A Dream of Peace
Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
December 18, 2005
Matthew 1:18-25
Matthew 1:18-25 18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
I. BEGINNING
I don’t know about you, but my dreams never make any sense. They don’t come remotely close to the kind of dreams you see on television, where the viewer is tricked into thinking that what they’re watching is reality, when it turns out to be a dream. I mean, the producers of the TV series Dallas once ignored an entire season of that show—including the death of a lead character—by writing it off as a dream. My dreams wouldn’t pass muster for a 30 second commercial spot, let alone an entire season of television.
II. THE TEXT
And so, it seems strange that God should communicate with Joseph through his dreams. And not just any dream—a dream of some consequence:
19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph is resolved to dismiss Mary quietly and then an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and gives him astounding news: Mary is with child through the work of the Holy Spirit and the child she carries will save the people from their sins. Upon waking, Joseph does as the angel commands and does not dismiss Mary, but instead keeps her as his wife and names the child they have Jesus, as the angel commanded.
In Luke’s version of the story, the angel appears to Mary and tells her of God’s plan. There is no mention of that here. No scene where Joseph talks to Mary and they compare visitation stories. Instead, we are told only that an angel appears to Joseph in a dream.
III. DREAMING AND JOSEPH
Perhaps it is not surprising that Matthew should report these events for us in this fashion. For Matthew crafts his gospel in a way that highlights the connections between Jesus’ life and the Old Testament. The reference to the quotation from Isaiah—“behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a child…”—is one such example.
But there is also another connection being made: between another Joseph who had dreams, dreams that spoke about God’s purposes. Another Joseph who would go down to Egypt. Another Joseph who was wise and righteous, favored of God.
So perhaps, Matthew presents his version of the Gospel this way because it highlights the connectedness to the Old Testament and to the salvation history of the people of Israel.
IV. TO DREAM
Because otherwise, it does seem strange that God should communicate with Joseph through his dreams, but upon reflection, perhaps it is through our dreams that God communicates with us best. Now, I am not talking about the kinds of dreams that we have at night—though, perhaps God does speak to us through those as well; if that is the case with me, I confess that God’s purposes are even more of a mystery.
But I think that God communicates with us in our waking dreams, the dreams we carry with us all the time. The kind of dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. was referring to when he made his “I have a dream” speech. The kind of dreams that we have that give us hope, especially around this time of year, where the magic of the season tends to inspire those dreams in us.
V. A DREAM OF PEACE
This is the Fourth Sunday in Advent, the final stage on our journey toward Christmas. In the preceding three weeks we have lit the candles of hope, love, and joy. Today we light the candle of peace.
Perhaps there is no greater dream that we have than peace. And not peace that is the absence of war, but of shalom, a peace of wholeness, a peace of justice. A peace that transforms our communities, our relationships, our very world.
But how dreamlike does that kind of peace seem? All you have to do is turn on the television to see its absence: shootings in schools, violence in the cities, people living on the streets, children going to bed hungry, broken families, broken communities, labor without justice, and a world in which war seems an ever present reality. It’s almost like we’ve given up on peace as a real possibility in our lives. The world seems beset by hatred, ignorance, and fear. The chances for real peace, real shalomseem about as real to us as a dream.
VI. END
And yet, it is more than that. It is the kind of dream that God places in our hearts, the aspiration of our spirits, the yearning of our souls. God has planted a vision of peace into our dreams, dreams that seem fleeting but have a hold on us nonetheless. Have you ever had one of those dreams where you have a fight with a friend and wake up mad at that person? The ‘reality’ of the dream seeps over into our waking reality. In the same way, the dream of peace has a hold on us in the waking reality of a world fractured and often despairing.
But just as in the case of Joseph, so too with us, God proves faithful to the dream God gives us. The child was as Joseph had dreamed. The reality of peace will be as we dream. For the child about whom Joseph dreamed grew into the man in whose life, death, and resurrection we would see the promises of God coming to fruition. The one who preached the good news of the salvation of God. The one who taught us about mercy and forgiveness and grace. The one who showed us what love looked like. The one whose rising showed us that death does not have the final say, that hate does not have the final say, that the brokenness of the world does not have the final say.
The one who said to us: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you: not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
The one whom we celebrate coming into our midst this Christmas, bringing light into darkness, hope into fear, peace into brokenness. The one of whom Joseph dreamed, and the one who inspires our dreams of peace, and gives us to grace to dream those dreams, and to work toward those dreams with hope.
