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“We Choose Nonviolence”
September 22, 2024
Cobleskill United Methodist Church, Pastor Anna Blinn Cole
Exodus 1:15-22; Mark 6:29-31
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 1:15-22 gives us examples of two women who subverted a murderous tyrant and chose the non-violent path.
Exodus 1:15-22
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ 17But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ 19The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ 20So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’
In Mark 6:29-31, Jesus responds to the political violence of John the Baptist’s murder by telling his followers to rest, to attend to their souls, and to practice sabbath, so as not to add to the woundedness of the world.
Mark 6:29-31
When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Do you like choices? I know I do. I recently overheard a conversation in the office when someone had dropped in to leave soft plastic. Someone was also telling them that they could also drop off their Styrofoam here because we collect it also for recycling. The way this person reacted you’d think they had struck gold. They were so happy to know that now they had a choice when it came to Styrofoam. I know it sounds kind of silly, but when the only option was to throw it away, it was really discouraging! And suddenly now this person had an option. Instead of sitting in a landfill, the Styrofoam could pass through our church, be taken lovingly to Oneonta where it would be made into insulation blocks for buildings. Choices are such a lovely thing, especially when they come at a point when you thought there was only one way.
We’re in the midst of a series right now that responds to the political climate in which we find our nation right now. But it’s not a sermon series about politics. It’s a sermon series about how we treat one another in the midst of politics.
Today’s theme is “In Polarizing Times We Choose Nonviolence,” with the emphasis on choose. We’re exploring the concept of political nonviolence as both a choice to protect life and as a choice to resist violence. A choice to protect life and a choice to resist violence. We’re emphasizing the choice part because if we take choice out of the equation we’re left with this sort of gut response that every action must have an equal and opposite reaction. That when pushed down, pushing back is somehow righteous and justified.
Choice, though, is a God given gift. A right. A beautiful piece to the human condition called free will.
And choices are nice. Whether you’re talking about Styrofoam or varieties of apples at the orchard. Choices are nice.
Choices can be life-saving. As we will hear more about from our Scripture today.
And understanding when we have choices can be liberating.
Yesterday I was driving to Middleburgh with June for the opening celebration of the new United Methodist faith community called Nourished at the former Middleburgh United Methodist Church. I decided to take Mineral Springs Road as a nice scenic way to bypass the hustle of Cobleskill’s Main Street on a Saturday. It wasn’t long that I was on Mineral Springs chugging along at the 45 miles per hour when a car came up behind that clearly wanted to be going faster than I was going. Granted 45 is not very fast, but it is the speed limit on Mineral Springs. It bothered me, though, that the car behind me was so aggressive… Driving right behind me as if trying to make me feel bad for not going faster than was allowed. When we got to the turn onto 145 toward Middleburgh, I turned right and they also put their blinker on.
And this primal part of my brain said “I should show them that I can go fast. That will teach them to get off my bumper.” And so, I started to accelerate in a zippy way the way EVs can do. And as I crested up to the speed limit, I realized what I was doing. I was playing their game. They were aggressive to me and I was trying to be aggressive back. In that split second, I realized my daughter was in the back seat and I had been looking forward to a leisurely drive on a beautiful day. I had no desire to be aggressive so why would I let someone else get into my head like that? Why would I let someone speeding steal my peace? I could go fast. No doubt about it. But I could also choose to go at a normal speed. My speed.
As soon as I leveled out at 55, the car made a dramatic point of passing me and zooming off into the distance. I wanted to yell into a megaphone: “It’s okay!!! I’m choosing to go slow on purpose. You don’t intimidate me.” But they don’t make megaphones for car-to-car communication. It’s a shame, really. On the other hand, maybe not.
Now, I’m pretty sure I’m preaching to the choir when it comes to practicing nonviolence, but the reason it’s important for us to still talk about it is so that we can understand and appreciate that each of us make choices every day that are affected by the aggressive behavior around us. Do we choose to respond with aggression, or do we break the cycle?
Breaking the cycle comes in big choices and small ones. Our scripture readings are two cases in point.
You’ve probably never heard the story of Puah and Shiphrah, have you? These two women are often obscured characters in the Book of Exodus because other heroes like Moses and Aaron take the stage. But long before Moses could help his people escape slavery in Egypt, two midwives made a risky choice that confronted power and saved lives.
This is the short story: The King of Egypt, Pharaoh, had at one time been a friend of the Hebrew people. Remember Joseph, of the technicolor dream-coat fame? He had been a close advisor and dream interpreter to the Pharaoh and thus the Hebrew people, people from a different land, found Egypt a safe place for them. But kings changed, and a new Pharaoh came into power who in the same situation felt threatened by the Hebrew people, foreigners from another land. He felt like their numbers were getting too big. So he summoned two midwives, women in charge of the birthing process, and asked them to commit violence against any male Hebrew children born. Women are not often central characters in stories from thousands of years ago, but in this story, the women are not only at the center of the story, they are the heroes of the story. Verse 17 lays out the choice they had and the choice they exercised. 17”But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. These women were not powerful in the traditional sense of the word. But they knew what many more power-hungry people often forget. Violence is an instinct weak people fall back on when they are afraid. Let me repeat that: Violence is an instinct weak people fall back on when they are afraid. Nonviolence is a choice strong people make when they stand with God. These two ordinary women made a choice to save lives rather than make their king happy. This changed the course of the Hebrew people. It paved the way for every story of liberation that comes next including the exodus of the Hebrew people out of Egypt led by Moses who had himself once been a baby boy saved from violence by strong women like Puah and Shiphrah.
Choosing what is right means standing up to giants around us and demonstrating with our simple actions the better world we wish to see. Simple actions like:
Apologizing when we know we’re wrong.
Standing beside those who are hurting and speaking up for them when they aren’t able to speak for themselves.
Refusing to respond to aggression with aggression.
And this brings us to another really great example of nonviolence from the Scripture that we don’t notice for what it is. The scripture reading today from the Gospel according to Mark actually reads more like a transition between two unrelated stories.
Mark 6:29-31, again: “When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”
But this isn’t just a transition. It’s the absence of violence. The “it” in this story… “When they heard about it” is the murder of John the Baptist by King Herod. And this passage tells a story, not by what it includes but by what it excludes. It excludes what many would have said would be a justified act of revenge against King Herod for killing an innocent man. Not just any innocent man, Jesus’ cousin! His friend! His baptizer! His mentor and also his biggest fan! When the person in power brought violence close to home for Jesus and his followers, it’s not what he did that got attention. It’s what he didn’t do. He could have led a revolt. That wouldn’t have been uncommon for that day. He could have started a preaching tour preaching Jewish nationalism; using his pulpit to rile up his followers so that they would use their faith as a weapon against others. He didn’t do either of these things. What did he do? They cared for the body and then he told his disciples to rest. To take a break. To walk away from the heat and the aggression and to collect themselves for what would surely be a long road to come.
Jesus is our key to understanding nonviolence. Not just as passive and weak resignation. But as a tool for subversive resistance. Aggression is what aggressors thrive on. And when we intentionally choose our own health and peace and the wellbeing of others around us instead of stepping into the court of revenge, we choose the better way. We break the cycle.
The stakes are high. Some might say the stakes are too high. Too high to take the high road. That desperate times call for desperate measures. That aggression must be met with more aggression. If they’re yelling, we must yell louder.
But Martin Luther King, Jr. knew this better than most any other blessed soul since Jesus walked this earth. An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind. The only way to change a culture of violence and hate, is to break the cycle of violence and hate. With simple actions of nonviolent resistance, King led a movement that got under the skin of the people in power. They met aggression with nonviolence. They sat in the seats they chose, they held hands and walked together in solidarity. They went to jail when unjustly accused. They absorbed the aggression and let it bounce off of them. They knew the civil rights journey would be a long road, not won by returning aggression with aggression.
Victor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor, once said the following: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
In other words, we have the choice to change the narrative. And when we do, we will become free people.
I would like to invite you to pray with me a prayer of confession before God and one another for the times when we have ignored our responsibility to inhabit that space between stimulus and response. For the times when we have let our gut reaction and the provocation of someone else lead us to do things we regret. For the times when our actions and our words have done harm. Let us pray this prayer of confession together:
Gracious God,when we’re tempted to lash out and add to the woundedness of the world, there is so much that we can do:we can water a plant, do a guided meditation, go on a walk with a friend; we can volunteer at a non-profit, donate to a cause that resonates with our faith; we can see a therapist, practice playfulness, mindfulness, and rest; we can read scripture, listen to music, recite a poem, or spend time with our family. Forgive us when we tell ourselves the lie that we’re incapable of choosing nonviolence.May we learn from the courage of Shiprah and Puah,and know that standing up to bullies is sacred, dangerous work.May we practice the wisdom of Jesus to know that caring for ourselvesis one of the ways we care for our neighbor.It’s so very hard, Prince of Peace. We need your help.We need your forgiveness. We need your strength. Amen.
Friends, scripture tells us that when Shiprah and Puah turned from violence and refused the orders of Pharaoh, “God dealt well with them.” So, too, does God “deal well” with us when we acknowledge our faults and seek a better way. And so, hear the Good News of the Gospel: through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Alleluia! Amen.
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