Holy Week Women

At Passover we celebrate
how God used Moses to deliver
Israel from slavery
how his staff kept them from drowning in the Red Sea
We forget
how when Pharaoh ordered a gendercide
the midwives
delivered this Hebrew baby
how his mother’s reeds kept him from drowning in the Nile
Who knew underwater basket-weaving was worthwhile?
 
“Moses” means “draw out”
Prince of Egypt, he drew Israel out
defying Pharaoh’s army
raised the 10 commandments
and led the people 40 years in the wilderness.
His name came
from the princess of Egypt who drew him out of the water
defying Pharaoh daddy
raised him up in the royal household
‘til he fled to the desert for 40 years.
 
Moses saw God in the bush
but God was watching out for him
from the bush through the eyes of sister Miriam
 
Moses protected the people from the plagues
with the blood of lambs
but when God’s hand
turned on him,
Zipporah his wife
took the knife
to her son
like Abraham
quick decision
the blood of circumcision
protected Moses.
 
Hundreds of years later,
God sent another deliverer
delivered by a single mother
“how will this be?”
teenage pregnancy.
She was with child,
Immanuel God with us.
The one she gave life to
lived to bring life to the world
but first he had to die.
 
Maundy Thursday
Before Jesus cleaned our souls
he cleaned the soles of his disciples’ feet
The Teacher taught them
to be a King is to serve
to take the lowest place
that of a woman.
 
A woman named Martha who served him
Mary of Bethany who sat at his feet
washed them with her hair
sacrificed her perfume
“What a waste!”
But as the scent filled the room
Jesus said,
“It was worth the cost
to prepare me for my cross,
my sacrifice.”
 
Good Friday
Jesus wept in the garden
alone with God
Three days later
the women brought more spices
Mary Magdalene
wept in the garden
alone with… the gardener?
the tears washed her soul
to see “Rabboni!”
 
Under the law,
at the testimony of two or three
the disciples should have believed
But the first to proclaim the gospel
was an ex-prostitute set free of her demons
a woman
and the men wouldn’t listen.
On Easter morning
we could still be mourning
but for the women who rose early
to find “He is risen!”
 
Listen to the women testify
that God is alive
in you and I!
It’s no old wives tale:
women and men
made in the image,
God will use us
to deliver people from slavery
change history
“Here I am,
wholly yours
use me.”