The Third Sunday of Advent (OT)

Exodus 2:1-10

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. ² The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. ³ When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. ⁴ And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. ⁵ Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

Moses’ mother builds for him an Ark of redemption. The infant prophet floats down the flooded Nile with his sister watching over the Ark. The Ark comes to daughter of the King/Pharaoh she recognizes him as a Hebrew child immediately. Yet, names Moses for the good of the Nile, rather than the God of Noah and Abraham.

God will have Moses build another Ark later in his life that will not hold a child or family but the Law of the Lord. This Law will remind us how we will fail to live up to the gift God has given us.

God continues to rescue his prophets. He will continue to deliver his people from evil. The real interesting thing is the age of these prophets. Children face evil. Kids have their sinful actions and their own sinful nature. They need an Ark of salvation just as much as anyone else.

God provides his Ark of salvation through the waters of Baptism. He provides the shelter within the Church, which historically have architecture to look like an upside down ship. Even some churches have special ships in their church to remind them of this special Ark. The Ark of Jesus Christ is the Holy Church providing forgiveness for your sins.