Luke 22:39-42; 45-23, 1
Jude 1:1-1
Speaking of the wicked, ancient and new, the Apostle Jude surprisingly calls them “dreamers”. He gives examples of plagues that befell the people of old and claims, pointing to his contemporaries, that the same will happen to those dreamers.
The word “dreamer” has a rather positive meaning in our everyday life. “Dream, we should dream,” a song goes. However, dreaming is not an innocuous thing at all. When a person plunges into his or her dreams, he or she escapes from reality. He imagines how he conquers hearts, achieves success, and all haters kneel at his feet. What does it feel like to return to a place where you have to carry the cross of your life again with patience?
Another person may dream of how he would rearrange life on earth, how he would cultivate southern plants in the north, revert the flow of rivers, and redistribute all goods equally. If he does not have the energy and power to make his dreams come true, that’s fine. What if he does?
Our recent history has shown how that can turn out.
It was the same in the past. Why did Cain kill Abel? It was because reality had destroyed his dreams that God would accept his sacrifice and reject that of his brother. Why did Balaam stubbornly pursue a cause that did not please God? Because he was dreaming of the rich reward he had been promised. Why did Korah and those with him die in their obstinacy? Because they were dreaming something about themselves that went against God’s plan, and gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD (Numbers 16:3)? Why, at last, do people desecrate their flesh and corrupt themselves, if not out of their fantasy going wild?
Finally, why did Peter deny Jesus? Wasn’t it because he had previously dreamed that he would go to prison and death for the sake of his beloved Teacher (cf. Luke 22:33)?
Therefore, the Apostle tells us, Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits (Romans 12:16). The Lord Himself wakes us from His cross, “Why are you sleeping? Stand up and pray, lest you fall into temptation.”
Translated by The Catalogue of Good Deeds
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vyacheslav_Reznikov/propovedi-na-kazhdyj-den/43_2
