Redeemed
Pride and Prejudice
Sunday - March 15th
God's Basket Case
This Sunday Simon Lace brings us the talk in the latest of our EBC services. We encourage you to reflect on the bible text and join us in the prayer that follows below.
READINGS
Exodus 2:1-10 (NRSVA)
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman [Jochebed]. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister [Miriam] stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister [Miriam] said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother [Jochebed]. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her [Jochebed], ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Leviticus 19:33-34 (New International Version)
When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
PRAYER
Loving God, thank you that you rescue us from deep waters. Thank you merciful Lord, that although in our sinfulness we would estrange ourselves from your Kingdom, yet still in your mercy you draw us out and adopt us into your family. Help us by your Holy Spirit to learn from Jochebed’s example and do what we can in our own desperate situations whilst placing our trust in you for the outcome. And Father help us to look kindly on others in need of rescue and sanctuary, to extend to them mercy in our thoughts and deeds and in our prayers. In Jesus’ name we ask these things. Amen.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
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The King of Egypt (Pharaoh) had ordered that the Hebrew people must cast their male infants into the Nile. What do you make of Jochebed’s solution – and what might you have done in such a desperate situation?
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Compare and contrast Pharaoh’s decree with his daughter’s actions.
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What seemingly hopeless “basket case” situations have you faced (or are you facing) in your life?
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Is there anything you can learn from Jochebed’s example?
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Pharoah was facing a growing number of immigrant people in his Kingdom. They were following their own God and their own set of laws (note the example from Leviticus, above), whilst multiplying rapidly. Any parallels in our own country today? What might we reflect on from this story?
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In our sinful nature, might we be in a sense estranged from God’s ways? Could we be considered as foreigners seeking refuge in the Kingdom of Heaven?
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Why does Jesus make all the difference – and how should we respond?
you have not reached the end of your spiritual journey? What’s next for you?