Afraid

​Matthew 1:18-2:23
Joseph’s Dreams about Jesus
 
When Joseph is engaged to be married to Mary, he discovers that Mary is pregnant. He knows that he isn’t the father, so he plans to break the covenant quietly. An angel comes to Joseph in a dream and lets him in on the plan about Jesus. The first words are “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife” (v.20). The Message translation says, “Don’t hesitate.” Joseph allowed fear to cause him to hesitate from fulfilling his call to be a father to Jesus and a husband to Mary.
 
What was he afraid of? Marriages were arranged during this time, so maybe he was afraid that Mary was in love with someone else and the covenant he agreed to would be a loveless marriage. Joseph was a “righteous” (moral) man. Maybe he questioned Mary’s character or her story about being pregnant from the Holy Spirit. It was just too impossible to be true. Maybe he was afraid the public disgrace would fall back on him. He just wanted to end things quietly and go about his life. He could pretend that none of this happened.
 
Fear is a dream killer. God was dreaming a new dream with the birth of Jesus, yet fear threatened it to come to pass. Mary was the one who was already pregnant with Jesus, so one may argue that if Joseph had let fear cause him to hesitate on the marriage or not go through with it at all, then certainly God would have called someone else to take Joseph’s place. Perhaps. But God did call Joseph to this very important role, and fear was causing him to back down.
 
I think anyone would be fearful. When God dreams a new dream and calls us to be a part of it, it can be terrifying. It’s not what we originally agreed to. Our plans of living a quiet, simple life are no longer possible. We question if we will be able to live up to this God-sized dream. We think, certainly God called the wrong person. We don’t have what it takes to accomplish this dream, or we just don’t want to be bothered. We will encounter a whole set of other problems that we will now have to deal with. Life just got more complicated.
 
Life is going to be complicated no matter what, so we might as well do what God is calling us to do. Life will be a much-more wonderful complication. Putting our fears to rest and saying yes to God opens a whole new avenue for God to come to us. Letting go of our hesitations and trusting that God will continue directing us along the way gives God space to show up in our lives.   
 
Fear is a normal human response, and sometimes even a healthy response. When Joseph learned that Herod’s son, Archelaus, was in power over their region, he was fearful to go back to Nazareth, even after the angel told him to return. The angel came to him in another dream and told him to go a different way to avoid the threat. The angel in this dream did not tell him, “Don’t be afraid,” but redirected him because of his fear. Fear can protect us when the threats are very real. We have to determine if fear is helping us or hindering us. Are we allowing fear to keep us from following God’s call? Maybe God calls us to acknowledge the fear but go another way. No matter how fearful it may be, God calls us into action to follow the dream God is dreaming for us and the world.
 
Reflection questions:
When has fear ever kept you from acting?  
What were you afraid of?
When has fear helped you in order to protect you?
Has God ever spoken to you through a dream?
 
Action: Face a fear. Push through a hesitation and do something that God is calling you to do.