Mothering

Today is Mothering Sunday, a day when the Church invites us to return to the place where we were baptised and where the first foundations of our faith were laid. More widely in society it is a day to honour and celebrate the mums and grandmas, and the many women – aunts, sisters, family friends, who have played a nurturing, loving and guiding role in our lives.

In our reading from Exodus this morning we can see the important role that three women play in the life of Moses. We know that, when an adult, Moses will be used dramatically by God to free the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt but, just as Mothering Sunday returns us to our foundations, this reading from Exodus reveals the foundations of the baby who would grow up to become such a great man of faith.

The first brick was laid by his mum, Jochabed. By the law of the land, Moses should have been killed at birth. Pharoah had commanded all Hebrew baby boys to be killed in order to reduce the numbers of foreigners in the land of Egypt. He saw the Hebrew people as a potential enemy within his walls. So all Hebrew mothers and midwives were told to kill every male baby. Moses’ mum refused to do this. She had faith in God and knew that her child, every child, had a purpose. So she kept him hidden from the evils and dangers of the world until he was a few months old. When it was no longer possible to hide his existence, Jochabed’s faith gave her the courage to place her son in the hands of God. She made a basket out of reeds and placed him in it. The word used to describe this basket is only used twice in the Bible. Here in Exodus, and in Genesis it is the same word used to describe the ark that Noah was told to build to save his family from the flood. This basket/ark protected baby Moses from the dangers of the River Nile just as the ark had protected Noah and his family.

The next brick was laid by Moses’ sister, Miriam. She kept a watchful eye on her brother all the time he was floating in the river. And when the Pharoah’s daughter spotted the baby it was Miriam who cleverly piped up and offered to find a wet nurse to look after Moses until he was old enough to be adopted and live in the palace. She arranged for Moses’ mum to be paid to nurse her own baby and so get to spend some more precious time with the son she loved.

Finally, Pharoah’s daughter played a large role in Moses’s early life. She allowed God to touch her heart with compassion when she saw this slave baby drifting towards her in the river. She was the daughter of the man who had commanded that this boy should be killed, but she overcame the hateful attitude towards the Hebrews that her family held. Instead of seeing an enemy and foreigner, she saw an innocent baby and she chose to adopt Moses rather than destroy his life.

What lessons can we learn from the actions of these women?

1. We have a responsibility to place our children, and all the children in our lives, in the protective ark of God’s word.

The ark that Jochabed placed baby Moses into was made of Papyrus reeds. These were the river grasses that grew along the banks of the River Nile. The Egyptians used these reeds for many purposes, one of which was for making paper to write on.

Just as the baby Moses was safely carried down the Nile in an ark made of writing materials, we as Christian believers have a duty to wrap the children in our lives in the knowledge and Word of God. Whether we are a mother, like Jochabed, a sister, like Miriam, or purely a compassionate and generous stranger, like the Pharoah’s daughter; we are responsible for sharing the Faith with the generation coming after us.

If we don’t pass on the morality and truths that have been passed on to us, they will fade out of existence. If we don’t share the Gospel message with them during their formative years we will be sending them out into a confusing and often dangerous world without any foundation in the Christian Faith.

2. We can trust God is at work in the background, even if we can’t see it.

In the passage God isn’t mentioned directly but we can see His hand guiding the floating baby safely through the reeds, avoiding the crocodiles and strong currents, under the watchful eye of his big sister.

As a Church we must pray for all of the babies, children and adults that are baptised and confirmed in our Parish. Entrusting their lives to God’s care. Moses’ mum didn’t know where the river currents would take her child but believed that God would guide his basket. God was at work through the acts of Moses’ sister Miriam and at work in the heart of the Pharaoh’s daughter. We may not know what path the lives of the children in our parish will take but if we continue to pray for them we can trust that God will work through the people they encounter in their lives to navigate them back to Him and a personal faith.

3. God’s rescue can come in the most unexpected of ways and through the most surprising people

Whatever Moses’ mum imagined about how God might spare her baby, I’m sure she would never have anticipated that the rescue would be through the daughter of the man who had placed a death sentence on his head in the first place. Or that the Pharoah’s family who were enslaving her and her people and slaughtering their baby boys, would pay her to nurse him and then adopt him as their own son, letting him grow up as a royal prince.

God’s rescues always confound us. The baby Moses’ means of salvation was a surprise and, as we continue in Lent towards the Passion and resurrection celebrations, we will focus on God’s greatest and most surprising rescue. Our means of salvation through Jesus’ death and resurrection is just as surprising and unexpected.

So as we celebrate Mothering Sunday and the women who have played a foundational role in our lives, let’s also remember the foundation of our faith, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us from our sin, and remember to share this with every generation.