4th Sunday of Advent, 12/23/2007

Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25, by Luke Bouman

Matthew 1:18 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.

The Dreamer

Even before he was visited by the angel, Joseph had dreams. How do you enter into a betrothal without dreams? How do you plan for a wife, a family, a home without dreams? How do you live anything but a meaningless existence, crawling from day to day without purpose, unless you have dreams?

But how, then, do you face the world when all of your dreams are shattered, in just an instant, as they collapse around you. Suddenly all your dreams and plans are nothing. Suddenly there is no wife, no family, no hope of home or loved ones. Oh, Joseph what a gentle soul you were indeed, to face such calamity without anger or resentment, but quietly putting into motion the workings behind the scenes that will allow you to move past a turbulent interruption of life's dreams. Would that I had the grace to be so calm in the face of such news as you faced, dear Joseph.

Just so, I wonder about all of the dreams that will not come true this year. I wonder about the dreams of those victims of violence in a shopping mall in Nebraska and churches in Colorado. I wonder about the dreams of those whose days are interrupted by the uniformed messenger bringing the military's apologies and condolences for the loss of a son or daughter to a conflict worldwide. I wonder about the dreams of those whose jobs are eliminated, or those whose families are fleeing from immigration police as their dreams of a better life are left on the road with their belongings.

Reality

I was a dreamer of sorts as a young man. Certainly I was a daydreamer in my school days, but I also had a vivid imagination. I could imagine all sorts of things that "might" happen or "might" be true. My stories were fantastic, but I told them with such devotion. I insisted that they were not the product of my imagination. What I imagined was real to me, you see. And so I defended my tall tales, even in the face of evidence that they were contrary. Today such a child might be considered imaginative, creative, or perhaps even intelligent. Instead I was labeled a "story teller" and not in a good way. For my devotion to my dreams and my imagination I was often sent to my room, or kept after school. At the end of each occasion, I was encouraged to live in the reality of the world that everyone else saw, rather than in my imaginary world.

And this was well and good. It saved me from becoming disconnected from a world in which my imagination did not allow for some of the vague and murky aspects of existence. I could not imagine my way out of the world's pain and suffering, nor my own. I needed to learn to face these pains, to face reality and live with it and in it. In time I dreamed less and lived more. Such is the transition from the golden bliss of childhood to the pragmatic, if somewhat dreary, world of adulthood.

Perhaps the same was true for Joseph as his dreams are shattered. He had to face a reality that was somewhat less than his dreams. Mary was expecting a child not his. He had to respond to this reality, and he chose to do it without shattering lives and families. He needed to move forward.

But what if the reality is too awful to face? What if the world around us is already to real and dark and dreary? What happens if what we need is dreams of a brighter future in a world that is addicted to dim and grey? Where does hope come from if not from dreams?

God's dreams

It is interesting to note that the angels in Matthew's nativity story do not appear and speak directly, as they do in Luke. They come in dreams. The angel speaks to Joseph in a dream. It is a new dream. It is not Joseph's dream, though he is the dreamer. When the angel speaks, Joseph's reality is changed. He is let in on God's reality. He becomes a part of God's dream. He understands that his dream and God's dream can indeed come together. He takes Mary as his wife, and raises this child as his own. His world is no longer shattered.

I imagine that during this holiday season, on this last Sunday before Christmas we are ready for a new dream as well. Our world, shattered and torn is far from the promised message of peace on earth that we will proclaim at Christmas. And yet, we seem to be waiting for the appearance of an angel. We are so stressed that we cannot sleep, and when we do sleep, we do not dare to dream, lest our thoughts become nightmares to match the colorless day.

Into this world, God still comes a dreaming. He dreamed his vision into humanity long ago in the incarnation, and God's good news is that this dream continues until today. God's dream for humanity is full of promise yet to be fulfilled, but it comes into our lives to transform our reality as well. Joseph's new world, his new life, his new dream is our new world, life, dream as well. It is the vehicle whereby God takes our shattered lives and gives hope and meaning to all.

We might not dare to dream, but God's dreams are hope and grace, life and forgiveness in the midst of a shattered world. Immanuel is announced as coming into the world. God does not dream for us, God dreams with us. Can we dare trust that these dreams are true? Can we hope that things are not as they seem? Only in God's time will we know the answer. In the meantime, we wait with faith. And with faith we sleep, hoping to dream once more, knowing that God's dream ushers in a new reality for us and the whole cosmos. Sweet dreams (indeed!), O people of God.

Rev. Dr. Luke Bouman
Valparaiso University
E-Mail: Luke.Bouman@valpo.edu

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