Isaiah 7:10-14 / Romans 1:1-7 / Matthew 1:18-25
There is a game quiz that tests our knowledge of song titles or movie titles.
In this game quiz, a word is given, and with a time limit, the contestant or contestants have to give the song titles or movie titles that has that word.
So, let’s say that the word is “love”, and in 30 seconds, we have to name as many song titles as we can with the word “love” in it.
Some of the song titles can be oldies like “Love me tender”, or from the pop era it will be “Endless love”.
So, let’s say now the word is “dream” or “dreaming”. Let us think of some songs with the word “dream” or “dreaming” in it.
Probably, the first song to come to mind during this season will be “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”.
From the 60s it may be this: All I have to do is dream.
Other songs from the 70s will be “I like dreaming”.
Or from the 80s it will be “Sweet dreams are made of this”.
Each generation will have their songs about dreams or dreaming.
And each of us will also have our dreams about who we want to be, and what we want in life.
To dream is to be able to imagine what kind of future we want for ourselves and how to achieve it.
For Mary and Joseph, they too had their dreams about life.
And their dreams became more distinct and directional when they were betrothed to each other.
Mary would have thought of becoming a loving and caring wife and a devoted mother.
Joseph would have thought of being a faithful husband and providing for the future family.
They were not just in their own personal dreams. They had each other in their dreams.
And then their dreams began to change when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her that God had plans for her.
Mary said “yes” and she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. All this is beyond reasoning and understanding.
When Joseph found out that Mary was with child, we can imagine his reaction, which could be rather unpleasant.
But still, being a man of honour, he wanted to spare Mary the publicity and decided to divorce her informally.
He had decided to do this when he had a dream, in which God spoke to him and told him to take Mary home to be his wife.
It is a life changing dream, and Joseph could have rejected it.
After all, his original dreams about the future with Mary and having a family seemed to have crumbled, and it is understandable that Joseph was confused and disappointed, to say the least.
For Mary and Joseph, God entered into their dreams and their lives are going to be changed forever.
But God was not just a dream, God became a reality in the child that Mary conceived, and Joseph is to name him Jesus.
In the 1st reading, the prophet Isaiah told king Ahaz that God will give him a sign, although king Ahaz didn’t want that sign because he had no faith and trust in God.
Nonetheless the sign was given. A maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will name Immanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us.
That prophecy is fulfilled in the gospel, when the angel told Joseph to name the child “Jesus”, the name which means “God saves” or “God is salvation”.
So, in Jesus, the hopes and dreams of the people of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament is fulfilled.
And Jesus came to be with us, and He wants to be in our dreams.
We may be dreaming of a white Christmas, but it is not about snow or with everything nice and bright.
Jesus wants to be in our Christmas dream, so then we will dream about the true meaning of Christmas.
We dream about peace to people of goodwill, and joy to a world that have seen sadness, pain and suffering.
There’s this song from the early 80s and the lyrics are worth reflecting. The title is “I have a dream” and it goes like this:
I Have a Dream, a song to sing
To help me cope, with anything
If you see the wonder, of a fairy tale
You can take the future, even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream, I Have a Dream
Let us dream, and may Jesus come into our dreams.
When Jesus is in our dreams then …
we will sing the songs we want to sing,
we will forget about that perfect rendering,
because there is a crack in everything,
but that is how the light shines in.
May the light of Christ shine into our dreams, and may we dream of a truly blessed Christmas for us and for the world.