Devotional
When you follow the way of Jesus, you will be required to disobey your government.
It's only natural. Governments are not setup with the interest of submitting themselves to God's Kingdom. Most of the things that Jesus laid out in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) are opposed to the interests of a national government (loving your enemies? giving away your coat and your shirt?). It only follows, therefore, that a government will inevitably ask someone to do something that their allegience to Christ will not allow.
The Apostle Paul knew that. Yes, Paul, the one who wrote Romans 13, "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities." But Paul was also the one who was jailed and beaten repeatedly, stood trial before Caesar, and was eventually beheaded because of his faith in Jesus. Sure, be subject...up until the point where you cannot.
Simon Peter and John knew that. As they said to their governing authorities: "Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20). They were subject to their rulers ("You be the judges!") in that they were willing to accept whatever punishment they might dole out. But they also disobeyed their government in that they kept talking about Jesus.
And of course Jochebed, the mother of Moses, knew that. Her government had demanded the life of her son (as described in Exodus 1). But Jochebed would not simply roll over, and nor should she have. She hid her son, lied to her government, and in act of absolute desperate faith, hid her son in a basket on the mighty Nile river. Later theologians would see this act as a reminder of the Noah in the Ark; a foreshadowing of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea; and own own lives when we enter into baptism.
In the book of Acts, we will see many acts of civil disobedience from the early Christian community. When you follow Jesus, He is your ultimate authority, and demands our allegiance even when it puts us up against the sword of the governing authorities. Just as we look upon the early church's example, so can the early church look at the example of Jochebed as one worth following.