the last dreams

Matthew 2:19-23

Matthew again emphasizes dreams and visits from angels and continues to tell the story from Joseph's perspective (or at least makes Joseph the main character). In fact, Jesus continues to be referred to as "the child" and it is usually in the phrase, "the child and his mother." The only time his proper name has been used so far is in verse 1 of this chapter. I think Matthew records the angelic visions to remind his readers of the supernatural events that surrounded the birth of the child and continued to mark his life through to his resurrection. I wonder if he refers to Jesus as "the child" and constantly places him in relationship to his mother to remind his readers that he was human. Perhaps Matthew is reminding his reader that Jesus is both completely human and completely divine. Perhaps this is an attempt to build empathy for Jesus - because Jesus was such a polarizing figure, dividing families, Matthew is attempting to remind the reader that he was a child - a little boy - who had a mom and a dad. Yes, he was born in unusual, mysterious circumstances but he was not born to privilege. He was a refugee and suffered persecution from the time of his birth. Perhaps this was something that many could relate to - certainly history shows that there were large communities of Jews living in Egypt. Maybe many people knew of someone who had to flee because they had somehow incurred the wrath of Herod. (Just a reminder, these are just guesses).
Matthew again reminds the reader of how Jesus fulfilled prophecy, connecting Jesus to the prophecies regarding the Messiah. All I can say is that Matthew is lucky that he was inspired by the Spirit to connect Jesus to these prophecies - most of the professors I had in Briercrest would have failed Matthew based on his bad hermeneutics - taking phrases and verses out of context to apply them to the current situation. :)
Besides giving us permission to use bad hermeneutics, Matthew again returns to the theme of obedience. Joseph is told by an angel that he should return to Israel and in the very next verse, he takes his family to Israel. The word choices indicate that he did not wait - he got up and went. Another dream tells him not to go to Judea but to settle in Nazareth (their old home town) and Joseph does so. I feel like I am beating a dead horse but the lesson I learn from this passage is that God can be trusted and so I must obey him. I guess the issue for me is, how do I know if I am being obedient? I mean I can generally obey the principles of Scripture to love God with all I am and have (I'm still working towards obedience in that area) and to love my neighbour as myself, but what about the specifics? Did God direct me to come to EFree Lethbridge? Is he directing me to do something else? I can honestly say that I want to obey God but I haven't received any angelic visitors lately and I can't remember any particular dreams or visions that would instruct me. I know that I have prayer, the Word, the Community of Christ and the Spirit to guide and direct me but that seems a bit abstract, a bit hard to know for certain still. I've never heard an audible voice from the Spirit and the Word certainly gives me the broad principles I am to obey. I guess I just wonder why God doesn't direct my life as clearly as he did Joseph's. Or maybe he is and I just don't see it...