Text: Exodus 1:8-21

In the name of the one holy and undivided Trinity.

We live in a diverse world with different cultures, languages, and customs. Sometimes a visitor from another country can create and experience tension due to not understanding some of the differences with cultural norms. The visitor may sometimes be expected to conform to the norms of their new surroundings or adapt in some way to the traditions of their new environment. Cross-cultural sessions were a large part of my Peace Corp training.

When I lived in rural a village in The Gambia, West Africa I was led to a baby lying on a blanket in his mother’s house. The baby appeared to be ill. It was apparent to me that the infant was about to go into convulsions. I noticed that his spine had an alarming curve indicating possible meningitis or something critical was happening. The child was limp and semi-conscious. I was perplexed and wondered why his mother had not taken him to the village health clinic.

I had to make a decision quickly as the health educator in the village. Should I do the customary thing, which was to leave the child unassisted without medical attention because permission from the father was required or should I intervene and get help? The mother and I tried to communicate in the local language. However, it was impossible to understand each other. Boldly, I swooped up the baby and ran as fast as I could to get him to the clinic. The baby’s mother ran after me after me with fear and hope in her eyes.

The physician assistant explained to the mother that the baby was very sick and needed immediate attention. I could see fear in her eyes as I later learned in Muslim families, the husband must make all the decisions for the family. I knew how upset her husband would be with her so I asked her to have her husband come and see me. I felt I had to answer to the father. He was able to understand what I had done to save his son’s life. This cultural battle was a very difficult situation for me to experience at the early onset of my arrival to the village. However, I could not let that baby die.

The preservation of life is very much the business of God as the creator of the universe. God offers us the opportunity to have an intimate relationship meaning one that is close and personal rather than distant God. God knows us by name and calls us to be unified under one faith, one Lord, one baptism as the people of God. Our creator is intimate with us and apart of our lives daily. God was revered as the one true God of the Israelites and the one true God of Joseph. Therefore, Joseph’s people, the Israelites had faith in God. The people of God were commanded to be fruitful and multiply in the land given to them.

In our Exodus text, the new king, whom is nameless, does not have the same relationship that Joseph had with the Israelites. The text reveals that the new king did not know Joseph, which suggests that the new king did not know God and underestimated the sovereign power of God.

Obviously, this new king seemed determined to think he could decimate all male Hebrew babies in efforts to eliminate the tremendous population growth of the Israelites. The new king perceived this population surge as a threat to his power. The new ruler feared they would rise up against him in revolt or worse yet leave which would deplete his cheap labor. The king instituted extreme new policies that inflicted harsh labor upon the Israelites.

Additionally, the king calls on the services of two midwives to participate in his plot to kill Hebrew male babies at birth. Both Shiphrah and Puah , were women who revered God much more than the king. Their origins remain a debate to this day among scholars as to if they were Hebrew or Egyptian. They boldly defied his edit to them by allowing the male babies to live. Their courage, strength, and tactics used to out wit the king was duly rewarded by God. These ordinary women were slaves to the king and respecting his authority was absolutely expected by the king. However, they knew to whom they belonged and were not afraid to demonstrate and show the king that God had their loyalty. It is in part because of these two women that Moses survived.

In the New Testament, Jesus was preparing the disciples for their future mission. They needed to know that their future mission was building a new community, the Church. The disciples knew boldness was going to be required to go against the grain of their society. However, they knew they had to do it. We are called to stand in boldness knowing who and whose you are.

In our society, we encounter differences in values, cultures, attitudes. Our call as followers of Christ may entail making decisions that separate and set us apart from societal tradition. We joined picket lines to support the end of a partied, we raised our voices against injustices (for example ending genocide in Dafur), and sign petitions as peace advocates. We are called to stand up with boldness using our faith as the rock of Peter to be God’s vessels of love and peace because we share one bread and one cup. Amen.