We've been doing a sermon series on mothers and fathers. As we do that, though, I think it's important that we recognize that sometimes, the people who are our mother or father are not necessarily our birth mother or birth father. Sometimes, we have a stepmother or a stepfather, a father-in-law or a mother-in-law, or even just a very good family friend who plays the role of a mother or a father in our lives.
We talked a couple of weeks ago about Moses' mother and father. Their faith was important in Moses being alive at all, but through no fault of their own, they were not allowed to play much of a role in Moses' life as he grew up. Moses was raised in Pharaoh's household, but by the time he was a young adult, circumstances made it so that he had to leave that household, too.
The thing is that, even after we become adults, we still need the influence of a mother and a father in our lives. Again, that person may not be our birth mother or birth father, but we need someone to play that role. We need someone to go to for advice, for help, for unconditional love. We need someone we know we can count on to be there for us when we're in a tough spot. And we need someone to help us even when we're in a situation where we don't realize we need help.
In our scripture for today, we read about Moses' father-in-law, Jethro. Moses was married to Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, and they had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. We're not told anything about Zipporah's mother, but it looks like Moses and Jethro had a good relationship. The two of them worked together for ten years. Remember when Moses was out herding sheep and saw the burning bush and spoke to God? It was Jethro's sheep he was herding. It looks like, in many ways, Jethro became the father Moses never had.
In the reading we heard today, the people of Israel were in the wilderness. They had crossed the Red Sea, but they had not been out of Egypt too terribly long. Moses had sent Zipporah and his sons to live with Jethro at some point during this time, probably because he had not wanted to subject them to the hardships of being in the wilderness. Now, though, Jethro, Zipporah, and the kids are coming to see Moses.
We can see, again, the close relationship Moses and Jethro had because the first thing Moses does, after greeting Jethro, is take Jethro into his tent and tell him all about everything that's happened, all the events with Pharaoh in Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea and how God has taken care of them and saved them and all that. Interestingly, we're not told anything about the reunion of Moses and his wife and how that went. Clearly, though, Jethro was an extremely important person in Moses' life, important enough that he wanted to tell Jethro all about what had been happening to him since they last met.
Jethro is happy for Moses, of course. Then, though, the next scene is of Moses sitting as judge for the people, hearing cases all day long, from morning until evening. Jethro's sees that and tells Moses, this is not good. This is not going to work. I know you mean well, but you're going to wear yourself out this way. You'll never be able to do it. Instead, Jethro tells Moses, find some good people, some people of faith whom you can trust, and let them hear the smaller cases. You just hear the big ones. That way, you won't wear yourself out and justice will still be done.
Listen to the sentence that comes next. “Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.”
Think about that. This is Moses we're talking about. Moses, the leader of the entire nation of Israel. Moses, who with God's help had defeated the great and mighty Pharaoh, who had been the most powerful man around. Moses, who spoke directly to God. And yet, this same Moses still needed the influence of a father figure in his life. When Jethro gave him some advice, Moses listened, and Moses followed that advice.
What that says to me is that no matter how old we get, no matter how much we achieve, no matter how how great or powerful we become, we never reach a point where we don't need a mother and a father in our lives. If that's our birth mother and our birth father, that's great. But if it's not, we still need to have those people in our lives. We still need those people we can go to for advice, for help, and for unconditional love. We need those people who we know have our best interests at heart, even if they tell us things we don't want to hear.
Look at how the situation was described here. Moses did not ask Jethro for advice. Moses did not go to Jethro and say, “You know, I'm just wearing myself out here. I don't know what I'm going to do. Do you have any ideas?” Moses thought things were going well. He thought things we going the way they were supposed to go and that he was doing what he was supposed to do.
But Jethro could see that he was not. And Jethro loved Moses enough to tell him so. And Moses trusted Jethro enough to listen.
Do you have people like that in your life? I'm lucky enough to have both my parents and Wanda's parents in my life. And I'm lucky enough to have a good relationship with all of them. I'm lucky enough to know that I could go to all of them for advice, for help, and for unconditional love. That's not because of anything I've done to deserve it. That's just simply a gift from God that I've been blessed enough to receive.
Everyone is not as lucky as I am. But we all need those people in our lives. If you don't have them, start thinking about who they could be. Start thinking about how you could cultivate a relationship with someone who can fill that role of a mother or a father for you. And again, this is not just something I'm saying to the young people here. I'm fifty-four, and I still need those people in my life. Moses was the leader of all Israel and spoke directly with God, and he still needed Jethro in his life. No matter how old we get, we need those people in our lives.
But we also need to be those people for someone else. So look around you. Look for people you know who don't have someone who can fill that role of a mother or a father in their lives. Think about someone who might need some advice, or some help, or some unconditional love. Then, pray about those people. Ask God to help you find ways you might be able to fill that role for them. Ask God to help you find ways to cultivate a relationship with someone who needs you, even if they may not realize it.
Now, this is probably not something that's going to be quick and easy. Relationships can never be formed overnight, no matter what kind of relationship we're talking about. It takes time. It takes effort. Again, Moses had worked for Jethro for ten years. They knew each other well. They knew they could trust each other. Jethro knew Moses was honorable and had faith in God. Moses knew Jethro loved him and had his best interests at heart.
It takes time for a relationship of trust to form. We have to work at it. We have to go through some things together. That's why I said to include prayer as part of this. If this is going to happen, it's going to be the result of a commitment we make. And any time we make an important commitment, we need to ask God to help us keep that commitment.
That's especially true about committing to a relationship. Relationships are hard, no matter what kind of relationship it is. At some point, no matter how strong a relationship is, there are going to be problems. We're not told about it, but I'm sure there must have been times, in those ten years that Moses and Jethro worked together, that there were disagreements. How could there not be? When you work closely with someone for ten years, there are going to be times when you don't agree on everything. But they found a way to work through those disagreements, and with God's help, their relationship stayed strong.
We are never too old to need a mother and a father in our lives. We are never too powerful to need a mother and a father in our lives. We are never so close to God that we don't need a mother and a father in our lives. If you don't have one, think about who it could be, ask God to give you a strong relationship with that person, and then do what you can to make that happen. If you see someone who needs mother or a father in their life, ask God to give you a strong relationship with that person, and then do what you can to make it happen.
God wants us to have those relationships. If we do our part to form them, God will do God's part. Because, after all, we're all a part of the family of God.
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