Influence

May 10, 2026

Happy Mother’s Day! It’s wonderful to be a mom, although sometimes it’s difficult. When one of my kids was 3 or 4, I was waiting in a long line in the Post Office, and he was in a corner He had an active imagination. When we were done, I said, “Ok, we can go now! And he turned and looked at me and said, “You’re not mommy You’re evil mommy!” Sometimes you’re evil mommy!

Today we’re going to talk about Jochebed, a mother with the worst parenting problem! She has a baby boy, at a time when it seemed impossible for her to raise him! The Pharoah, the king of Egypt, decided that there were too many Hebrews. He was afraid the Hebrew men would join the enemies of Egypt and go to war against them. So, he told the midwives when a Hebrew baby boy is born, throw him into the Nile River!

That’s when Jochebed gave birth to a baby boy who we know as Moses. She managed to keep Moses from being thrown into the river. Then she kept him hidden for a few months, although she knew at some point, her baby would likely be discovered and killed.

Jochebed didn’t just wish things were different. Do you believe in the Disney doctrine? It goes something like, “when you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you!” I can wish for a nice house with a maid and a personal chef. But I don’t think it will come to me! You can’t depend on wishing and waiting. Instead, Jochebed had hope that things could be better. She hoped, and she thought she had the power to make a difference. She believed that she could do something to keep her baby alive. She came up with a crazy plan. She decided to put her baby in a basket that would float in the water and she placed him in the Nile River! She knew this was a dangerous thing, so she had her daughter, Moses’ sister, Miriam, walk along the river and keep watch on him.

Pretty soon, Pharoah’s daughter comes to the river to wash in it. She sees the baby, hears him crying and feels sorry for him. She wants to keep him! Moses’ sister asks Pharoah’s daughter, do you want a nurse for the baby? I know someone! And Pharoah’s daughter says, great! I’ll pay her.

So, Moses’ mother got her baby back and kept him alive! She gets to keep Moses for a few more years, and get paid for it, by Pharoah’s daughter! It’s an amazing story!

God was working in this story. It’s still a tragic story, because Jochebed had to give up her son when he was a preschooler. She couldn’t be the parent she wanted to be. What’s true about being a parent is you have limitations. You can’t do everything you want for your kid. You only have so much time, only so much money, and you’re not good at everything. Jochebed can’t do all she wants for her son.

But God makes that enough. Hebrew 11:23 praises Moses’ parents!  ^“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” Moses’ parents did all they could for their baby!”

The next verses talk about who Moses becomes as an adult. It says, ^“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” 

Moses doesn’t forget his parents! He knows he isn’t Egyptian, although he is raised as an Egyptian. He knows that Pharoah, his grandfather, basically ordered him killed! That had to be awkward: imagine your grandfather tried to kill you as a baby! Moses knows he is a Hebrew, and he refuses to be known as Pharoah’s daughter. He knows his real mother was brave and loved him, and that the Hebrews are his people. Maybe Moses doesn’t even have memories of his mother. But he knows she had hope and took action to save him. He knows she was brave.

Jochebed influenced Moses for good and for God. Moses struggled for a while and didn’t believe he could change Pharoah. God finally convinced him, when he spoke to him from the burning bush. Then Moses did a world of good! He stood up to Pharoah! Moses is a superhero of the Bible, leading the Hebrews out of slavery, then leading them for 40 more years and keeping them fed in the wilderness. That Jochebed had influence on Moses is a huge win for a parent. That’s a message for moms today: you can’t do everything you want to do for your kid. But you can be an influence on them for God and for good. You can be the reason they still believe that there are good people out there and a good God who loves them. You can help them have hope and believe they can take action to make the world better.

We Christians are people of faith and people of hope. There are a lot of problems in the world, so it’s important that Christians have hope, and act on it, believing that together and with God’s help we can make a difference in the world. It’s important to have hope that we’ll be ok in our journey through life. Despair is overrated. It doesn’t help. If we have despair we give up hoping and acting! Jochebed didn’t give in to despair, although it sure looked like there was no way she could save her baby! Because she was brave, the kid she didn’t get to raise, grew up and also found hope in God and bravery!

As a church we have hope when we give! St. Peter’s and Trinity churches giving to One Great Hour of Sharing helps people around the world and here in US who are hungry or experience a disaster. We have hope when we pray, send cards and reach out to someone who is ill. Trinity has hope as we plan a two-week preschool review at the end of June for Learning Tree preschool kids, teaching them 26 letters in two weeks! St. Peter’s has hope as we plan a Vacation Bible School without the Brennans. We can do it!

It takes effort to hope! It takes faith to hope. We’ve got reason to hope because God so loved the world, he sent his son, to pay the price for our sins so we would have abundant, everlasting hope.

My homework for you this week is to think about that papyrus basket with baby Moses floating down the river. Ask God, how can I be hopeful and brave like Jochebed?

Jochebed faced a terrible threat to her baby boy. She had hope, she took action in faith. God came through with a miracle! But there was another miracle: she didn’t raise Moses for most of his life, but she still had an influence on him! Along with God, Jochebed was why Moses believed there are good people and out there and a good God who loves him. We’ve got good reason to hope in God, because in his power, we can be like Jochebed and change the world! Amen.