Jell-o and the Exodus

Pentecost 14

Exodus 14:19-31

September 14, 2014

This December, Ridley Scott’s version of the Exodus story will begin its run in theatres.  It features Christian Bale as Moses and will likely have the best of the best special effects around…special effects that would have made Cecil B. DeMille envious…maybe even covetous.  And really, you cannot blame Ridley Scott for trying to take a stab at directing a film based upon this narrative.  There are burning bushes and plagues, there is a sea that splits in two with dry ground left in the middle.  There is the story of two brothers, by adoption, who were once as close as they could be and now their relationship has been torn apart.  As much as the Genesis stories screamed “soap opera,” the Exodus story screams “epic film franchise.” 

We know it’s been done before.  In 1956, when Cecil B. DeMille won an Academy Award for his rendition of the Ten Commandments, he used Jell-O to create the walls of water after Moses raised up his right hand and the sea was spilt in two.  Clever, huh?  His version of this story has created the image carried by a generation when it comes to this portion of the narrative, Yul Brenner clad in shiny, blue armor with his gold chariots, and stunning horses standing behind a pillar of fire while Charlton Heston stands on a boulder holding his arms up while the breath of God parts the sea, allowing the Israelites to pass safely through to the other side.  Then, when everyone is safely to the other side, Moses lifts up his hands again and the walls of water come crashing down upon Pharaoh’s army while Pharaoh stands safely back watching in awe and disbelief at what has just happened.   

It is, indeed, an epic story…but have you ever thought of it as a creation story? 

Taking a page from our movie making friends, let’s set the scene.

After God has given the Israelites their recipe for roast lamb and instructions on how they are supposed to eat it, the final plague passes over Egypt…the plague that causes the death of the first born of all families, except for the ones in homes that have been marked with the blood of the lambs that that been set aside while preparing their Passover meal.  This final plague finally convinces Pharaoh to let the Israelites go…and go they do.  There’s a problem, however, and I think the conversation went a little something like this:

“Uh, Moses?”

“Yeah”

“Umm….there’s a…umm…well…a sea.” 

“Yeah”

“Last I checked, we can’t walk on water.”

The Red Sea stood in the way of the Israelites getting safely into freedom.  They had nowhere to go.  So, that’s a problem. 

The second problem is that Pharaoh kinda sorta changed his mind and decided to suit up and round up his army to get his slaves back, even if it meant killing them all.  So the Israelites see the Red sea on their right and Pharaoh and his army on their left and they panicked.  Off to Moses they go, convinced that Moses had led them out of Egypt so they could still die at the hands of Pharaoh.  “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you led us out here into the wilderness?”  We told you to leave us alone, we would rather serve the Egyptians than die out here.  Moses’ response, which was not in our reading this morning, but should have been, reveals the central focus of what the Exodus is all about. 

“Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still,” (Ex 14:13-14).

Then at the instruction of the Lord, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord sent an east wind to create a wall of water on their right and on their left as the Israelites passed through the sea on dry ground. 

Well, how is this a creation story? 

Think about Genesis chapter 1.  In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep while the “ruach,” the spirit or the breath, of God hovered over the waters.  And God said “let there be light,” and it was so.  Then, God separated the waters from the waters and, later, God gathered together the waters under the sky so that dry ground would appear.  So, again, in this epic narrative we find God makes light appear out of the darkness in the pillar of fire that protects the Israelites from the Egyptians AND it is a “ruach,” a mighty wind or breath that separates the waters from the waters revealing the dry ground on which the Israelites passed from slavery into freedom. 

In doing so, in utilizing nature in this way, God also created a new people.  No longer the slaves of the Egyptians, now the free people of God.  People who took a leap of faith by taking the steps necessary to walk between those walls of water, the destructive nature of the sea on their right and on their left. 

In this creation, God had a human partner, a co-creator, if you will.  As the human representative for God in approaching Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, Moses, with the help of his brother, Aaron, acted in a way that allowed God’s plan to be carried out so that justice could be served.  If we are honest, and this is a whole other sermon entirely, so we will just touch on it briefly, there was a second human partner in this whole Exodus business.  Pharaoh.  And here is why.  Forgetting about the whole heart hardening and all that, again, another sermon, Pharaoh’s role as a persecutor and oppressor of God’s people, acted in opposition to God’s plan for a new and just creation and, as a consequence, his own people lost their lives in the sea.

Well that’s great, and all, but what are the practical implications of all this? 

I’m glad you asked that!

The story of the crossing of the Red Sea and the Exodus isn’t just a story for our Jewish brothers and sisters.  Sadly, it has become all too overlooked except during Holy Week when “The Ten Commandments” is aired on ABC each year, because it is our story too.  God utilizing the power of nature with the help of a human co-creator to create a new people…where have we heard this before? 

In the story of the birth, the baptism, the life, and the death, of God’s own son, Jesus Christ.  100% human.  100% God.  Who points us to our creator God, who created us out of the dust, has washed us in the waters of baptism - where we enter the waters slaves to sin, and exit the waters free people of God joined to Christ as fellow heirs of God’s good gifts.  And as such, we are people able to take leaps of faith by responding to God’s call to be co-creators with God who stand on dry ground with the dangers of the world on our right and on our left.  And we have a choice.  To be the ones who stand for God’s justice and God’s peace, doing the sometimes painful and awkward but always freeing task of forgiving our neighbors at least 77 times, announcing freedom to those who are captive, and seeking justice for those who are oppressed.  Or we can be the ones who stand on the side of those things which benefit ourselves alone, regardless of who suffers as a result, not caring if justice is served as long as we are happy and comfortable.  Which will you choose?