by Tony Gatewood
Moses, the reluctant returner, called to lead his people from the hands of oppressive poverty and the leadership of Pharaoh. When I look at the life of Moses, I find so many similarities between our lives. I want to speak to our returners, relocators, and remainers to encourage you and invigorate you with my testimony as I step into Servant Partners as a faithful, but reluctant returner. May this essay find you in an open, and listening space to receive.
Moses is a complicated character with whom I find community. His life started with trials many of us could only imagine and would be willing to forget. The current Pharaoh was looking to kill off firstborn children because the Hebrews were growing too large in population. Moses was born at this time. Moses was born in poverty and slavery.
I, too, was born in slavery and poverty. As an African American born in the US, my family comes from a diaspora of enslaved people, emancipated over 150 years ago, but currently living in the effects of said slavery. My family is from at least four generations of poverty and working class. I had no choice in my ethnic background, socioeconomic status, or parental education levels. I see the genesis of my life echoing Moses' life.
As Moses grew up, his learning came within Pharaoh's household (Ex 2: 8-10), and Moses later became exposed to the plight of the suffering of the Hebrews, his own people. I also became educated outside my home of origin when, through God's providence, I was able to go to the University of Iowa to get a college degree, the first advanced degree in my family's history. As I came out of the southside of Chicago, I became aware of our poverty, how it happened, how helpless I had been, and what my people currently are experiencing.
Image by Daniel Sunkari via Midjourney
Moses also experienced significant trauma in his life when he killed an Egyptian enslaver. Exodus 2: 11-13 shares that Moses saw the enslaver beating a Hebrew, and upon trying to make sure that no one would see him, he killed the enslaver. Now, I have not killed anyone, nor do I plan to attempt such an act, but I have run away from the trauma of my previous life. People have tried to take my possessions, even rob me. Though Moses was an aggressor, I was a pacifist. I think I came to the same conclusion Moses concluded: if we stayed in our current environment, we would die.
So, I left Chicago, planning never to return. I believe Moses planned never to return when he ran away to Midian. Who knew that the brokenness inside of Moses would fuel the fire and faith Moses would use to bring redemption to a whole group of people? What Moses had gone through was being used developmentally for God's glory and the redemption of Moses' life. God used the fear in my life living in Chicago to make me a peacemaker and an empathetic leader in foreign places. I learned what a fight was in Chicago, but I learned to "fight" outside Chicago. Moses learned to fight in Midian when he fought off rival shepherds attacking the daughters of the priest of Midian, who he would later learn to be Jethro (Ex. 2:16-17).
Christian authors Jim and Elizabeth George, who enjoy taking biblical passages and making them accessible to everyday believers, say this about Moses:
"Moses didn't believe he was worthy of God using him for such a mission. In response to God's request, He asked Him, 'Who am I?' Why would You send me to go before Pharaoh? (Moses in the Bible: A study on his characteristics - Elizabeth George) & (Ex. 3:11)."
I have spoken these words throughout my life since learning about God. "Who am I?" "What worth do I bring to the world around me?" I came to know Jesus at a Wendy's between the high-rise, 16-story Robert Taylor homes of Chicago; there are so many people who have believed in God longer than I have, who have lived and died without an answer from God, just like the suffering of the Hebrews at the hands of the Egyptians. These times of prayer have come up to God, like incense. God says in Exodus 3:7 that:
"I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey."
I think, like Moses, the reason why God has chosen me to do the work of ministering amongst the poor is because God favors and prejudicially identifies with the poor, the marginalized, and the least in our society. He identifies with Moses, and He identifies with me. I believe God knows what's in the heart of Moses: a desire to see His people free. God comes to Moses in a wildly burning bush and reveals truth, hope, and a promise for his people, whom God associates himself with. I think, truthfully, God identifies with the plight of the poor, marginalized, and ethnically and culturally oppressed and wants to do something about it. I'm one of the solutions God has chosen who, through my obedience to Him, could provide relief and potentially lead His people to a more spacious land.
You too are the solution God has called. Maybe you’ve served many years, or maybe you are just beginning your journey of service. Let me say to you, THANK YOU. Thank you for continuing to choose the hard route, for facing the pharaohs of our world. I am the fruit of people like yourselves who have faithfully witnessed urban poor communities and I am joyful to start my Servant Partners journey!
Tony Gatewood has just joined Servant Partners staff. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa.