Hurricane Heroes & Midwives with Moxie

As Hurricane Harvey batters Texas, well begin to hear of hurricane heroes: unnamed men and women who do remarkable things for other people, for strangers, for the desolate and destitute. I imagine those hurricane heroessome in rowboats, others in helicopters, still more in shelterswill represent a range of backgrounds: volunteer firefighters, nurses, undocumented workers, refugees, Wal-Mart clerks, and MacDonalds cooks.

On Sunday, many preachers will speak about another catastrophe, as well, which occurred over 3,000 years ago, this one by human design. This is the story in the lectionaryprescribed readings from the Biblewhich many churches worldwide follow.

There is irony in the timing of this weeks lectionary reading. The Egyptian Pharaoh ordered baby boyspotential rivalsto be thrown into the Nile River, which was famous for floods that fueled the fertility of the famed Nile River Valley.

Like modern-day catastrophes, that catastrophe occasioned the rise of heroes. In pulpits across the globe this Sunday, these are the heroes we should hear about.

Hero #1: Moses mother

The first is the mother of Moses, who led the escape from Egypt that is celebrated at Passover. Charged to kill her child by throwing him into the Nile River, she does precisely thatalmost. She does put her baby into the Nile River but only after she has built him a miniature Noahs ark, sealed with pitch, a small basket-boat that will save his young life and change the world as we know it.

Moses mother simultaneously obeyed and resisted. She embodied what Martin Luther King Jr. called creative maladjustment. Pinned in by a politics of oppression, Moses mother resisted while complying. This is the option available to the oppressed in the midst of a harsh, unyielding powerful nation.

We should not despise these heroes for their creative maladjustment. We should applaud them.

Hero #2: Moses sister

Like mother, like daughter. Moses sister followed her baby brother along the Nile until she saw he was well cared for. Such daring. Such mettle. No badge of courage for Miriam. Just the sort of temerity that would lead her, one day, to dance and sing on the opposite side of the Sea, with the Egyptian army thrown into disarray.

Hero #3: Pharaohs daughter

A woman of privilege, if not freedom, Pharaohs daughter lifts the baby from his basket and takes him home, where she raises him under the nose of Pharaoh. Courage can find a home among the elite, this story tells us.

Why did she do it? The bathing princess took pity on the baby when she heard him cry. This Hebrew word is used of sparing someone in battle. Pharaohs daughter spared Moses. Why? Because he criedand she responded.

In short order, just a chapter or two later in the book of Exodus, we will learn that God responded to Israel because Israel cried. I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt, God tells Moses. I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians (Exodus 3:7-8).

Interesting, isnt it, to notice the parallel between the word of God and the work of this woman? Who presages the power of God? An Egyptian princess. The daughter of a vicious ruler defies her own father and mirrors the work of God.

Heroes #4 &5: midwives

Pharaoh commands midwives to kill all Israelite baby boys.

They dont. They wont.

Instead they offer the sort of resistance to power that most of us can only imagine. They lie to Pharaohs face. In fact, by lying, they put the lie to Pharaohs pretense to power.

They tell Pharaoh that Israelite women arent dainty, like Egyptian ones. They pop those buggers out before the midwives can get there and throw them in the river.

With this wonderful lie, the midwives reveal the ignorance of those in power. Pharaoh, the son of God, the ruler of a massive and magnificent empire, hasnt got a clue how babies get born. Otherwise, he would have thrown a fitor the book at them. He doesnt need to know; hes busy making the world run. The worlds most powerful man may know how to run an empire, but has he ever had a slave-baby drop into his palms?

Hurricane heroes

Who are the heroes of the exodus story?

Women. All of them.

Most of them slaves, one a princess.

All of them courageous. Heroes, each of them.

As we watch the Weather Channel or CNN or Fox News this weekend, well probably see hurricane heroes where Mexico and Texas meet. I can only imagine that those hurricane heroes will include some undocumented workers, women with no political power but with a dollop of audacity, and refugeesbrown, white, and black people with few resources beyond bravery.

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Photo: NASA