The Dream Must Die

The disciples had a dream that Jesus, the one they believed to be the Messiah, was going to lead a revolution whereby all of Israel's enemies would be destroyed so that (excuse the phrase) Israel would be made great again.

This is why Peter was so confused when Jesus spoke about dying. 

Right?

In Matthew 16 we find Jesus talking about how he was going to die and come back to life 3 days later only to have Peter pull him aside to "rebuke him".

Raise your hand if you think rebuking Jesus is a bad idea.

Me too.

Anyways, so Peter rebukes Jesus and says, "far be it from you Lord, this will never happen to you!"

In other words, "stop with the crazy talk, Jesus. You're the Messiah. The Son of God. The Chosen One. How about you man up and start acting like it. You have a following now, the people love you. In case you missed Jewish Theology 101, the Messiah is the VICTORIOUS ONE, not the one who DIES. Let's get some swords and clubs and machine guns and take care of business."

Yeah.

Peter and the disciples and all of the Jews, really, had a dream that the Messiah would come to put Israel back on top and all of her enemies back in their place.

Imagine their shock, then, when the dream died ... right? Imagine their shock as they watched the body of their dream bleeding from the cross. Imagine their confusion and sadness and frustration as they listened to their dream use his very last breaths to shout forgiveness towards the very ones they thought he was going to destroy.

Imagine that.

Have you ever had a dream die? Have you ever sat at the foot of a cross and watched the last bit of blood drip from the limp body of a dream you once held onto so tightly? The dream that was once pumping full of life and vigor and expectation for a better tomorrow?

The dream of the perfect marriage.

The dream of landing the perfect job.

The dream of being a successful musician.

The dream of getting that degree.

The dream of starting that community center for at risk kids.

... I don't know what it is for you, only you can answer that - "what dream have YOU seen die?"

The marriage ended in divorce.

The job ended up being too much to handle.

You broke your hand and can never play the guitar again.

The community center got turned down at the town hall meeting.

You had this dream, you had this Messiah Dream that was going to come out of the clouds and magically make everything right, make everything as it should be. You put all of your eggs in the basket, all of your chips on the table ... only to find yourself watching it die and take its last breaths.

When we read the story of Jesus from the Scriptures we see that in order for new life to come, death had to come first. Right? The new life of Sunday Morning couldn't come without the bloody mess of Friday. In other words, death must precede resurrection because resurrection is pretty pointless and useless and boring without death. Jesus rose from the dead 3 days after he died and with his resurrection he brought new life, new perspective, and new beginnings.

Friends.

I want to tell you today that the death of your dream is something that must be grieved, it must be processed ... the weight of it must come down on you and crush you. The nails have to go through its hands and feet, the blood and life must drain from its body, and you must come to grips with the realization that what you hoped and dreamed of is not and will never be a reality.

The dream must die.

BUT.

You also must know that with this death will come resurrection. As surely as the sun will come up tomorrow morning and the flowers will bloom next spring, so new life will come in hot on the heels of your dream's death.

New life.

New perspective.

New beginnings.

The end is not the end, the end is the beginning. And although I don't know what dream has died for you and have no idea what the future will look like, I do know and believe with all of my heart that it's not the end for you. And so may you have eyes to see and ears to hear the voice of the Spirit leading you and whispering to you as you courageously get off the ground, wipe the blood from your brow, and take the next step forward.

Much love.

Glenn Siepert