This Week's Sermons

Sermons for the Month
Jesus, Prince of Egypt
DATE: December 27, 1998
SERVICE: Christmas 1
TEXT: Matthew 2:13-23
"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

The first animated feature film produced by Dreamworks SKG just opened this month: The Prince of Egypt. It's the story of Moses, one of the greatest stories in the Bible, told for a 21st-century audience. Two hundred people have been working on this film for four years now, and about one million individual drawings make up this 88-minute animated special. Dreamworks SKG is the first new studio to open in Hollywood in 50 years, and it is led by three of the world's best storytellers - Steven Spielberg in film, Jeffrey Katzenberg in animation and David Geffen in music. It was, in part, the desire of these three artists to tell the story of Moses that led to the creation of Dreamworks SKG.
The film features Val Kilmer as the voice of Moses and Ralph Fiennes as the voice of Ramses, two men brought together by fate and ripped apart by a secret revealed.
The overall visual style of the movie is inspired by the epic films of director David Lean, the ethereal biblical illustrations of 19th-century French artist Gustave Dore, and the paintings of impressionist Claude Monet - which use contrasting strokes of color to create a sense of light and space. "We want the audience to respond to our film the way we respond to fine art, not to comic books," says art director Kathy Altieri.
Taking great care to hold true to the biblical account, Jeffrey Katzenberg brought in over 500 religious leaders to see parts of the film and make suggestions. On more than one occasion, the film's producers say, such input was implemented into the movie.
Still, there are some diversions from the biblical text. For example:
• In the movie, Moses and Ramses have a prior relationship. They are portrayed as having been raised together as brothers. • It is the queen who takes Moses from the water, not Pharaoh's daughter. • Moses' wife is brought into the story much earlier than in the biblical account - but she's Michelle Pfeiffer, so why not? • Moses is a more active participant who speaks for himself. He doesn't need Aaron as much.
But let's not be too critical of Dreamworks SKG for taking some liberties with the biblical text lest we throw out the "baby with the river water." After all, we do the same thing at Christmas when we stage a pageant that has shepherds standing next to wise men, and angels singing under a bright star. Despite the fact that all of these characters do not appear together in any of the Gospels, I, at least, don't see any harm in making them a part of our common Christmas experience.
This season, I would encourage you to enjoy both Moses and Jesus the Christ. Both are figures whose stories need to be told and celebrated, even with some artistic liberties. Both are men who led with faith and courage, taking their direction from Almighty God. And both are truly Princes of Egypt, beginning their lives in the land of the Pharaohs. Really? Jesus, too? A Prince of Egypt?
Yes, really. Jesus was a baby in the land of Egypt. His parents took him there to escape the blood lust of brutal King Herod. Jesus learned to walk like an Egyptian, and talk like an Egyptian. In this season of Christmas, we read in Matthew that it was "out of Egypt" that God called his son (Matthew 2:15).
In so many ways, the story of Moses and the story of Jesus run together, and they come alive when they are seen as a pair. Both men got their starts in the land of Egypt, both saw and soothed the suffering of others, and both went on to lead their people out of captivity. But let's begin at the beginning:
1. A Hebrew woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. She knew that Pharaoh had commanded his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live" (Exodus 2:2, 1:22). The baby was put in a basket among the reeds on the bank of the river, and he survived.
A Hebrew woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph, and she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Joseph took her as his wife, and she gave him a son. An angel appeared to Joseph and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt ... for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him" (Matthew 1:18, 24, 2:13). They escaped to Egypt, and the baby survived.
2. The baby in the basket was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh. She took him as her son, and called him "Moses," a name which roughly means, "I drew him out of the water" (Exodus 2:5,10). An angel had predicted to Joseph, "[Mary] will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us" (Matthew 1:21-23, last week's gospel).
3. When Moses was a young man, God called to him out of a burning bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." God said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:4,6).
When Jesus was a young man, he was baptized by John. Just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17).
4. God commanded Moses to say to the Israelites, "I am the LORD, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment" (Exodus 6:6).
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18,19).
5. Moses said to his people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the LORD brought you out from there by strength of hand; no leavened bread shall be eaten" (Exodus 13:3). Jesus said to his disciples, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer ...." Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:15,19).
6. The Israelites went into the Red Sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians" (Exodus 14:22, 26). "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4). "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:54,55).
7. Wandering in the wilderness, Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it on a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live (Numbers 21:9). "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:14-16).
8. "Moses was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt in full view of the Pharaoh, all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that he performed in the sight of all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:11,12). Likewise, Jesus was sent to put God on display in full view of not only the hostile powers of the world, but also the poor and needy, and the sick and the lame, in a mission he described as coming to "seek out and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10). Dreamworks SKG has done a good job with Moses, the first Prince of Egypt. No doubt about it. But only a worshiping community of faith can do justice to the true Prince of Egypt, Jesus the Christ. His is a tale told best through word and sacrament, fellowship and service, faithful thoughts and loving actions.
During this Christmas season, let us give thanks for our Prince of Egypt who lead us all out of captivity - out of captivity to sickness, sin and even death itself. No animated movie can capture his story, for truly it is a story that animates us - both in this life and the next. Throughout the year to come, may our words and our actions show the world that we are lively and faithful followers of the one who at Bethlehem entered human experience, putting God on display for all to know and follow.

AMEN