The Christmas season is filled with hustle and bustle. So much so, it seems to take a special effort to merely to remember the reason we celebrate.
The story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary is retold in song, story and on the stage throughout the Christmas season.
Maybe it's just a matter of paternal perspective, but as I recently looked at a nativity scene, I found myself wanting to know more about the man beside the manger.
Who was Joseph? God himself felt comfortable allowing him to help raise the Savior of the world.
The Bible says little about him. Apparently, his inclusion would have been a distraction from Christ's Heavenly Father.
We do know a little bit about him. The rest is left to speculation.
The Bible calls him a just or righteous man from the lineage of David. When Joseph first learned of Mary's pregnancy, the only thing he knew was the he was certainly not the father of her child.
But rather than break off their engagement or have her punished, he believed what an angel told him in a dream - that the child Mary was carrying was the Christ child. He faced what had to be insidious gossip about his "disgraced" wife to be and himself.
He was also faithful when God told him to take the family to Egypt to protect them. Joseph also obeyed when it was time to go back home.
He is called a carpenter, even though he probably filled more of a role of a general contractor. The only reference came in a derisive comment about Jesus.
In Mark 6:3 when people were trying to negate the ministry and teachings of Jesus.
"Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary," some said, trying to discredit him.
Joseph was also being faithful to his religious beliefs the last time we see him in scripture, taking his family to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. It was during this trip when the caravan He and Mary were traveling in accidentally left Jesus behind. But the next day when they returned to find him, the 12-year old Messiah was teaching in the temple.
When they found him in the Temple, Mary did not sound pleased with her son. "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." Jesus answered that they should not be surprised to find him "In His Father's house."
But Jesus didn't begin his ministry for almost two decades after that event. What happened in the meantime?
Joseph and the other men in the area would have been his teachers. As the Son of God, obviously Christ would have great knowledge and wisdom. But his parables tell of his upbringing.
He used the things He learned from Joseph and the other men -farmers, tradesmen and religious leaders - to help Him teach through parables.
Thanks to growing up the son of a contractor, Jesus would have been skilled in working with wood and stone. He was a man of peace but he was no wimp.
Some early histories teach that Jesus made yokes for oxen and might have even helped build ships before His ministry began.
The passage in Luke that discusses Jesus teaching in the temple as a boy mentions that he continued to grow in wisdom and strength as he matured.
That strength is evident in another story of Jesus becoming angry at those selling for profit in the temple during his ministry. The fact that he overturned their tables shows one level of strength. The fact that none of the money changers stood up to Him tells me he must have been a man that few would want to confront.
Working with His earthly father using building with wood and stone would have helped create a physical strength beyond the norm.
So why does Joseph disappear from scripture after Jesus is 12? There are several thoughts on that. Some histories teach that he was older than Mary and died before Jesus' ministry began.
There is no reason to believe he was older of younger or the same age. Scripture is quiet on the issue. But I do believe that he died before Jesus was crucified.
Mary is often mentioned in and around the ministry.
Joseph never is.
I think if he were there, one of the Gospels would have mentioned him. If Joseph were still alive and not there, Jesus might have mentioned that in His teachings.
One great piece of evidence that Joseph died when Jesus was a young man came during his son's trial and eventual crucifixion. If my son were being railroaded, tortured and killed, you would be fortunate if I were not around. No father could endure that without intervening. At the very least, he would have been there to comfort Mary as she witnessed God's plan of salvation being completed on the cross.
No matter what happened to the man who provided for the Savior's earthly needs as He grew to be a man, Joseph's faithfulness can be a lesson to all of us.
He was rarely mentioned in scripture, but his influences on Jesus' life are easy to see.
I just wish we knew more about him.
Augusta, Kan. —
