Readings:
Exodus 1:8-2:10;
Psalm 124;
Romans 12:1-8;
Matthew 16:13-20

Collect:
Holy God,
you liberate the oppressed,
and make a way of salvation.
Unite us with all who cry for justice,
and lead us together into freedom;
through our Lord and Liberator, Jesus Christ. Amen

Reflection

Shiphrah and Puah. Remember these names. If not the earliest, this is a very early recollection and memorial to two women who stood against a cruel and draconian authority and would not do as they were told. We don’t know what happened to these two, but they are remembered by name, itself quite extraordinary.

The back-story is that they are two midwives to the Hebrew women in Egypt at a time when the Hebrews were enslaved there. They are mentioned because they refused to kill the boy children born to Hebrew women on the order from the king of Egypt. We’re given the impression they did not kill any of the boys, and their excuse, for an excuse it is, was that the women giving birth did it all before any midwife could get there. I can just imagine how, as this story has been told over the generations, the mothers hearing it look at one another and smile. Yes, they are strong, but the king knows nothing. Their actions are remembered. And they are remembered by name. Women who are not going to be led into evil.

The very first words in the Exodus story are: “Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.” This is the Joseph, Jacob’s favourite son, who in the service of the king secures food for the whole county and those beyond. Who, when asked by his brothers to help, deceives them, not withholding any food, but nonetheless lying to them about who he is – just as his father (Jacob) had deceived his father (Isaac). What a sticky and tangled web we weave.

Politics then, as too often even now, was all too much seeking and giving favours. New king, new ways. Good management and a favour in the past count for nothing under a new regime. Out with the old, and the Hebrews come to suffer the most appalling consequences. There was a time, in my starry-eyed youth, when I thought gruesome stories like this were not really true, and even if they were, they all happened a very long time ago. That is just not so. While agencies here in the UK were not killing babies – thank God for that – in the 50s and 60s, and even in the 70s, at birth babies were forcibly taken from mothers who were not married. And this in the last 50 years. Even the BBC called this “forced adoption” and the parliamentary inquiry’s fifth report was published in March and we are now hearing more and more about what happened. Of course, there are many, many women who know what happened to them – you may know someone to whom this happened.

Shiphrah and Puah. Remember these names. Say these names when you hear of women ignored or overlooked. Say these names when you hear of women neglected or abused. Say these names and add to them any who have actively stood up to evil, and remember that not all survived. The passage today has that enigmatic phrase “So God dealt well with the midwives” (v20). This story does not tell us what the phrase means. We just don’t know if there were repercussions from the king and his henchmen, for that they certainly were, to ensure such a command is carried out.

This week our lectionary reminds us to remember Shiphrah and Puah, to cherish them, remember their actions, and for us to continue to hold them up as those to be followed, fearless followers of God. I wonder if Paul had them in mind when he wrote that opening sentence in the Romans reading today? “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship” (Rom 12:1b).

Barry Lotz