Dream Like Jesus

Last week we talked about the burning bush moments in Moses’ story. Moses’s burning bush moments were deeply related to his life experiences. God used his struggles and suffering in Egypt and exile to liberate the Israelites. So we were invited to think about how God has used painful pieces of our lives or our deepest desires to strengthen God’s kingdom and to fulfill God’s dream with us.
Today we will talk about Jesus’ dream. What was Jesus’ dream? We can think of many other Bible verses and stories in the Bible but I think we can find the clues in the Lord’s prayer that we say every Sunday or every night.

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” I think this is his dream. His dream for us, for humanity, for all creation. That was his ministry while he was on earth. He taught and preached it, he enacted it through miracles and healings. “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth.” He dreams on the Kingdom of God. It’s not like a kingdom like the Roman Empire that all lived under. The Kingdom of God is not like a single place with borders and armies. It’s more like anywhere on earth where things are going God’s way, it’s the spaces where people and maybe all of creation participate in God’s good freedom and life. Jesus envisioned an earth that fully reflected the goodness of heaven (Matthew 6:10). He dreamed that all the love, light, beauty, bounty, humor, harmony, acceptance and forgiveness, creativity and magnificence, unity and inclusion, joy and justice, peace and plenty we associate with God, would be manifest here on earth. Jesus tells us that through his ministry, life, death, and resurrection. So he is inviting us forward into the places and community where the life of God is flourishing.