ANGELS AND DREAMS
Matthew 1:18-25
“But as he considered these
things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream….”
Nobel prize-winning biochemist
Albert Szent-Györgyi said: “A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a
prepared mind” [source: Szent-Györgyi]. History is replete with the stories of
incidents and accidents—and some of the greatest discoveries happen by
accident—from X-Rays to Post-It Notes, from the Slinky to Silly Putty, and
Play-Doh to dynamite. Who knew that one of America's first beloved cereals was
invented by accident?
Every one of us has had Will
Keith Kellogg’s forgetful mishap on our tables. Will’s brother worked as a
doctor at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, and he assisted his brother
with patients and their diets. Responsible for making bread dough one day,
Kellogg accidentally left his main ingredient -- boiled wheat -- sitting out
for several hours. When he came back to roll the ingredient into dough, the
wheat became flaky.
Curious to see what would happen,
Kellogg baked the flaky dough anyway, creating a crunchy and flaky snack. The
flakes were a hit with patients, and soon Kellogg launched his business, 'The
Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flakes Company,' in 1906. Good thing! Where would we
be today without…. Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, Special K, Cocoa Krispies, Keebler, Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Kashi, Cheez-It, Eggo, Nutri-Grain, and Morningstar Farms![1]
The birth of Jesus Christ did not
happen by accident. And though many would like to think the blessed event is
secondary to everything that surrounds December 25, Jesus’ birth happened on
purpose exactly when it was supposed to, where it was supposed to, how it was
supposed to, to whom it was supposed to, and for whom it was supposed to.
Luke’s version of the Nativity is
a lot more interesting for it includes kings, decrees, and taxes; shepherds,
sheep and angels; mangers, cows, and overcrowded inns: not to mention three
different songs of praise about God from Zechariah, Elizabeth and Mary’s Magnificat—the Lord has done a wonderful
and impossible thing.
God had planned the marriage of
heaven and earth from the very beginning of creation. The salvation of
humankind was in the works ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from Paradise,
and the entrance of the Christ definitely was not a last resort to save the
world. God knew it the whole time.
Matthew often is excluded from
the telling of how the birth of the Christ child came to pass, I guess because
he starts of with some pretty boring—important—information, but boring to the
21st-century churchgoer. Verses 1 through 17 list, by name, the 14
generations from Abraham to David, the 14 generations from David to the
Babylonian deportation generations, and the 14 generations from the Deportation
to the Christ.
Matthew, however, is not as
concerned with all the players in the pageant, even though the cast contains a
real, live baby in the manger (which thrills us!), as he is about the birth of
the Messiah:
the Anointed One, the Savior, Emmanuel, God with us. Without heavenly angels
speaking holy messages about God’s divine plan, there is no case for the
miracle of the incarnation: Jesus is fully God, fully human.
- He could have come as a full-grown man; instead, He came as a baby.
- He could have stayed in a palace; instead, He stayed in a dirty manger.
- He could have been rich or a prince; instead, He was born into poverty.
- He could have been born in a city like Jerusalem; instead, He was born in little Bethlehem.
- He could have sent angels to tell everybody he was here; instead, He just told some shepherds.[2]
Nobody who wanted to launch a
plan to save the world would have done it the way Jesus did. And Matthew wants
to make sure we know God pulled off the impossible!
Matthew writes, “Now the birth of
Jesus Christ. It took place in this way:
“Before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy
Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to
shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” Before he went to sleep Joseph, true
to his righteous character, decided what he should do. Then, the Angel appeared
in his dream and told him what God wanted him to do.
Angels and dreams come together
over the years for Joseph until the time he gets Mary and Jesus safely to
Nazareth. In this morning’s lesson, the angel appears in a dream and tells
Joseph that his role in the birth of Jesus the Messiah is to give the child its
name.
And it’s not just any family
name, like Corn Flakes or Frosted Flakes or Special K; nor is it
like those ancestral names Matthew listed at the beginning of his gospel. No:
it’s a special name, and it has an extraordinary meaning. “You shall call his
name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (MT 1:21b).
Could angels still bring messages
of salvation in dreams to people like you and like me?
- I think, yes…if we choose to dream God’s dreams.
- I think, yes… if we hold present in our hearts the tidings of great JOY that is for all people;
- and I think, yes…if we not only accept but also marvel at the conundrums of the Nativity:
- that “the one who is sleeping among the donkeys is the same one who ‘upholds the universe by the word of his power’ (Hebrews 1:3);
- and even while he nurses at Mary’s breast, it remains true that ‘in him all things hold together’ (Colossians 1:17).”[3]
Human beings could not even dream
this stuff up; it comes from God, and it is accomplished by God, and only God
can do it. May this Christmas bring angels to our dreams that instruct and
inspire us to give our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is possible for us
to march to the conundrum of the Nativity: because with God all things are
possible.
May our minds be prepared to live
God’s dream, as we discover what it means to be Christian.
Let us be messengers to a hurting
world that needs to hear from us what one unnamed angel told Joseph so many years
ago, “His name is Jesus, and he will save the people from their sins.”
December
21, 2014
First
Parish Federated Church of South
Berwick, ME
The
Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
