Thought for Today
Genesis 37:5 Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
Joel 2:28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
Matthew 1:20 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.
Acts 16:9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."
I don’t think much about dreams, dreaming and/or prophecies. Mostly, because I rarely remember my dreams for more than a few seconds after I awake. By the time I shamble out to the kitchen to make coffee, I can only remember that I have dreamed, nothing about any of the details.
This morning was no exception. As I write this, all I can be sure of is that I was dreaming a lot last night; and, one of my dreams brought me fully awake long before my body was ready for me to rise. Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat, heart racing and mind aswirl. This morning was different. I just woke up, fully awake and sure that I would not be getting back to sleep any time soon. Rather than toss and turn, disturbing Greta’s sleep, I got up and began our morning coffee ritual.
Dreams and visions play prominent roles in the Bible. Sometimes for weal; sometimes for woe. Many of us learned about Joseph’s dreams as young children in Sunday School. Dreams were a mixed bag for Joseph. Telling his dreams of family prominence to his brothers resulting in his being sold into slavery. Ultimately, later dreams of fat cows and lean cows proved Joseph’s path to wealth and power in Egypt.
The passage from Joel above is familiar to many. Every time I see news coverage from college campuses like we are currently witnessing, I wonder whether they are examples of “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” and/or of “your young men shall see visions.” Were the demonstrations of the 1960s about prophecy, visions or dreams . . . or were they the inevitable clash of younger generations against their elders? For what it’s worth, I do not see our being today in the Age of Aquarius or in the predicted New Age.
Our ancestors-in-the-faith saw dreams and visions as divine revelations. Certainly the angel’s appearance to Joseph was important. So, too, Paul’s vision. It was an important aspect of the Incarnation that Jesus be raised in a devout, loving family. As an adult, Jesus was even identified in his hometown as, “Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” I find it comforting that the Son of God was also the son of Joseph and Mary, the brother of James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. Jesus fully understood and experienced the same family dynamics we all experience. Jesus’ words about “Matthew 11:30 my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" tell me that Jesus spent time with Joseph in the family business and understood the importance of such familiar, common things.
Had that “man of Macedonia” not appeared to Paul, would Christianity have progressed into Europe? What might our fate today, so many centuries later, have been? Would we be Christian? Without that vision, how long would it have taken to spread the gospel?
I suspect my dreams, especially whatever brought me fully awake this morning, are not on the same plane as those dreams and visions of scripture. However, I do have daydreams and visions. I have visions of a time when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. I dream of a time when we will all love one another just as Jesus loved and still loves us all. I look toward a time when “Micah 4:3 they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
Stay safe, dream dreams and work to make them come true, trust God,
Pastor Ray