Dec. 21 - The impossible dream
Contributed by
Ryan Miller, assistant director of public relations on Friday December 21
Scripture
Matthew 1:18-25 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. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 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. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."
When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
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Devotion
We are often asked to ponder how this unasked-for pregnancy must have sometimes seemed to Mary like a bad dream. More rarely do we consider Joseph's nightmare.
A fine, upstanding citizen, respected carpenter, a just man of faith and, we presume, a generally all-around fine fellow does what is right and is painted with a brush loaded thick with shame. The woman he loves, the one he believes to be pure, is with child. He knows that he is blameless, but is she? How could anyone believe his betrothed’s tale of divine conception? I couldn't. Could you?
Then came the dream. Psychologists today might say that the angelic message he received could have been caused by his subconscious fixating on his dilemma, or perhaps that week-old hummus he ate that night before bed.
But, oh, what a dream it must have been. More than a flight of overnight fancy or random neuron firings during rapid eye movement, this dream must have resembled those of an Old Testament Joseph, more vivid than life and featuring a being too wonderful to imagine relating the truth a future that broke through Joseph’s barriers of incredulity.
Would I change my life because of a dream? Hard to imagine.
Yet Joseph abandoned his plans to leave Mary in the lurch because of this vision in the darkness. He chose to become the stepfather of the son of God, fated to play a vital role in history, yet remain cast an eternal side note to the glory of Christ and the miracle of Mary.
Would I, too, change my life because of a dream?
I think that I must.
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