Wow! I've really been moved by these scripture readings this morning and something that God has really laid on my heart. Sometimes obeying our only authority, the Lord, means disobeying our world's established authorities, disobeying earthly rules, and even speaking out against the ways of the world.
This is something that has been somehow entrenched in me, because the Quakers and the Brethren along with other "peaceful people" are often the ones who speak out with protests, letters and their lives. These scriptures and countless others evidence that it is our responsibility to hold God in highest authority, and in order to do that we must sometimes confront or even counter the earthly symbols and systems of authority. We are charged to be counter-cultural, to hold everyone to a higher standard of living and loving and obeying only one authority, God.
Standing Up Through Civil Disobedience
Disobeying the Authority
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. -Exodus 1:15-21
These midwives really had guts. They went against the Pharaoh's orders and even told a lie in the process. But, why did they do this? They did so, because they feared the Lord. They knew that what the Pharaoh was doing wasn't right, wasn't godly, wasn't good and wasn't pleasing the Lord. Their standing up against the Pharaoh was a powerful way for them to say... we obey the Lord before any earthly authority. We know that what our God tells us is what is right. If what you are saying contradicts His ways, we don't want any part in it.
We live is a fallen world, and it's important for us to live with our eyes fixed on Jesus and a careful watch upon the ways of the world. If what we see happening around us contradicts Jesus call, we must swim against the stream, shake things up. Though not in my personal background, my religious heritage of Brethren come from a long line of movers and shakers. I remember the story of a cousin who went to war but refused to carry a weapon. There are still Brethren to this day who live below the poverty level in order not to pay taxes, so they are not supporting war efforts in any way. That's why they say that it is "a different way of living."
Standing Up Through Circumventing the Law
Disobeying the Law
5 Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
8 "Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother. 9 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, [c] saying, "I drew him out of the water." -Exodus 2:5-10
Can you imagine? Good old Dad just passed a law to kill all the Hebrew babies, and his precious daughter has fallen in love with a little one. It sounds almost like a girl outside a pet store with a father who has vowed never to own a dog in his life. A puppy comes out, jumps into the girls lap, she laughs and smiles the biggest brightest smile you've ever seen, and looks up at Dad... "Dad, can we keep him?" Even more than a daughter going against her father's orders, we see how Moses' mother and sister "worked the system."
Being females themselves, that beautiful and special gender... not that I'm biased or anything, they put all their stock in the fact that Pharaoh's daughter would see the adorable baby boy and her emotions would overcome her memory of the silly law. Then, Miriam ran to get her mother to be the nurse until Moses reached proper age. Like the Brethren who live below the poverty level, they don't disobey the law... they just circumvented it. Technically, Moses' mother did throw the baby into the Nile and technically Miriam followed the Pharaoh's daughters' orders at finding a Hebrew nurse for the boy. Sometimes following a higher authority requires great creativity.
Standing Up Through Speaking Out
Upholding God's Law and Speaking Against the Authority
3Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4for John had been saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. -Matthew 14:3-5
Finally, at times the system has it so wrong, that we must use our voices and speak out. We speak out through songs, letters, petition, prayer, protest, actions, and many other means. And sometimes speaking out requires great risk. To be a self-proclaimed pacifist in today's society and especially in Arizona comes with costs and risks. Some people will think you "crazy" or just plain "stupid". People won't understand what you mean when you talk about a need for a change, a world where killing is no longer acceptable and how it is not Christian and not what Jesus would do.
Similarly, John saw Herod doing something unlawful, and he wasn't keeping quiet about it. He spoke his mind, and more importantly... he spoke the Lord's mind and God's will. (Was there ever any doubt? I mean, he is "the voice in the desert crying...") And, it came with a great cost. It cost him his life. But, as Brethren, we are asked by "Daddy Mack" to "count well the cost." Brethren know this very well... stories of pastors who crossed battle lines during the Civil War in order to unite the church, only to lose their lives during the journey. Committing our lives the Lord comes with a great cost, great responsibility, but also great rewards. Because "those who lose their life will find it." We know that in one sense, John the B did lose his life, but in another way, he found it... and He is surely with his only authority right now.
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