Stepping Out of Line with Shiphrah and Puah; Sermon on Genesis 1:8-21

Rev. George Miller
Sept 29, 2019
Genesis 1:8-21

Last Sunday, at the Emmy Awards, Alex Bornstein won the Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy.

She ended up telling the story about her grandmother, who was a concentration camp survivor.

Her grandmother was on line to be shot. She turned to the guard and asked what would happen if she stepped out of line.

The guard said “I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but another guard will.”

So she stepped out of line…

Today we continue our journey through the Old Testament and our Impossibly Possible God.

We were reacquainted with our spiritual ancestors- Grandmother Sarah who laughed and father Jacob who dared to wrestle with God.

Today we remember our aunties, Shiphrah and Puah, who chose life as opposed to death.

I have a deep fondness for this story, and a deep love for Shiphrah and Puah. They are perhaps my favorite biblical characters and who I most want to be when I grow up.

Shiphrah and Puah are Hebrew midwives, women who are called to assist in the delivery of newborns.

But they are more than that- S & P are tricksters; they are common, every day individuals who have learned how to use their wit, their wisdom, and their inner strength to survive in a world that wishes to silence or ignore them.

Shiphrah and Puah are part of a long lineage of tricksters.

Tricksters are characters in stories told largely by oppressed and persecuted people. Tricksters are characters who are smooth, slick, and do what they need to do to survive and resist.

Jacob, from last week’s reading, was a trickster.

As the 2nd born son, he had no access to certain resources, so he smoothly found a way to trick his brother, his father, and his uncle into giving him what he desired.

Brer Rabbit and Bugs Bunny are classic tricksters, doing what they need to do to outwit Elmer Fudd and Brer Fox.

Lucy Ricardo was a laugh-out-loud trickster, using every tool she had to be in the show, meet John Wayne, or sneak cheese onto a plane despite what Ricky or the other authorities said.

And Jesus, in many ways, was a trickster, telling parables about women who hide yeast in flour, slipping away from murderous crowds, and standing before authorities and answering their questions with more questions.

When stakes are high and opportunities low, it is often the trickster who finds a way out of no way.

So let’s take a look at today’s story. The Israelites have been living in Egypt for a long time. They came there as immigrants, following the success of Joseph, the great-great grandchild of Laughing Sarah, and the son of Wrestling Jacob.

Sarah’s descendants are something else. They have been blessed by God, they are living their best life, working hard, making love, having baby after baby after baby.

Their fertility and otherness scare the heck out of Egypt’s king, so he comes up with a plan- if we enslave these foreigners and work them real, real hard, they’ll be too tired to make more babies.

….Silly King- don’t you know that love will always win?

So, he comes up with a new plan- if I tell the Israelite midwives to kill the male babies, then I will never have to worry about them growing into men who can rise up and defeat me.

Note the irony of today’s story- the King thinks that only men could be a threat to his plan; he never once considers that 2 middle-aged midwives could be his biggest adversary.

The Pharaoh failed to realize that Shiphrah and Puah loved the Lord more than they feared him, and therefor they let every boy-child lived.

When you are connected to God and connected to one another, death and evil are not so strong.

The King can’t understand. How can this be? He calls S & P before him and ask “Why? Why have you allowed life to live?”

To which Shiphrah and Puah, having everything, EVERY THING, to lose, stand firm in the faith and knowledge of good and evil, and say “Because….”

“Because they are not like all the others.”

Pay attention to what they next say, and how brilliant it is “The God-Strivers are more vigorous and give birth faster than we can arrive.”

You ought to wonder- are they lying, telling the truth, or are they taking the King’s fears and prejudice and using it against him?

If he thinks the Hebrews are nothing but rampant baby makers, let’s play to his beliefs so that our people can live.

Tricksters, tricksters, tricksters.

So brilliant, smart, and brave.

Shiphrah and Puah have everything to lose and they end out outplaying the most powerful person in the world.

The King of Earth demands death, but as Citizens of Heaven, Shiphrah and Puah chose life.

Can you begin to comprehend how radical our faith truly is, and how threatening it can be to governments, businesses, and organizations?

That those who truly, truly follow God and claim Heaven as their Kingdom have ability to disrupt injustice, preserve life, and change the world!

Is it possible that the bravery of Shiphrah and Puah inspired Harriet Tubman to free over 300 men and women from slavery?

Is it possible that the trickery of S & P is what empowered the Van Peel family to hide Anne Frank for over 2 years?

Is it possible that the spirit of Shiphrah and Puah empowered 16-year-old Greta Thunberg to stand before grown men and verbally fight for her life and the life of the planet?

Was it in solidarity with Shiphrah and Puah that Alex Bornstein’s grandmother stepped out of line?

What would Auntie Shiphrah and Auntie Puah do today if they heard the gunshots at Marjory Stoneman or saw the children in Homestead?

Shiphrah and Puah join the likes of Wrestling Jacob, Laughing Sarah, and Imprisoned Paul as our long line of ancestors who dared to stand up for life when the world would rather welcome death.

Shiphrah and Puah demonstrate that as Citizens of Heaven we have a different calling than what others expect.

They also remind us that no matter how bleak, no matter how dark, no matter how dangerous, God is there.

God is King.

God is ready and able to bless.

We ought to be willing to play our part, laughing, wrestling, or choosing to say “yes!” to life and to the promises of tomorrow.

We can do all things through He who strengthens us, and nothing is too difficult for our Impossibly Possible God.

Amen.