Exodus 1: 12-21

The world does change – people change, what interests one generation is irrelevant to the next.  And yet as hard as this can be, this is not the end of the story.  People simply can’t live as if no one has gone before them.  This is particularly for Christians.  We are constantly reminded in the Christian story that we live as inheritors of a great cloud of witnesses  - as the letter to the Hebrews says.  Those who have gone before us in the faith.  We are the people of faith here and now, but the effect, the influence, the faith of our ancestors  did not stop with their departure from this life.  People are often strongly influenced by the faithful ones they have contact with, either in person, or by reputation - in their relationship with God and they in turn influence others and so on.  – the faith is kept alive – generation after generation.  This is something very special to celebrate.

While the Exodus reading is part of the story we may not be that familiar with and the two lead characters in the story are hardly household manes for Christians, this story has something very important to tell us.  Shiprah and Puah are the Hebrew midwives at the beginning of the story of Moses, and so the story of the exodus out of Egypt.  While the lead roles in the long saga are taken by men – as they often are in the world. – these women have their own very central part to play – important enough that the story even records their names – rare enough in OT narratives.  And interestingly the story does not record the name of the Pharaoh.  (I suspect that omission is the storyteller's way of saying He thought it was all about him-  he was so important but in God’s story he’s not at all important, not even important enough for us to record his name.)  The women have such little power especially when up against the Pharaoh of Egypt – they are nothing – nobodies.  – they don’t have any say over their own lives, they are women and slaves to boot.  Completely subject o the whim of the Egyptian King. And yet they don’t seem daunted by that, they exercise what power they do have- quite manipulative – but it is a civil disobedience, a resistance based on their belief in the Creator God and to the sanctity of life. It is also a dangerous way to live, for their noncooperation could easily cost them, their lives, yet they chose to actively do it.  They cooperate with God in bringing to birth the Hebrew children, and these midwives act in a creative disobedience – a campaign of non-cooperation to undermine, in their own way to  power of the Pharaoh.  They take action because they trust in the creator god, the lord of all life. And they do it by using the Egyptians prejudice against them!  Like most ruling groups, the Egyptians believed that their women were delicate, and fragile, making childbirth hard for them, but the slave class were tough and robust and so were happy to believe the midwives' claim “What can we do, we can’t get there in time!  After all, you know how we Hebrews women are – we just drop our babies, we breed like flies”!

It is boys the Pharaohs seek to kill, presumably he counts women as not a threat – what irony then that it is women who subvert his plans, it is the women who are the major threat to him.  Shiprah and Puah are most important in the divine plan. It is their refusal to cooperate with their oppressors that the liberation of Israel has its beginning.

Here at the beginning of this mostly foundational story of the history of Israel, it is Shiprah and Puah – who play such a crucial role – so crucial in the fact that Israel’s future is dependent on their wisdom, courage and their vision.  They do make a difference not only to Israel but also to God.   God is able to work in and through them and that created new possibilities for God’s way into the future.
We stand as inheritors of the faith of Shiprah and Puah, those who refused to be intimidated, who refused to be the instruments of death for their oppressors. 

It is quite true -we stand as inheritors of the faith of all the people who have gone before us in this enterprise of living out the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A gospel of freedom, justice and peace.  It is to each one of us individually and all of us as a community, that the invitation of God is made – to be bearers of the Christ to our families and to our community and even to the whole world.
Don’t ever underestimate God’s power in you to influence others in the faith and to make your mark on God’s future.  We are precisely the ones God asks to do his work, to bear the gospel.  We are – by definition – the right people because we are God’s people – even if we consider ourselves nobodies, with no power or gifts. We say “the task is too daunting – there is nothing we  can  possibly do that will make a difference.”  Shiprah and Puah tell is we are wrong about that. 

Now in this time and place we are participators in the middle of the story of God and his people.  We can play a crucial role.  We do make a difference and an extraordinary difference, not only to the church, but to God.  God is able to work in and through us all, to create much more than we can ever ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Marianne Williamson