SUNDAY SERMON: Quiet, consistent courage

By Rev. Stephen Baldwin

OT: Exodus 1.8-22

One of my college professors was a gentleman named Dr. Charles Reed. Brilliant man! He made your head hurt after every class…and seemed to enjoy it. He had a terrific sense of humor and challenged me to think in ways I never would have on my own. 

For example, he once asked our class if some virtues were more important than others? All of us students were too scared to speak up, so we waited for Dr. Reed to answer his own question. He meandered around a bit before saying, “Yes, some virtues are more important than others. Take integrity, which means that I will do what I say. If I say I’m going to do something terrible and then go do it, then I’ve kept my integrity but only succeeded in doing a terrible thing. Integrity is overrated!” 

If that’s true–and Dr. Reed is always right, so it certainly is true that some virtues are more important than others–which ones matter more? Honesty? Good humor? Patience? Generosity? 

Maya Angelou told graduates of Cornell University in 2008 that courage is the virtue that matters most: “I am convinced that courage is the most important of all the virtues. Because without courage, you cannot practice any other virtue consistently. You can be kind for a while; you can be generous for a while; you can be just for a while, or merciful for a while, even loving for a while. But it is only with courage that you can be persistently and insistently kind and generous and fair.”

Isn’t that good? Dr. Reed would like it. Courage is one of the four cardinal virtues according to Aristotle. (Extra credit for anyone who can name the other three? Wisdom, moderation, and justice.) 

The word courage comes from the root word “cor” which means “heart.” In ancient Greek ethics, to have courage was to find the mean between extremes. When faced with a fight, courage meant not running away and not running in head-first. Courage meant finding a middle ground where you took action that would make a difference but not risk your life.  

That’s precisely the kind of courage we see in today’s story from Puah and Shiprah, two Hebrew midwives who are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

What’s their job? Puah and Shiprah’s job was to deliver babies into the world. Specifically, Hebrew babies. Joseph isn’t around anymore, so the Hebrews are no longer aligned with the Egyptians. They’ve become enemies. 

What does Pharoah instruct the midwives to do once they’ve done their job and delivered Hebrew babies? Kill the boys. Let the girls live, but kill all the Hebrew boys. 

Puah and Shiprah’s instructions from Pharaoh run counter to their calling in life. He’s told them to kill the children they helped to bring into the world. It’s a preposterously evil command made by a man who is only concerned about himself. And they know it. 

So what do they do? They show courage. They let the boys live. They help the mothers give birth, they welcome the boys into the world, and then they leave, going on about their business. When Pharoah inquires why there are still Hebrew boys, Puah and Shiprah tell the king that the Hebrew women give birth before the midwives get there. So there’s nothing they can do. 

Puah and Shiprah are models of courage. They find a way to fulfill their calling to bring life into the world without risking their own. Because risking their own would have also risked the lives of goodness-knows-how-many Hebrew children had they not been around to perform deliveries! 

Puah and Shiprah are Biblical models of courage today. We know their names because of their bravery. But at the time, they probably felt like a failure. Because despite their efforts, the king just found another way to try and kill the Hebrew boys. He told all the Egyptians to throw any Hebrew boy they saw into the Nile River. Again, unimaginably cruel. Puah and Shiprah had stalled the plan, but they weren’t able to stop it. 

What they may not have realized is that their actions provided a basis for courage that has been told and told and retold for thousands of years since! Now, we in the church still know the names of Puah and Shiprah! We tell their story! We are inspired by their courage! 

That’s the lesson for us today. Courage doesn’t have to be loud or dramatic or flashy. It rarely requires a public pronouncement. It is most powerful when it is quiet and consistent and smart. 

As author Jasmine Kwan writes, “Courage does not always announce itself. Sometimes, it is simply choosing to do what is right when no one is watching.”

If we can do that, Dr. Reed will surely give us a passing grade at the same time as we fulfill God’s teachings through Puah and Shiprah. Amen.