PRAYER

God, You have examined our hearts and know everything about us. You know when we sit down or stand up. You know our thoughts even when we are far away. You see us when we travel and when we rest at home. You know everything we do. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us, too great for us to understand. Lead us along the path of everlasting life. Amen.

READING

Exodus 2:1-22

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,² and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. ³ But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵ Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave 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. So 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, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. ¹⁶ Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. ¹⁷ Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

¹⁸ When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

¹⁹ They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰ “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

²¹ Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. ²² Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,^[c] saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

REFLECTION

Origin stories have become popular through super hero movies. We like to know back stories, the small details that lead up to the creation of an infamous character. In the Old Testament reading today we learn about Moses' origin story. At the time of his birth, Pharaoh ordered every Hebrew boy to be killed so Moses' mother thinks of a way to save him. She makes a basket, and seals it with pitch. Pitch is a sticky resin, like tar used for waterproofing. God instructed Noah to use pitch to seal the ark (Genesis 6:14). In both Noah's story and Moses' story, the water would have caused death, so using pitch to seal the vessels were life saving. Jesus' blood has also been referred to as pitch for our lives. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit seals us and saves us from eternal death, giving us life and protection.

As you read the Exodus passage, consider where Moses came from, what he did and how God (still) used him to be a pillar in the Christian faith. God was always with Moses and God is always with us. We make decisions that have consequences (both positive and negative) which effect the journey our lives will take. With God's help, we try to walk the right path and when we divert, God is faithful to draw us back and will never leave us.

LENT CHECK IN

Consider watching Disney's Prince of Egypt or The Ten Commandments (1956)