St. Joseph's Dreams
Linda Dion
December 29, 2024
Feast of the Holy Family
​Matthew 1: 19-21
Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.'
Matthew 2:13-15
After they [magi] had left, suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.' So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead.
It truly does fascinate me that God the Father protected the nativity of His Son Jesus through a series of dreams. He didn't choose to speak audibly to Joseph or to send an angel as Joseph was awake and busy at his tasks. He didn't even speak to Him while Joseph was praying at home or in the synagogue! He spoke to him through two dreams.
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What is also amazing to me is that God expected Joseph to understand the dreams and then to believe them enough to respond to them and follow through on the guidance that was in them. He really expected Joseph to take them very seriously. In essence, He entrusted Joseph with the very life of Jesus and with the consequent salvation of the whole human race!
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God considered dreams important enough to make them a part of Jesus' birth and life story and to put His son's life at stake on the response of this one man, Joseph. And we see that Joseph's response was immediate. He did take Mary as his wife and he did immediately depart for Egypt the very night of his dream! This means that Joseph believed these dreams to be of heavenly origin, and considered them weighty enough to make life decisions based on their message, regardless of the implications for him personally.
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He wed Mary who in that time, would have been guilty of a stoning offence, having been found with child before marriage. In essence, Joseph was exposing himself to persecution because he would have been seen as the man who got Mary pregnant. Who would have believed that this conception was of divine origin?
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And when the Holy Family went to live in Egypt, how many hardships did they have to face there? Egypt was the very land out of which their ancestors had been liberated! This was the land that had enslaved their forefathers for hundreds of years and it must have been a difficult thing for them to leave their promised land, their customs, their synagogues, friends and family to go live on pagan, foreign soil and make a living there for many years.
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But they did it. In response to a dream. Regardless of the cost.
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God does indeed speak to all of us through dreams. It may not be the primary way or the most important way that He speaks to us, but it is none the less one of the ways He chooses to communicate. We see God giving dreams from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation which shows us that He places a high value on them.
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So let's try to remember more of our dreams and give them the attention and weight that they deserve. When God sends us a dream, He is speaking His heart to us. He is truly attempting to communicate with us to grant us guidance, help, encouragement, wisdom, insight and so much more! Dreams, when of divine origin, are pearls of great price.
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God also chose 3 unbelievers to protect the burgeoning life of His Son Jesus.
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