What drives our lives? Some would argue that it is fear that drives
our lives . . . fear that dictates the way that we live. That argument could be used to explain our
nation’s need to jump into military conflicts around the world as a means of
protecting ourselves . . . a strong military keeps us safe from that which we
fear. That argument could be used in the
way that our legislators hem and haw around in their partisanship moves to
protect the interests of this group or that group from another group . . .
basically accomplishing nothing but creating more fear and divisiveness. That argument could be used in the way that
our economy works . . . a rumor here or a slight slip there in the markets
sends the banks and Wall Street running.
Fear truly does seem to dominate the way that the world revolves.
The fear argument could also be used
in our own personal lives. Consider how
much of our time goes into protecting, insuring, and risk-managing our
lives. It has been said that we have
made ourselves insurance poor because we have insured every aspect of our lives
for that “just in case” moment . . . we have car insurance, house insurance,
health insurance, dental insurance, flood insurance, eye insurance, cancer
insurance, nursing home insurance. We
invest a lot of money into quelling our fears.
Fear dictates the way that we live our lives . . . the way that we make
decisions. Fear is a big factor in the
way that we live our lives.
And, fear is a big factor in our story
this morning. The saga of the Children
of God continues. We have now moved from
Jacob and his twelves sons . . . moved from Joseph and his family in Egypt . .
. none of that generation is left. They
have all died, but the remnants of their legacy still remain behind in the land
of Egypt. This time of respite from the
famine has been good for the Children of God . . . as the scriptures say, they
were fruitful and multiplied . . . so much so it seemed that they were
everywhere in Egypt. Their abundance did
not sit well with the Egyptians—especially Pharaoh. In Pharaoh’s mind these refugees were a
problem . . . a problem that scared him . . . how were they going to control
this growing problem.
Thus it is out of fear that Pharaoh
develops a plan . . . increase their workloads . . . work them to death. It is a good plan, but it seemed that the
more that the Egyptians worked the Israelites the more they multiplied. It did not matter how cruelly the Egyptians
worked them they continue to gain more and more population in the land of
Egypt. Thus the plan is expanded. Now there is a mandate that stipulates that
all the male babies born to the Israelites are to be killed. So strong is the fear of Pharaoh and the rest
of Egypt that they resort to basically enslaving the people and killing off
their children.
So it is fear and hard-heartedness
that drives the story at this point and makes the lives of God’s Children
miserable. But, that is where we pick up
the story this morning . . . where we see the shift from the Joseph cycle into
the Moses cycle. Despite the order of
Pharaoh to kill the male babies of the Israelites, the mid-wives refuse to do
it . . . they feared God and because they did they had compassion upon the
children and let them live. When
questioned by Pharaoh as to why the children were not dying in childbirth, the
mid-wives made up the excuse that the Israelite women gave birth too fast . . .
always before they got there to help.
Of course, this made Pharaoh
angry. In his anger he changes the
mandate . . . he broadens it; now it is just not the newborns that are to be
killed, but all the males that are born . . . they are to be thrown in the
river and drowned.
Into this situation comes an Israelite
man and woman who give birth to a son.
Fearing that the Egyptians will come and take her son to throw in the
river to drown, she hides the fact that she has given birth for nearly three
months. But the child grows and becomes
more difficult to hide. So the mother
concocts a plan . . . she will place the boy in a basket and place him in the
reeds down by the river . . . her hope is that someone will come family. She sends a daughter to stay back and watch
what happens to the child.
Luckily for her the child is
discovered . . . discovered by an Egyptian, Pharaoh’s daughter none the less .
. . who picks up the child and feels compassion for the stranded child. The sister sees an opportunity and offers to
Pharaoh’s daughter a nurse maid to nurse the child until he has grown a little
older . . . she volunteers her mother.
Thus the baby is saved. The baby
is nursed by his mother until the day comes when he is too big to be
nursed. He is turned over to Pharaoh’s
daughter who then declares him to be her son.
She names the child Moses . . . Moses meaning to be “drawn out” . . . a
reference to her having drawn out of the water and saving his life.
In this story the theme is fear . . .
Egypt has a fear of the Israelites—the Children of God. It is a fear that drives them to treat them
with great cruelty to the point of even killing children. It is fear that drives the mid-wives from
carrying out the original orders . . . fear of God and what God would do to
them if they went and killed these innocent children. It is fear that makes Pharaoh broaden the
mandate of killing the male children . . . a fear that floods over into the
lives of all the people, fear as to what Pharaoh would do to them if they did
not carry out his orders. It was a
mandate that even included those closest to Pharaoh . . . like Pharaoh’s
daughter.
Despite the fear, Pharaoh’s daughter
feels compassion for the child she discovers . . . she feels sorry for the
child; and, instead of drowning the child in the river, she rescues it,
provides for it, and adopts him into the family. She goes against her father’s desires and
orders to save a life. Little did she
realize that she also saved a people . . . the Children of God . . . the
Israelites. Out of all the fear that was
surrounding this situation it is compassion that is drawn out . . . Pharaoh’s
daughter cast off the fear and chose the more excellent way . . . she chose
compassion.
If we listen to God . . . listen to
the voice of God in our lives, and truly trust in God, then God will draw us
out of our fear to do God’s will for our lives and the lives of others. God will draw us out into the more excellent
way . . . the way of love and compassion.
The voice of God calls us to love and compassion . . . always to love
and compassion against all odds . . . against all fear. The key is to listen and to trust. For most of us the listening is not too
difficult . . . it is the trusting that is hard.
As the Children of God we are a people
drawn out of the chaos of fear that governs our lives. We are drawn out to discover love and
compassion for ourselves and others. We
are drawn out to make a difference in the lives we live and share with
others. We are drawn out to embrace the
hope and promise of God’s presence in our lives . . . to step out of the waters
of fear that bog us down . . . to do the right thing for God, others, and
ourselves. It is believing . . .
trusting . . . and responding with faith.
God will take care of us . . . always has, always will. Let us allow God
to draw us out so that all of God’s children may live. Amen.
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