Loading...One of the busiest angels in the Bible is the one assigned to dream duty in the Gospel of Matthew. Of all the many components of God’s plan of salvation, one of the most underestimated and unappreciated is sleep. Without the basic human need for sleep we wouldn’t have the gospel of Matthew’s as it is. If a Christmas pageant was scripted based on the first three chapters, you would designate one role to an angel on dream duty and give Joseph a pillow and they would be their own subplot.
Let’s take a look at the list of sleeps in the Gospel of Matthew:
1:20 Angel tells Joseph to marry Mary.
2:12 Wise men are warned in a dream to return home by another road which avoids King Herod.
2:13 Angel tells Joseph flee to Egypt because King Herod is seeking to kill Jesus.
2:19 Angel tells Joseph King Herod is dead and he can move back to Israel.
2:22 Angel tells Joseph that King Archelaus is ruling in his father’s place so Joseph moves to Galilee.
And later, in 27:19 during Jesus trial, Pilate’s wife tells Pilate “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.”
Sleep can feel like a power struggle. Some of you love power struggles. I’m looking at all you board-game winners out there. Parents, if you ever had to potty-train a toddler, I know you’re tired of power struggles. I feel that. But if you have ever tried to make yourself fall asleep — and failed — you understand what true torture feels like. Sleep-deprived, induced psychosis can make even the most mild mannered person feel like a monster.
Let’s focus on the first dream mentioned in today’s passage. Mild mannered Joseph wants to extricate himself from a delicate situation. His fiance claims to be pregnant by someone else. What is a man to think when he hears a woman say that? Joseph needs children to carry on his inheritance and an illegitimate child isn’t going to get that job done for him, even if that baby is the product of the Holy Spirit.
Who even is the Holy Spirit? There just isn’t a whole lot of use of the term Holy Spirit in pre-gospel writings. Only 8 times is the term Holy Spirit used in the Old Testament. The term Holy Spirit is used 96 times in the New Testament.
Then there is the angel, with the power to enter dreams. Now that’s invasive. How can a person defend themselves while sleeping? I can imagine Joseph exhausted from wringing his hands all day and finally, as he sits on the edge of his bed, ready to blow out the candle and go to sleep, he thinks he has a way to dismiss his fiance without too much gossip. Send her to a cousin maybe? Phew, problem solved. He can sleep easily knowing he’s doesn’t have to go through ugly litigation and they will both be spared a degree of shame. Never have to bother about her again.
While his head rests gently on his pillow like a man who feels justified, even heroic, an angel of the Lord makes it clear to him that Joseph will be bothering about Mary after all. The angel lays the power trip on Joseph by calling him “Son of David”. There’s whole lot of political baggage in that term, baggage that implies there is more to this baby than the Holy Spirit. Joseph is to name the baby Jesus and watch him save people from sin.
When Joseph desires to extricate himself from a delicate situation, he becomes the key to the success of the situation. Joseph raises a stepson — not to pass on his earthly inheritance. Instead, Jesus makes all children legitimate heirs of salvation because of the sacrifice Jesus makes on the cross of Calvary. Therefore, all people inherit the gift of Joseph’s inheritance.
Maybe your holiday is merry and bright. Or maybe you are weighed down with power struggles. Whether you have a young child who simply cannot fall asleep — only 3 more sleeps until Christmas morning! Or maybe grief insists on leaking out of your eye sockets when it’s least convenient and robs you of sleep. Or you’re worn out from drinking too much cable news and watching too much eggnog ;) when what you really need is a long winter’s nap, with sweet dreams of sugar plums dancing in your head.
Shakespere puts these words in the mouth of his magician puppeteer Prospero in the story of the Tempest:
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. (The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148–158)
After I read Matthew, I believe in the magic of angels working overtime on dream duty. I would describe salvation this way:
We are such stuff as God’s dreams are made on
and our little life is rounded with sleep in sin
and raised up in Christ to endless day.
