{"id":3687,"date":"2011-11-30T23:06:58","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T04:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=3687"},"modified":"2011-12-01T08:36:58","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T13:36:58","slug":"how-dreams-saved-jesus-according-to-matthew-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2011\/11\/how-dreams-saved-jesus-according-to-matthew-2.html","title":{"rendered":"How dreams saved Jesus, according to Matthew"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Rembrandt, "Joseph's Dream" (1645)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My last two posts here have sparked a lively discussion on what dreams mean in the Christian story, and how Christians are sometimes confused about that. Back to basics. I want to review very briefly what the Gospel according to Matthew tells us about how dreams kept the infant Jesus alive.<\/p>\n

Four dreams, in just one chapter.<\/p>\n

Dream #1<\/p>\n

Having been warned\u00a0in a dream<\/strong>\u00a0not to return to Herod, [the Magi] departed for their own country.\u00a0<\/em>Matt 2:12<\/p>\n

Dream #2<\/p>\n

Now after they departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph\u00a0in a dream<\/strong>\u00a0saying, \u201cRise up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod \u00a0seeks the child, to kill \u00a0him\u201d \u00a0<\/em>Matt 2:13<\/p>\n

Dream #3<\/p>\n

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared\u00a0in a dream<\/strong>\u00a0to Joseph in Egypt, saying,\u201cRise up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for the ones seeking the life of the child\u2019s life have died.\u201d\u00a0Arising, he took the child and his mother, and entered into the land of Israel.\u00a0<\/em>Matt 2:19-21<\/p>\n

Dream #4<\/p>\n

But having heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid . And having been warned\u00a0in a dream<\/strong>, he departed into the district of Galilee and settled in the city\u00a0called Nazareth.<\/em>\u00a0Matt 2:22-23<\/p>\n

The Greek word for \u201cdream\u201d in each of these passages is\u00a0onar<\/em>. It is a word that was in common circulation in the Hellenic and Hellenistic world for many centuries before Christ, universally understood to mean a vision seen in sleep. Later in the book of Matthew, it is used to describe the dream of Pilate\u2019s wife that led her to warn him not to harm Jesus.<\/p>\n

For those who maintain that the Bible means what it says, the message is surely clear. Through night dreams, the Magi \u2013 the wise men from the East \u2013 were guided not to deliver baby Jesus into the hands of the tyrant king who meant to kill him. Through a dream, Joseph was guided to take the holy child and Mary into safety in Egypt. Through subsequent dreams, Joseph was instructed that it was safe to return to Israel \u2013 but not to Judea, where Jesus was born. The testimony of Matthew, read literally, is that the Jesus was spared to fulfill his mission because of a series of dreams. And that dreams may be visitations by messengers \u00a0from a deeper reality..<\/p>\n

This is not a message for one time, but for all times. Rembrandt saw that clear; we can feel the shimmer of his angel’s wings. Whatever our belief systems, the message of Matthew is that dreams give us a direct line to the sacred, and can even save our lives.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

The translations here are based on\u00a0The New Greek-English Interlinear New Testament\u00a0<\/em>but correspond closely the best-known versions of the New Testament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My last two posts here have sparked a lively discussion on what dreams mean in the Christian story, and how Christians are sometimes confused about that. Back to basics. I want to review very briefly what the Gospel according to Matthew tells us about how dreams kept the infant Jesus alive. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3687"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3694,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3687\/revisions\/3694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}