met with a chain of resistance, a subversive movement inspired by Shiphrah and Puah to protect these vulnerable innocent babies.
We know of one Hebrew woman in particular, who put her newborn baby boy in a basket and hid him in the bulrushes in the river. His name was Moses.
Pharaoh’s own daughter found little baby Moses, and her heart was filled with compassion for him. She took him home with her, so the loving defiance that was started by Shiphrah and Puah, now had come into Pharaoh’s own household. His daughter hired a wet nurse to feed Moses – a wet nurse who turned out to be none other than his own mother.
As we know, that little baby survived and as an adult, he led his people out of Egypt, out of bondage, into freedom.
Because Shiphrah and Puah’s small act of loving defiance was the catalyst for a movement to protect the Hebrew baby boys, they can be credited as the midwives of the Hebrew people’s freedom from bondage and oppression.
What do we, 21st century Christians, learn from Shiphrah and Puah?
Three things:
1) First, we learn to be subject to God’s power – which is love – above any other power.
Lent is a good time to take stock of our lives. Is love the organizing principle and motivator for all that we do? Or is it status, success, fear, money, security, revenge, or anything less than love?
2) Second, we learn that no matter how small our circle of influence may be, each choice we make matters.
It is natural to feel powerless in a week with so much distressing news, such as another school shooting on Wednesday. What can you do? Every time we choose love over evil (in our own circles of influence) it makes a difference. We must never underestimate that.
Shiphrah and Puah’s impact was disproportionate to their humble role. At the time Shiphrah and Puah could not have predicted the ripple effect of their choice of love and their decision to defy the king’s evil command. They made their decisions one baby at a time. Their loving efforts, however, led to the liberation of God’s people from oppression and injustice.
3) And third, we learn that while we may not be able to see the big picture, we can have confidence that our actions – when based on love – are part of something much greater than ourselves.
Every time we choose love over evil, especially on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized in our own day, we help to bring about the Kingdom of God. We puncture the darkness of bigotry, prejudice and hatred with the light of love.
This is the way of Jesus.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry calls us to the way of Jesus. He says we are “the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement” – a way which he describes as is loving, liberating, and life-giving. Sounds a bit like what Shiphrah and Puah were about, doesn’t it?
In the words of Bishop Curry, Jesus says to you and to me:
“Follow me and I will help you change the world from the nightmare it often is into the dream that God intends.”
May we be inspired by the story of Shiphrah and Puah to say “yes” to love, with courage, compassion, and boldness (not counting the risk to ourselves) with every opportunity to do so that comes our way.
We heard in Psalm 94 today:
Who will rise up with me against the wicked?
Or who will take my part against the evil doers?
Shiphrah and Puah can be counted among those who stepped up.
May you and I do the same.
Amen.
