A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM AND THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is filled with confusion, misdirected love, and wandering hearts. Characters move through the night unsure of what is real, drawn by emotions they cannot explain, only to awaken later and say, “Was it all a dream?” In that way, the play reflects something deeply human. Life apart from Christ often feels like a long night—affections confused, desires misplaced, and truth blurred by darkness.
The Word of God teaches that darkness distorts our sight. Paul writes, “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14). Night is the realm of uncertainty, but Christ is the dawn that brings clarity. When His light rises in the heart, illusions lose their power, and we begin to see things as they truly are—God as holy, ourselves as needy, and grace as astonishing.
In the play, love is manipulated by a flower placed upon the eyes. In real life, love is often misdirected by sin placed upon the heart. We fall in love with what cannot satisfy, chase what cannot last, and awaken disappointed.
Yet the Gospel reminds us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17). What God gives does not deceive; it restores.
Morning is the great healer in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With daylight comes understanding, reconciliation, and joy. So it is with Christ. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12). When Christ becomes our light, we no longer stumble through guesswork faith. We walk awake, grounded, and steady.
What once felt like a dream—grace, forgiveness, peace with God—becomes reality in Him. The believer does not awaken to discover faith was illusion, but to find it was more solid than anything else. In Christ, the night ends, and the soul comes home to truth.
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Lord Jesus, You are our light and our morning. Wake us from every false dream that draws our hearts away from You. Let us walk as children of the day, seeing clearly, loving rightly, and resting fully in You. Amen.
BDD
