“Drawn Out”

Exodus 1:8 – 2:10

Sermon by the Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

October 1, 2023

I can remember Sunday School coloring pages from my childhood with pictures of Baby Moses blissfully floating down the river in a little woven basket. This always seemed like such a tranquil scene to me….happy baby, floating along, safe and snug in a sweet little cocoon. 

I don’t remember noticing in my coloring book the tears of his mother, streaming into the river, as she placed her child in a leaky, makeshift boat and prayed for his survival.

I don’t remember noticing his sister creeping in the reeds, just out of sight, and running alongside the basket – trying to keep up so she didn’t lose him. 

I don’t remember noticing the trembling hands of the princess as she carefully and clumsily pulled the baby out of the water – knowing she risked the wrath of her father because this child was one of the hated ones.

I don’t remember hearing the voice of Moses’s sister, breathless from running but strong and clear – faking confidence, perhaps – asking the princess if she should find someone to nurse the baby.

I don’t remember seeing any pictures in my coloring book of Moses’ mother breathing in his sweet baby smells as she settled him at her breast, heart racing as she glanced out of the corner of her eye at the princess, wondering if her identity would be discovered.

We don’t know what Moses’ name was before the princess renamed him. We don’t know what his mother thought about the future for the three months she worshiped his soft skin and fuzzy hair in silence. 

There are a lot of things we don’t know about this story. One thing we can say with authority is this: it isn’t fully told in Sunday School coloring pages. 

Stories about babies aren’t necessarily feel-good stories for children. A story like this one has to be told carefully because it is a story about some of the deepest evils that plague humanity: greed, slavery, racism, xenophobia, genocide, infanticide. But it is also a story about some of the greatest strengths of humanity: courage, sacrifice, openness to risk, creativity, and community. 

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We live in a world inundated with stories. From big blockbusters like Barbenheimer to 45-second TikToks to TED talks, we are awash in storytelling day in and day out. And then there’s the written word. Some of us read story after story to try and make sense of the world in our day job. Others of us escape into juicy novels or intriguing nonfiction books in our free time. Others of us prefer to take our stories in journalistic form, scrolling through the news on our phone or listening to the drone of cable news networks in the background as we go about our days. 

I worry, sometimes, about all of these stories that we take in. Stories can be life-giving, but when they can also overwhelm. When we don’t have the time to sit with them and truly digest them we can start to feel off-kilter. And when so many of the stories clamoring for our attention are full of bad news - well, I don’t have to tell you where that can lead. You know. 

There’s a fine line between being informed and being paralyzed. And for those of us living through overlapping pandemics - COVID, white supremacy, climate change, gun violence, misogyny - it can be challenging to seek stories that strengthen rather than overwhelm.

This is one of the reasons we come to church, right? To tune into the stories of a force that brings life and hope in the midst of all the broken systems in our world. Sweet baby Moses’s story has long-sustained people who are oppressed. It is the story of individuals coming together with the power of the Divine to dismantle death-dealing systems. And I believe it offers both hope and instruction to those of us who wish to do the same in our day. 

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In today’s passage we see five women who make individual choices that affect the entire destiny of a people. First, the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. And let’s not forget their names because it’s quite unusual that our narrator even gives them to us. Not even the Pharaoh has a name in this story. Shiphrah and Puah.

It’s unclear if these two women are Egyptian women who serve as midwives to the Hebrews, or Hebrews practicing midwifery among their own people. Regardless, what they do is exceedingly brave. Given a direct order from Pharaoh – who is, in this culture, literally revered as a god – they just outright refuse to comply and then lie to his face about it. What’s more, they somehow get away with it. Countless lives are saved because they put their own lives on the line and refuse to comply with evil.

Next we have Moses’ mother, Jochebed. Her act of insurrection is one we can all understand: she chose to save her child. With the authorities breathing down her neck looking for Hebrew baby boys to drown, she carefully hid her son away for three whole months. Anyone who has spent three months falling in love with a baby knows this is an absolute eternity. And when she could no longer hide him, she prepared a little boat for him and sent him off down the river to an uncertain future. I don’t know how she found the strength to do this. Desperation can make us strong, can’t it?

The fourth woman of courage in this story is the princess, the Pharaoh’s daughter. She found this baby boy in the river and, when she heard his cries, felt compassion for him. Her decision to take him in and care for him is an act of outright rebellion against her father. 

Finally, the fifth hero in this story is Moses’ sister, Miriam. In a culture where she wasn’t even supposed to speak to the princess, she waltzed right up and cleverly found a way to reunite her family. The woman who, earlier that day, floated her son down the river, never to see him again, is suddenly reunited and paid wages to mother her own child. Imagine that! Not a bad end to the day, all things considered.

Each of these women and girls acted without knowing what the others would do. And yet each of them, by their own choices, wove together with their sisters a story where this one Hebrew child would not be killed.

Instead, he would become Moses – drawn out of the waters of danger, drawn out to one day return and draw his own people out and across a river to freedom.

This story of holy coincidence – of various lives intersecting – is not the only place in our Scriptures where we learn of God’s great power to draw us out in surprising ways for the good of all. 

Remember a story about another little baby? He was born into a time when bad news was everywhere, hidden away for his own safety, nurtured and protected by everyday people weaving together a cocoon of safety at his birth. In time, this baby also grew into an adult who would offer hope and healing to his people. 

God is not intimidated by all the bad news that pummels us day in and day out. The world may continue to deal in the ways of death, but God is always working in the ways of life. Quietly whispering into the lives of all kinds of people – those with names and those without, children and adults, weeping mothers and strong midwives, those who look like Disney princesses and those who have nothing. 

God sends everyday people who whisper words of grace into our ears as we float down the choppy waters of life. Through the love of others, God draws us out from waters that threaten to overwhelm.

Through us and with us God is working tirelessly to bring about a Realm of true peace and justice – where each and every child of God is drawn out into abundance and fullness of life. 

Thanks be to God.