Hidden Treasures

Scripture: Exodus 2:1‭-‬4 NRSV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

Hidden Treasures

I am convinced that I am an Olympic-level, world-renowned participant in the game known to many as hide-and-seek. I’m so good at the game, that sometimes I’m hiding even when people don’t know we’re playing. I would disappear into a closet or fall asleep hiding under a pile of clothes, sending my entire house into a panic as a child. It was a joy when I just had to come out of hiding because no matter how much they looked for me, I knew they would never find me. Partially because they didn’t know what to look, and also because I was a very good hider. And the gift for me is that no one told me I had hide, or taught me to hide. I made the active decision, on my own, and in my childhood to be one who was hidden. Wow this may be my story, there are many who do not have the choice of hiding. Some, for the sake of their livelihood and their peace, find themselves hiding, even in places where they feel they don’t belong. Hiding or being hidden by socially oppressive systems and the like, all because of something that’s out of their control.

The circumstances that people find themselves in, mandates the need for hiding. It calls for the greatest of us to hide their talents. No, I’m not referring to an exile or social distancing; I mean hiding. Being locked away so far that people couldn’t find you even if they tried. Being so well hidden that people forget you exist. That’s the story of many women today! In some sense, we have created a societal narrative that automatically hides women and the gift they are to our society. The common realities of the wage gap between women and men, women being asked about their intentions for family planning on interviews, and discrimination towards their family lives when being considered for promotions make this reality much tougher to deal with. In some sense, it would make me question God. The gift is that many women don’t even think like this, because they have been conditioned to figure it out. Whether it means hiding their true selves from the public, hiding their capacity for the sake of someone else’s ego, or even omitting their fullness from a resume; they figure it out.

This is where Jochebed finds herself in our text today. Since many of us know how the story of Moses turns out, we read this story with some foreknowledge of how the story ends. Unfortunately, Jochebed is living this story from the front end, without the privilege of foreknowledge and she is afraid. She remembers carrying her child for 9 months and enduring the fears and anxiety of pregnancy. Wrestling through the unknown of whether this child will make it to term. She had to watch what she would eat for she did not know what kind of reactions the child would endure. She bore that child in front of her, which provided her with the security that she’d see anything coming nigh her child’s safety. The wrestle is that once she gives birth and can meet her child face to face, her sigh of relief at knowing that the child is healthy becomes a sigh of lament that the child is a male. While having a male child was normally a moment to rejoice about, she knew that it would immediately make him a target for Pharaoh. She knew this because Pharaoh had made a declaration, which is found in Exodus 1, which suggests that all Hebrew boys should be slaughtered. Jochebed, knowing what she went through to have this child decided it was better to hide her child than to have her child killed.

Some may see this text limiting Jochebed’s experience to suffering the same plight that many black mothers face. Black mothers wrestle on whether they should move to a safer community for their children while wondering if the safer community is safe for their child too. But if we limit it to this point we miss the relevance of the text. For many of us, we have already anchored the idea that this sermon is about Moses because he was the one being hidden in the text. But, the truth is that the hidden treasure isn’t Moses, it’s Jochebed. She’s so well hidden that you didn’t even imagine that this sermon could be about her. She is the underrated and uber dedicated mother of Aaron, Miriam and Moses. We have the potential to miss that though the text explicitly reveals that Jochebed is hiding, the author of the story has hidden her. Think about this, we weren’t supposed to see Jochebed in the text. Jochebed’s name is never revealed and her presence is only acknowledged in response to her role as a mother. The author and her community have her so well hidden that we can’t imagine her as a treasure.

Jochebed’s story is not limited to the Black Mother but exposes the plight of many black women. Jochebed exposes to us the pressure of hiding, as she is hidden behind her roles and not her personhood. The text doesn’t disclose her compassionate posture, even in the space of adversity. The text doesn’t come with some sense of angelic announcement that Moses would be a Messiah. If it had not been for her daughter, Miriam, Jochebed would have been all alone. I struggled with the text because it shows Jochebed and Miriam protecting Moses, which adds a negative portrayal of the familial relationship. Jochebed is seen as a single-black mama, who is told she is not enough to raise her black son on her own. Our text opens with Jochebed being the wife of a Levite (Amram), however, the text took all of the onus off of him. Outside of him marrying Jochebed, The text never mentions him again. She is forced to make the decisions of how best to hide her child alone. She is forced to consider that this is the time where I no longer can hide him alone. She is rearing that child, nursing that child, waking up for diaper changes, waking up to ensure that they are safe, and so much more all by herself. How did Jochebed begin as a married woman who has a child and suddenly be treated as a single mama? Why does Amram get off the hook? Why doesn’t he have to figure something out? Is Moses not also his child? Well, where is he?

This is the common issue in our Black community, which puts the woman in the place to be a target alone while the man gets away without any harm. It forces the mother to endure, while others enjoy. The latest mandate suggests that Your Son, Your Beautiful Black Son, should die before he is ever given a chance to live. Jochebed was likely still feeling Phantom kicks from when Moses was just in her womb, but there is not a word from Amram. My Black Brothers, We ought not let our wives, sisters, and other female relatives, be left alone in the space where they have to decide to hide the gift that God has given them. While this gift may be a treasure to them, we ought to ensure that the society and the community around them are safe enough for that child or that gift to be out in the forefront. That treasure should have been lauded and applauded but because she was alone, she was forced to decide to hide her child by herself. How many of our sisters have to hide behind our egos and insecurities because we struggle with creating a safe space for all to be at the table rather than just for ourselves.

The question is raised of “What do we do to fix this situation”? The quick and easy answer is I don’t know. But, what I can suggest is the way we’re living is not been good enough. Our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our aunties, and all the other women in our lives have been forced into a box that says they can’t be whom they are called to be. If she speaks too loud, she has an attitude problem. If she’s opinionated, she’s a difficult. If she has a rebuttal to a foolish comment, she’s combative. If she takes charge of a mishandled situation, she’s seen as too assertive and not fit for the company’s values. What then is a black woman to do? Is she supposed to curl up into a ball and cry until God brings her deliverance? Is she supposed to be subservient to the needs of a man, and let her own needs be forgotten? It’s not fair to our women. It’s not fair to be the woman, who’s smarter than your husband and can do more for your family and be told that you can’t simply because of your gender.

I don’t know anything about their marriage, but what I will say is I struggle with the idea of a husband who leaves his wife hidden, while he gallivants to wherever he pleases. And, the fact that Aaron is also not present suggests that Amran is cultivating the same desensitized and detached behaviors in their other son. Jochebed find herself in a place that is dark, and without the support of her now parentified daughter, Miriam, she would be all alone. She has lost herself in the role of being a mother and society is trying to take one of her babies away. She is suffering from society’s identity complex that suggest her identity is based upon what she is able to do. Many women are judged like this. They may not be recognized so they’re success because they’re working professions that men have been doing for years. But, the reality that many don’t realize is that they are not tied simply to the professions that they do outside of their homes. Society and gender norms set up implicit and explicit expectations for women to meet on a daily basis. After working a 8 hour, 9 hour and even 12 hour shift, they’re still expected to take care of the needs of the home. Coming home after work to cook dinner, clean the house, do laundry, wash dishes, 10 to the kids and so much more. All so Amran, I mean a man Can find comfort and sitting and relaxing after a long day at work.

My brothers, Jochebed is a treasure that shouldn’t have to be hidden. While I honor her for all that she has done without our help, she shouldn’t have to carry that burden alone. In some sense, if hiding is a place that is safe for her, We ought to be hiding with her. And, we ought not be teaching Miriam that being hidden is the appropriate behavior. Holding Amran accountable creates a dialogue that draws out of hiding the treasures that we’ve pushed away. So when we look at our mother, sister, aunties, cousins and all the other women in our lives, let’s not be the type of man who is not present when she is hiding. Rather let us be cupbearers with our sisters Until there’s no longer a reason to hide.

This speaks to the faithfulness of God. God provided Jochebed with the opportunity to witness the fruit of hiding. While we are not able to rewrite the narrative, God did find means to make meaning out of the place in which he was hiding. There are some people, some places and some things that have been hidden from the communities is that we are a part. Some of our gifts have been hidden for fear of their safety, but today, we bind together as a community to declare safe space for all the hidden treasure to be revealed. There are a generation of people who don’t encounter the true and living God, if we keep our treasures hidden. Because if we never reveal the hidden treasure:

• Obstacles like the Red Sea are never Parted
• The People are never fed Manna from Heaven
• When they get tired of Manna, they would never get Quail to eat
• They would have been led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night
• Israel would have never gained the victory over Midian
• Them Thirsty Israelites would never have gotten water from the rock
• The Israelites wouldn’t have ever made it to the Promised Land.

So, we are grateful for the treasures God has given us! Grateful for the wisdom to know that there is a season for hiding those treasure but there is also a season comes when the treasures can no longer be hidden.  Grateful the more for opportunity to expose those treasures to the world. So, I join in with the Songwriter and say:

How can I say thanks
For the things You have done for me?
Things so undeserved
Yet You gave to prove Your love for me
The voices of a million angels
Could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
To God be the glory
For the things He has done