2022.07.24 - Faces of our Faith - Daughters of Zelophehed

Scripture Numbers 27:1-11
 
Numbers 27:1-11 (Common English Bible)
27 The daughters of Zelophehad, Hepher’s son, Gilead’s grandson, Machir’s great-grandson, and Manasseh’s great-great-grandson, belonging to the clan of Manasseh son of Joseph, came forward. His daughters’ names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chiefs, and the entire community at the entrance of the meeting tent and said, 3 “Our father died in the desert. He wasn’t part of the community who gathered against the Lord with Korah’s community. He died for his own sin, but he had no sons. 4 Why should our father’s name be taken away from his clan because he didn’t have a son? Give us property among our father’s brothers.”
5 Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6 The Lord said to Moses: 7 Zelophehad’s daughters are right in what they are saying. By all means, give them property as an inheritance among their father’s brothers. Hand over their father’s inheritance to them. 8 Speak to the Israelites and say: If a man dies and doesn’t have a son, you must hand his inheritance over to his daughters. 9 If he doesn’t have a daughter, you will give his inheritance to his brothers. 10 If he doesn’t have any brothers, you should give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. 11 If his father had no brothers, you should give his inheritance to his nearest relative from his clan. He will take possession of it. This will be a regulation and a case law for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Leader: A Word of God that is still speaking,    People: Thanks be to God.
 
Artist Statement
they stood by lauren wright pittman
graphic image | inspired by numbers 27:1-11
 
I imagine the daughters had to fill the entire tent in order to be heard. I imagine Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah took the shape of the tent of meeting, a place where they were met by powerful men, a place of sacrifice and worship—not a place where a woman’s voice was often heard. The text says the women came forward; they stood, they spoke, they questioned, and they even demanded. Any one of those actions alone is difficult for the unseen and unheard. All they wanted was to receive the inheritance of their father and to keep his name from fading. I’m sure the pain of their father’s death was potent, but they needed to be recognized, valued, and seen as human beings in order to survive.
 
The catalyst for this moment isn’t only the women’s strength; it also took a man in power to listen, to open his heart, to wrestle, and to offer his grasp over this patriarchal law to God. When Moses offered up his control and dared to consider a new way, God heard the voices of these women. “They are right,” God said. The old law was no longer suitable, so God made way for change. Though the laws were probably carved into stone, God shows us in this text that the law is living, breathing, adaptable, and changing. 
 
This text invites us to come forward, to stand, to speak, to question, and to demand change when we experience injustice. When the powers in place don’t budge, that is not the end of the story. When you personally aren’t experiencing injustice, that does not mean you should bask in your comfort. For those whose voices are less valued, for those who go unseen, for those who have fought a long and continuing fight, we must breathe life into those old, tired, worn-out laws. In this image, the winds of change, the breath of God, surrounds the tent of meeting and the voice of God descends on these women, hearing their cry. New life sprouts from the ground as the law is heard afresh. —Lauren Wright Pittman
 
Reflection Questions (from Faces of our Faith Study Guide)
 
•       How do the daughters make their case before Moses? What rationale do they present? How might this new law affect their tribe as a whole?
 
•       In his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. argues the differences between just and unjust laws. How do you discern the difference between laws that are just and unjust? How does God define what is just? What current laws might need to be re-examined?
 
•       How do we lift our voices and share our truth with one another in our community? How do we balance power and listen to the voices of all, especially those at the edge of “the tent?”
 
Sermon
 
A few years ago, I became aware of a man named Frank Caprio. Frank Caprio is a judge in Providence, RI. He was born there to a father who was an immigrant from Italy and an Italian American mother whose family had also emigrated from Italy. He has spent most of his life living in the city. While a high school teacher in Providence, he attended night school in Boston for a law degree. Since 1985 he’s been a Providence Municipal Court Judge….and that has led him to some internet fame, when in 2017, videos of him went viral. Turns out he had been hosting a TV show called Caught in Providence that ran on the cable access for years - it featured him presiding over low-level court cases involving citations - mostly parking tickets and traffic violations. But the way he presides is unique. Here’s one episode, airing from Martin Luther King Jr. day from 2018:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpkBda9arfA
 
Now, for many of us, a parking ticket or other traffic violation may not be a big deal - frustrating for sure, annoying but hardly a hardship, financially or otherwise. Many people who appear before Judge Caprio would be hard pressed to come up with the $25 to pay their tickets, who need that money to buy milk or keep a roof over their heads. What I see in what Judge Caprio offers is compassion and understanding - seeing the stories of people in their contexts, and knowing that justice - even in these minor cases - is not holding them to the letter of the law and exacting fines from them, but offering them mercy, a second chance, an opportunity to move forward. It may not be actually changing the law - like what happens in our story for this morning - but it represents a broader understanding of justice that points to some of the dynamics from our passage this morning.
 
What we have from scripture today is the daughters of Zelophehed - Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah - women who are named in scripture, which generally means - pay attention. That this story is mentioned at all is a remarkable thing, given that at that time in history, and indeed, throughout much of history, property was inherited by the men - upon a man’s passing, the inheritance was divided among his sons, or in the absence of sons, divided among his brothers, or if he had no sons and no brothers, divided among his father’s brothers. The fact that this story was preserved and written down meant that the interaction these women had with Moses and the priests conveyed something important about God - namely, that God said, “yes - the law you have now isn’t right. Change it for them - and for any women whose father dies leaving no sons.”
 
Certainly Moses could have said - well, you ladies are tough out of luck. The law is the law - no inheretance for you. You’ll have to beg off of your uncles for a place in their households. He instead brings it before God - knowing, as intimately as Moses knew God, that he was giving up his own power and say in the matter. God writes a new law - one that is more just, one that more fully took into consideration the needs of those who would have been disempowered by the old law.
 
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail: “there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "An unjust law is no law at all." Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine when a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust…An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself. This is difference made legal. On the other hand, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow, and that it is willing to follow itself.”
 
This discussion and understanding is really important right now as we consider what justice looks like - as we consider (and watch) how laws are applied unequally based on whether or not one has power and access to good lawyers and  how over time the rules in our country have prevented minority groups from accumulating wealth and economic power as a whole. And while we can disagree politically on how that all plays out in our society, what I cannot deny is how God continues throughout scripture to consider and prioritize the needs of the poor, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Those on the fringes, those without power because of circumstance - family death, illness. Those who cannot fully advocate for themselves in the normal places of power. We see it in the Hebrew Bible with the laws - we see it in the actions of Jesus. 
 
How we hold these truths together as a community says a lot about whose voices we prioritize. People notice what we stand for as a church - and what we don’t. It is in those places, standing with those who have been dismissed and dehumanized, where the church finds its greatest strength and relevance, its deepest convictions and moral witness. Standing with the powerful and wealthy, with the status quo - we’ve seen how that has played out for the church as a whole. God tends not to look favorably when the church aligns itself with systems of power and dominance - whether that be the Roman Empire or America. God consistently works to bring the voices and stories of those on the edges of society to the fore, even - and especially - when it makes the dominant group uncomfortable. Because as we talked about last week - each person is God’s beloved child. Each person is valued - and when our culture or society tries to tell us otherwise, it’s our obligation as people who follow Jesus to push back and listen to the voices and experiences of those whose very personhood is threatened and who are systematically being disenfranchised.
 
The story of these women who were courageous enough to confront their legal and religious authorities reminds us of the many people who have stood up and shared their injustices and pleaded for a new way. It reminds us of places where we can be allies and stand in solidarity, lifting up their stories, working to make change as we understand how everything - everything - must be seen in its context and wholeness. It reminds us that being God’s people together is about the willingness to put everything else to the side for the sake of love - love of God, love of others - and not a charitable love that assumes we know what’s best - but a love steeped in justice that enables us to hear the call of God in the stories of the other.
 
This morning we’ll close in song - it’s a new one for all of us (I just learned it this week too) - it’s about being the people of God - the daring it takes to imagine what that means in this world, the courage it takes to live that out together, and the trust it takes to commit to that love above all else - and the ways it will change us, and the ways that it invites the church to change as well. Let us stand and sing together.
 
*Hymn - Imagine the People of God (will need lyric sheet)
Imagine, Imagine the people of God
Imagine the people of God  
Believing, receiving, becoming God’s love
Imagine the people of God
 
Imagine, Imagine the people of God
Imagine the people of God  
Caring, sharing God’s love in the world
Imagine the people of God
 
Seeking the way of Jesus Christ
Trusting the courage to change
Being God’s love with neighbors and friends
Imagine the people of God
 
Growing, Becoming Community
Imagine the people of God
 
Trusting in God’s abundant grace
Speaking the truth in love.
Nourished in the Spirit’s power
We are your people, O God
 
Imagine, Imagine the people of God
Imagine the people of God  
Believing, receiving, becoming God’s love
We are your people, O God