December 25, 2024 Pay Attention to the Dreams: Like Those Who Dreamed | Psalm 126; Luke 2:1-20

Today we will reflect on Psalm 126 and Luke 2:1-20, Like Those Who Dreamed. Psalm 126 is a Psalm of Ascent and reminds us to the return home from the exile during the time of Nehemiah. But the restoration is not complete. This points us to the coming of Jesus and his second coming when our dreams of the restoration of all things will be made complete, but in his first coming already, hope shines forth as we wait for that glorious day

Transcript

Like Those Who Dreamed
Psalm 126; Luke 2:1-20
It’s Christmas! Today is one of the most anticipated days in the year for many. Children dream big dreams about what they might receive as gifts. This time of the year is known for people getting engaged to be married, fulfilling dreams and hopes for many. So how does Psalm 126 fit into a day like today? James Mead writes, “Think of all the times we have heard someone say — or we ourselves have said — “I don’t know how I should feel during the holidays.” The mix of conflicting emotions and the memory of past blessings obscured by current crises can leave us feeling disconnected from our moorings. Psalm 126 speaks a word to parishioners, assuring them that someone understands how they feel and, more importantly, can offer them hope.” Christmas is a time of hope and joy for most people, but as I’ve grown older, I’ve had many of those joyous Christmases, but have also experienced deep loss and grief during Christmas seasons; sometimes making Christmas a time of mixed and confusing feelings. 
Psalm 126 is a psalm of ascent, one of the psalms sung by the people as they journeyed up to Jerusalem. This psalm begins by praising the Lord for the favour he’s show Israel in restoring them. Many scholars believe that this psalm was written after the return to Jerusalem after the 70 years of exile in Babylon. During those 70 years of slavery, the people could only dream of freedom and home. Now, as they travel the road to home, “their mouths are filled with laughter and tongues with songs of joy.” 
The people know that this is something the Lord has done. It all begins with Nehemiah hearing the news from Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1:2–3, “Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” Nehemiah prays to the Lord to bring his people home again. As Nehemiah prayed, likely Deuteronomy 2–3 was part of his prayer, “and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you.” 
God uses King Artaxerxes to restore Israel back into their land again to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Can you imagine the excitement and joy as the Israelites headed home! The peoples’ dreams of going home were coming true. Our dreams always promise us more than we normally end up getting though. It was hard and not everyone was able to go home, many stayed behind in Babylon. God’s people celebrated, while the nations around Israel made it hard for the Israelites, but even they had to admit that Irael’s God has dome great things for his people. While rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, the Israelites had to fight off those who were trying to prevent them from reestablishing themselves in the land. When the temple is rebuilt, the older people wept because it was so much less that what it was in the time of Solomon. They had lost so much and reality was much less, and harder than their dreams had been. The fortunes of Zion were never fully restored, even though they could go home, they still weren’t really free. The restoration was still incomplete. 
The psalmist knows this, “Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” The Negev is a desert. The streams in the Negev were undependable and relied on rainfall, which in a desert doesn’t happen often or regularly, as we hear in Job 6:15, “But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow.” The psalmist continues with this image, it’s the tears of those who sow that will nourish the dry soil so that the seeds will grow and bring joy as they harvest the sheaves. The hope found in the coming of Jesus is rooted in the sorrow and pain of today that finds healing in the restoration that he brings in the kingdom of heaven. 
On this Christmas Day, we celebrate with joy the coming of the Son of God who brings light into our darkness, who is the living water that nourishes our hearts and souls so we can experience the fulness of life found in the Messiah. Israel has been dreaming for the coming of the Messiah for thousands of years. In Luke, we see God sending angels and visiting shepherds working in the fields, coming to an old priest, a young teen girl, and a righteous man, preparing them for the coming of the Messiah. There’s no place in the rest of Scripture where so many people in such a short time encounter God’s messengers at the same time. In each of the encounters, a message of good news is shared: The Messiah is on his way and the people will be filled with joy as the dreams are fulfilled. As Isaiah foretells, old men will dream dreams and young men see visions, signs that the kingdom of heaven is near. 
In the past 4 weeks, we’ve been given glimpses of the type of Messiah coming through the dreams of Jacob, Joseph, Solomon, and Daniel. Today we meet the Christ they were pointing to: the bridge connecting us to God, the one to whom everyone will bow, the wisdom of God who comes to live with us, the rock that rolls in to establish the kingdom of heaven that will never fall. All their dreams become reality, all bringing “good news of great joy that will be for all the people, news of a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Israel’s dreams are being fulfilled and come to life in Jesus. Jesus comes to bring freedom, to bring healing, to restore the fortunes of his people, to restore their relationship with God, and to lead them to be the people God has called them to be his people to the nations, to be God among his people. 
Pastor Peter Slofstra writes, “Does the news of Jesus' birth leave you wondering whether you are dreaming a dream that's too good to be true? Wonder no longer. The dreams and the reality are the same. The kind of glorious, terrifying, mind-boggling event that only seems possible in dreams has actually taken place. You are wide awake and Jesus the Savior has been born…. for from God's messenger we learn that all our dreams find their fulfillment in Jesus. And like the captives brought back to Zion and the shepherds returning to their fields, we are "like those who dream" (Ps. 126). The great fortune-restoring thing God has done for us through the birth of Jesus has "filled our mouths with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy."
We still dream today for Jesus’ return, when his kingdom will be fully established in our world and we be blessed in his wise leading, and as John writes in Revelation 21:2–5, “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” May your Christmas be filled with the joy of our Lord!