When Disobedience is Commended
By Rev. William Dohle
The law is good...or so we are taught.
From the time I was a little kid I was taught: "Obey the law...or else!" Obey the law, do what the police say and what your government tells you, or face the consequences.
This fear, implanted in me since I was a child, has kept me driving the speed limit(for fear of the police lights behind me.). It's kept me paying for things(for fear of being caught stealing). It's kept my hands to myself(for fear of retribution from others).
All of these are good things to do. Good things required by the law.
But what happens when the law requires you to go against your conscience? What happens when you are faced with a decision like the midwives were in Pharaoh's day? When you must choose between obeying the law and doing what is right? What do you do then?
The Israelite midwives are faced with a tough decision. On the one hand they are told, by Pharaoh, "When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live."
Since these words come from the mouth of the god's emissary on earth(also known as Pharaoh), these words are LAW!
They can choose to obey the law...Or...they can choose to fear God and let the babies live. These women choose the second option. They fear God, allowing the babies in their care to live.
But then they go the next step. When asked why this happened...they lie! They say: "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."
Ironically, God doesn't punish them for lying. He doesn't even mention the lie. Instead, God is kind to the midwives and gives them families of their own. All because they stood up against the law of Pharaoh and stood up for what is right.
In our day and age, we are faced with all kinds of issues. Abortion and marriage equality, taxes and health care all fill the airwaves, especially during this time before an election. As important as these issues are, though, most of them do not directly affect us. Our opinions concern what OTHERS do...not what we do ourselves. We may feel strongly one way or another, but either way our opinion is an easy one to keep. We are breaking no law thinking this or that. And most of the issues themselves do not directly affect us, so we can think or say anything we want to. We may picket an abortion clinic, knowing full well we will never have to face the decision the young women are facing entering there. We may stand up for or against marriage equality, knowing again that that issue has no personal bearing in our lives.
But when the issue and what we think of it does affect us and when our loving action goes against the law...that's when we join the ranks of the brave Egyptian midwives. When we stand up against a group like the Nazis and hide Jews away in our home, despite what the law and the police tell us to do, we join their ranks. When we stand up against segregation and sit where we're not suppose to on a bus full of white people...we join their cause.
For these brave women didn't care if the law said this or that. They knew what was right and just. And they acted accordingly. They knew that they could be put to death for what they did, but their respect for God was greater than their respect for their Pharaoh. And God blessed them for it.
If the law ever requires you to treat anyone with disrespect or unkindness or if the law ever tells you to love one person over another, stand up for what is right! Fear God. Do what God requires and commands...even if it means standing up against a human law. For, in the end, you will be blessed just as the midwives were blessed for what they did.
Almighty God, king of the Universe, give us courage to stand up for what is right, no matter the cost to ourselves. Give us strength to be a voice to the voiceless, even if it costs us everything. Give us your Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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