December 21, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL
Isaiah 7: 10-14 + Psalm 24+ Roman 1: 1-7 + Matthew 1: 18-24
It is Joseph’s day. Joseph the dreamer. Joseph, an obedient man who responds to dreams rather than demands. Joseph the righteous man whose righteousness comes from trusting relationships rather than rules. His righteousness is based on love, not on law. In a right relationship with God, which is what being righteous means, he becomes faithful to God, not to the ways of this world. Confused and scared, wanting to do what is right, he trusts his intuition and imagination.
Our Sacred Scriptures a filled with stories of dreams and dreamers, and all the dreams in Scripture have something in common. They represent the intrusion of God into a settled world. They are an unplanned surprise communication in the dark of the night that opens sleepers to a world different from the one they inhabit in the day. These biblical dreams are an intrusion that makes the dreamer restless and uneasy with the way things are until the dream comes true.
These dreams are the way God frees us from the mess of this world and pushes us into new life. That’s what happens to Joseph. Of all the figures in the story we tell in this season, he is the most like us. He is one with which we have the most in common. We know what it’s like to have plans go awry. We know what it’s like to have someone we love surprise us in ways that call for trusting our intuition. We know what it’s like to be confused and have to decide what is right.
He seems so passive in this drama, but as this story closes, Matthew gives Joseph one final great moment, he names Jesus. In doing so, he is proclaiming what we all need to hear at times when we are confused or scared: God is with us. Joseph stands before us today reminding us all of our true vocation, radical obedience that can only come from true humility lived in fidelity. The birth of Jesus is a birth of a new world as the old one shakes and falls into darkness. We are celebrating more than the birth of Jesus. This about a new birthday for the world where dreams of peace make us restless and ready to change whatever is in the way. Where dreams of joy awaken us to laughter and hope.
Our world here is too settled in its ways, too comfortable with power and success. It is into a settled world like this that God comes to disturb us all with what is possible for a people who will dream, seek always to do what is right, and remember that God is with us.