A good man and his dreams

Dreams begin even before we are born and we continue to dream, usually between two to five times a night until we die. We forget almost all our dreams. Experiences of dreams can be fantastic, pleasant, frightening or revelatory, and reactions to them are diverse. Modern studies help elucidate some of the mechanisms of dreams and do not discount the revelatory nature of dreams (Journal of Neurology). Bible contains numerous instances where God speaks to people in dreams as revelatory messages.

The Gospel writer Matthew describes Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus having four dreams. The first dream is where an angel telling him not to be afraid of taking Mary as his wife because the son to be born is by the Holy Spirit (1:20). In the second chapter Joseph receives messages in dreams to flee to Egypt with the baby (2:13), then to return to homeland (2:19), and another dream telling him not to go to Judea and he went to Galilee(2:22). By following the dreams as visions from God he was fulfilling the prophecies - "among the clans of Judah,out of you will come the ruler of Isarel" (Micah 5:2), "a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son" (Isa 7:14), "out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1), and "he will honor Galilee of the nations" (Isaiah 9:1). He could have asked that Mary be stoned to death or publicly humiliated that could have thwarted him being a part in the plan of God's plan of salvation. Since he was a good man, he first decided to dismiss her quietly, but later departed from his own plans and yielded to the plan of God. The dreams awakened him to new possibilities beyond his imagination.

The birth of Jesus is not a distant memory or just a lucid dream. It is a revelation that awakens us to possibilities beyond ourselves. It opens our eyes to see what is possible with God. It is our chance to be part of God's bigger plan that causes us to change our lives, move in a different direction, and transform the world into a place of peace, hope, faith, and love for all people.

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Blessings

Mathew Philip

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