Star Wars is dead. Long live The Matrix!

In case you haven't heard, an eagerly-anticipated science fiction sequel opened this past week. It's called The Matrix Reloaded, the second chapter of the surprise success of 1999, The Matrix. Even more exciting for movie fans is the fact that chapter three, The Matrix Revolutions, will appear in theaters in just a few months.

Are people feeling fired up about these films? No doubt about it. The Matrix came out of nowhere to gross 459 million dollars, and you can bet that film-lovers will be lining up to see Reloaded and Revolutions.

For starters, the public wants action. The first Matrix film rewrote the rules on fight choreography, and introduced the use of super-slow-motion " bullet time." But there's more to this new series than fantastic fighting. There's also a spiritual dimension that gives The Matrix real depth and richness. Where else can you see a hero named Neo, a computer hacker turned cyber-savior? Or a character called Trinity, described by Rolling Stone magazine as "Neo's leather-clad, hog-riding, kickboxing fixation"? Or another named Morpheus, a leader in the war to save the underground city of Zion from the Matrix? (Jeffrey Wells, "The 'Matrix' Sequels," Rolling Stone, October 3, 2002, 75)

Neo is the "New Man," the Chosen One, the Messiah, the crystal-clear Christ figure. And he teams up with Trinity and a band of others to save the city of Zion. You can't get much more biblical than that.

The focus of these films is nothing less than a Neo Savior.

The very same is true of today's Scripture lesson from Acts. The action begins in verse 26, when an angel of the Lord sends Philip to the wilderness road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza. There he encounters an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the queen of Ethiopia.

This eunuch is well-intentioned but lost, much like the human beings in the first Matrix movie. The film, you see, is set in the year 2199, and the world is now being run by an artificial intelligence, under the rule of the evil Matrix. Humans are living in a computer-generated dream-world, and are being harvested like plants to be part of the Matrix. They live their lives in a synthetic reality, never realizing that they are slaves of an evil system that has a false claim on the world. (David Bruce, review of The Matrix, Hollywood Jesus Website, April 11, 2001, www.hollywoodjesus.com/matrix.htm)

The Ethiopian eunuch is in his own dream-world, trying to figure out what is real and what is false. He has gone to Jerusalem to worship God, and is now returning home along a rough and rocky road, studying the book of the prophet Isaiah. But he just cannot make sense of it.

Suddenly, the Spirit inspires Philip to give the man a hand, and so Philip runs up to the eunuch's chariot and asks, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The eunuch replies, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And then he invites Philip to get in and sit beside him. Together they read a passage from Isaiah, and Philip reveals to him that the prophet is talking about a new Savior, a Neo Savior, Jesus the Christ (Acts 8:26-35).

The eunuch suddenly sees the horror all around him, and understands for the first time the evil earthly system that has crucified Jesus, the Lamb of God. He also discovers that Jesus has entered human life to be with him in his own personal struggles, in his struggles as a man who has been castrated to serve the queen of Ethiopia. "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter," says the prophet Isaiah, "his life is taken away from the earth" (vv. 32-33). Both the eunuch and Jesus know what it's like to feel pain, to experience loss, to have life taken away.

But the good news about Jesus is that death on the cross is not the end -- God has raised him to new life, to free us all from the power of sin and loss and death! Philip proclaims to the eunuch this wonderful news, and helps him to see the way to new life.

The same sort of thing happens in The Matrix. A few rebel humans discover the tyranny of the Matrix, and turn to a computer hacker named Neo. In their minds, he is "The One" who, according to prophecy, will save the world from cyber-slavery.

He's their Neo Savior, and they put their trust in him.

In the Book of Acts, the eunuch is so inspired by the good news of Jesus that he spots some water and shouts, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" (v. 36). He wants to become joined to his Neo Savior, baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "We have been buried with him by baptism into death," says the apostle Paul, "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 6:4). Baptism is what allows us to die and rise with Christ, to be freed from sin and liberated to enjoy life with God forever.

This is a powerful image, both in Scripture and in the cinema. It's probably no accident that Neo is baptized right after he is freed from bondage to the Matrix.

The Ethiopian quickly commands the chariot to screech to a stop, and both Philip and the eunuch jump into the water. Philip baptizes him, and the eunuch becomes a brand-new Christian -- forgiven, freed, and empowered to engage in ministry and mission himself. The eunuch is filled with joy, and he goes on his way rejoicing, while Philip is mysteriously snatched away by the Spirit of God and transported in a supernatural way to a distant place (vv. 38-40).

If this story is ever made into a movie, they'll need some first-class special effects.

So where does this leave us? Are we simply curious about this new movie, or do we want to go deeper - deeper into the question of what today's Scripture passage and The Matrix might say to us today? Personally, I believe that we ALL face a Matrix that we need to escape, a version of reality that has the power to enslave us or addict us or misguide us. For some of us, the Matrix is the Internet; for others, the television ... or pornography ... or selfish ambition ... or materialism ... or unhealthy fantasies ... or unrealistic expectations. The Matrix is any version of reality that does not truly exist, but still has the power to blind us to the new world that Jesus is inviting us to enter.

So what is YOUR Matrix? What is cutting you off from true reality, and steering you away from the abundant life that God desires for you?

For me, the Matrix is often created by other people's expectations. These expectations are laid on me by people who want me to meet their personal needs and support their agendas. Church members have recently come into my office and told me how disappointed they are in my energy, in my sense of purpose, in my vision and in my leadership. They have criticized my sermons as being shallow, and geared primarily toward novice Christians. Other members have lodged complaints against our session, accusing it of doing its business in an improper way.

These criticisms hurt, of course. And they can suck energy and enthusiasm from me, and from other leaders of the church. But I'm not opposed to constructive criticism - in fact, I know that there are some lessons that I can learn ONLY from my critics. And so I listen, and try to respond in an honest and positive way.

In fact, one recent criticism was that I wasn't sharing enough of my personal struggles in my sermons. Well, here you go -- here's my STRUGGLE -- dealing with the heavy burden of other people's expectations!

The problem with these expectations is that they can form a Matrix -- a version of reality that has the power to enslave or addict or misguide. The Matrix that threatened Philip in today's passage was the Matrix of cultural and religious expectations. As a deacon in the early church, Philip was expected to wait on tables and care for widows, and as a man of Jewish background he was not supposed to get too close to foreigners, especially eunuchs! After all, Deuteronomy 23:1 clearly says that men with "crushed testicles" are prohibited from being admitted to the assembly of the Lord.

But Philip breaks free of these expectations through the power of the Holy Spirit. An angel of the Lord tells Philip "Get up and go," so Philip gets up and goes. The Holy Spirit says to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it," so Philip runs up beside it. The eunuch -- a true spiritual novice -- asks for help in understanding Isaiah, so Philip gives him assistance, and proclaims to him the good news about Jesus. And when the eunuch asks, "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" Philip shatters the expectations of the day by saying to himself, "Nothing!" Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch break through the Matrix of other people's expectations and enter the real and abundant life that God desires for them. They do this through their faith in Jesus Christ, and their willingness to follow the Spirit of God wherever it might lead them (vv. 26-40).

So, what is your Matrix? What is cutting you off from true reality, and steering you away from the abundant life that God desires for you? It is a focus on self and family? The preservation of tradition? A desire for control?

Whatever it is, its power can be broken by Jesus. If you turn away from your Matrix and toward your Messiah, you'll find that Jesus can shatter your illusions. If you say, along with the Ethiopian eunuch, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (v. 37), you'll be put in touch with the truth and reality of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you trust in Jesus, he will take action to stop the oppressive Matrix-code, just as Neo does, and he'll show you the way to a new and truly abundant life.

All it takes is a leap of faith. One that goes beyond your expectations and is bound to feel frightening … but one that will surely take you to solid ground.

Acts tells us that the eunuch made his leap out of the chariot and into the water, and then "went on his way rejoicing" (v. 39). He was forever transformed by his encounter with the good news of Jesus Christ, changed from being an official with a position to a man on a mission. And although we don't know exactly what he did when he made it back to Ethiopia, it's safe to say that he never saw his surroundings in the same way again. The real world for him was suddenly defined by Jesus Christ, the Son of God -- not by the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. He discovered a whole new life, and at its center was a Messiah, not a Matrix.

For each of us, there's a whole new world just waiting to be discovered. It's a place that is free of illusion, and full of the power and presence of God.

Our Neo Savior will show us the way. Amen.

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