Remember last week, I mentioned that contest we had a few years
back to choose our favorite Bible character?
Mary, as I said, won the contest.
Joseph, on the other hand, didn’t even get to the quarter-finals.
That’s kind of how it is for Joseph. When we hear about the story of Jesus’ birth,
Joseph is pretty much the forgotten man. We hear a lot about Mary
and Jesus, and the shepherds and the wise men and the angel, but never much
about Joseph. Joseph is kind of the odd man out of the Christmas
story. It’s like he’s just sort of there.
But, of course, that’s not
true. Joseph was a really important figure in the life of Jesus. The decision God made in choosing Joseph as
the earthly father of Jesus was every bit as important as the decision to
choose Mary as his earthly mother. And
yet, we’re told almost nothing about him. In fact, at this point we’re not even told
that he was a carpenter. The only way we
find that out is when Jesus is referred to later as “the carpenter’s son”. We’re certainly not told anything that would
indicate that Joseph was unusual in any way, any more than Mary was.
The gospels don’t even tell us how Joseph
found out Mary was going to have a baby. Matthew just says Mary “was
found to be with child.” I suppose, at some point, Mary must have
told him. Imagine you’re Joseph, at that point. The woman
you’re engaged to tells you she’s going to have a baby. You know it cannot
be yours. And yet, she swears she has never been unfaithful to you,
that this is some sort of miracle from God, that this child she’s carrying is
going to be the savior of the world.
How
do you think you’d react to that, if you were Joseph? I mean, you’d
want to believe it. We’re not told for sure, but the scriptures make
it sound like Joseph really did care about Mary. He’d want to
believe she was telling the truth. But how could he? A
baby born without a human father? The savior of the world being born
like a human baby, born to an ordinary, single woman? No matter how
much Joseph wanted to believe that, there’s no way he could have, any more than
you or I could. It just would’ve seemed impossible. It
would not have made any sense to him, any more than it’d make sense to you or
me if it happened today.
What
would you feel, if you were Joseph? Hurt, betrayed, angry,
sad. I’m sure Joseph felt all those things, too.
Then,
we hear that an angel came to Joseph in a dream to tell Joseph that Mary was
telling the truth. Even so, the story gives Joseph kind of
short shrift. I mean, when Gabriel came to Mary, we’re told about
all of Mary’s questions, and we’re given all of Gabriel’s answers. Eventually, we’re even given a big speech by
Mary about what she thought and how she felt about all this.
We
don’t get any of that about Joseph. In
fact, you know how many words of Joseph are quoted in the Bible? Zero.
Zip. Nada. Not one word. From what we can
tell in Matthew, Joseph never got to say anything. The angel just
did a monologue. The angel told Joseph what Joseph needed to know,
and Joseph did what the angel told him to do. It’s the same every
time in scripture that an angel appears to Joseph—when he’s told to take his
family to Egypt, and when he’s told to go to Nazareth. Each time it’s just, the angel tells Joseph
to do something, and Joseph does it. It’s like what Joseph might
have felt or thought did not matter at all.
But
of course, it did matter. Joseph mattered. Joseph was
chosen by God to be the earthly father of Jesus, just as much as Mary was
chosen to be Jesus’ mother. And if we
want to know why God chose Joseph, we can look at the one thing about Joseph
that we are told. Matthew Chapter One,
Verse Nineteen tells us that Joseph “was a righteous man”. He may have been an ordinary man in some
respects, but just like Mary, Joseph had an extraordinary faith.
You
know, after the story of Jesus’ birth, we never hear about Joseph
again. There’s one more reference to him in the Bible, in the story
about when Jesus is twelve and stays behind to talk with the rabbis after
Passover, but you know what? Joseph is not even mentioned by
name. We’re just told that Jesus’ “parents” went to look for him,
and we’re left to assume that includes Joseph. Again, it’s like
Joseph is just sort of there, like he’s not really very important.
But
think about it: Joseph would’ve had a lot of responsibility for
raising Jesus. Not only was Joseph responsible for providing Jesus
with food and shelter and love, he was responsible for Jesus’ education. After
all, there were no schools for kids to go to back then. At that
time, a boy would stay home with his mother until about age seven, and then go
to work with his dad. This was not just a work time,
either. It was a time for education, and the education would’ve been
mostly religious education.
In
other words, Joseph was the one responsible for raising Jesus as a religious
man. That’s why God chose Joseph, a righteous man, to raise
Jesus. Now obviously Jesus, as the divine Son of God, knew God in a way
the rest of us never will. But still, Jesus was raised as a human
being. Joseph was the one who gave him a background in the
scriptures and in the religious teachings of the rabbis. Think of
all the times Jesus quoted scripture to people. How do you think he
knew it so well? He learned it from Joseph.
Think
of the strength of character Jesus had. Now again, Jesus was not
just a human being, but he did have a human side to him, and it was important
that the human side be strong. Again, Jesus got that from
Joseph. When he was helping Joseph, Joseph was showing him how a
good, righteous man is supposed to behave.
After all, Joseph never had an easy
life. We assume that he and Mary did not have a lot of
money. They moved around a lot—again, we’re told that they moved a
couple of times when Jesus was still very young. Joseph had to deal
with lots of problems. The way he dealt with those problems was a
model for Jesus to follow.
Joseph,
as a carpenter, was what today we’d call a small business man. That
meant Joseph was always dealing with the public, and back then, just like
today, there are times when the public is not all that easy to deal
with. Sometimes business was slow, and Joseph wondered how he’d have
enough to pay the bills. Sometimes a whole lot of business came in
at once, and everyone demanded their project be done first. Sometimes
something Joseph made would break and the customer would be mad at Joseph and
demand he fix it for free, whether it was his fault or not. Sometimes,
Joseph would make something for someone and they’d refuse to pay him, or claim
that he’d done it wrong, even if Joseph had done exactly what they’d told him
to do. Joseph had to deal with all this and more, every day.
Now,
think of all the times Jesus had to deal with difficult people. How
do you think he learned how to do that? From Joseph. From
watching his earthly father deal with difficult people, and seeing him handle
them in the way a righteous man does.
Joseph
was obviously so important in the life of Jesus. Yet, as I said,
he’s kind of the forgotten man. He’s just sort of
there. In fact, when I was picking hymns this week, I could not find
a hymn about Joseph. There are none. Mary, the shepherds, the
wise men, the angels, the baby, they all have hymns. But
Joseph? Nothing.
We never really think about Joseph in this
story. He neither asks for nor receives any attention. He
just very quietly obeys God. He does what God expects him to
do. A very quiet, humble, righteous man.
How
many Josephs have you known in your life? I’ve known quite a
few. We have some in this church. Men and women who never
look for any attention, and who don’t get or even want any
glory. People who just quietly serve the Lord and do whatever needs
to be done.
Most
Josephs have no idea that they are Josephs. They have no idea how
important they are. That’s the thing about Josephs—they don’t think
they’re anybody special. They think they’re just doing what a person
is supposed to do. They don’t think they’re any different from anybody
else. They think, well, anybody else in my position would do the
same thing. They think they’re just common, ordinary, everyday
people.
It
never occurs to Josephs that they are important people. Yet, when
you think about it, Josephs are the most important people in the
world. They’re the ones who do the things that everyone else just takes
for granted. They’re the ones who do the things in our lives that
just automatically happen, the things we never even think about, the things
that are just done. They do them quietly, humbly. Josephs
don’t expect or even want any thank you for what they do. They don’t want
anybody to make any big fuss over them. When you do try to thank
them, they tell you it was no big deal and change the subject. Yet,
without Josephs, nothing of any importance would ever get done.
God
specifically chose Joseph. God knew that Jesus’ earthly father could
not be someone who would demand a lot of attention. God knew Jesus’
earthly father could not be someone who wanted glory for
himself. God knew Jesus’ earthly father had to be someone who did
not want the spotlight, someone who would quietly do what needed to be done,
and then step out of the way. A good, humble, quiet, righteous man.
Joseph
was chosen by God. All Josephs are chosen by God. We
would not have the Christmas story, and we would not have the Savior we have,
if not for Joseph. This Christmas season, let’s thank God for
Joseph. Let’s then think of all the Josephs in our lives, take some
time to pray for them, and thank God for putting them in our
lives. Let’s make sure we thank them for all they do to make our
lives and the world what they are. Then, let’s try to think of a way
we can be a Joseph, too.
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