Joseph, husband and stepfather, March 19
I have often thought of what a wonderful man Joseph ben Jacob must have been.
There is no mention in the Bible that Joseph and Mary had an arranged marriage. They sought each other out, rather than marrying for the prestige or any financial implications to either Joesph or his family.
Joseph was a tradesman, not the upper crust. He was, I imagine, a real 'regular guy'. Even while the outside of him tended to the ordinary side, on the inside he must have been a wonderfully holy man.
He had reason, occasion and law to fall back on when Mary disclosed she was pregnant - and he KNEW he wasn't the father. There would be finger pointing and local scandal and the utter humiliation of the woman he had grown to love... and his conscience and a dream convinced him that letting her go would be a devastating mistake to everyone concerned. He believed in God and the power of prayer and the word God speaks to our hearts even when we sleep.
They would marry - and he would love her and the child that he loved as his own. From a humble beginning he would teach his first born son the ways of life and and love and devotion to God in prayer. Joseph continued to be open in his mystic knowledge when warned that his young family may be in danger and they had to migrate elsewhere for sanctuary. They eventually settled in Nazareth.
While it is never mentioned in the books we collectively call the Bible, we can certainly imagine this Jesus going through the terrible twos and inquisitive threes.... and the teen years?? In Luke we know that age 12 on a Passover caravan trip to Jerusalem he peeled off from the group, staying behind. When Joseph and Mary found he was not with any of their relatives or friends, they backtracked to Jerusalem and spent 3 days looking for him, worried out of their wits. When they eventually found him in the temple, swapping questions and interpretations of the Torah with the Rabbis, Mary pulled Jesus aside for a slice of guilt "Why have you treated us like this? We looked everywhere for you!" Jesus' reply, supplied by Luke, could be translated- "Well.... why didn't you look here first? Didn't you think I would be in my Father's house?" ... and they didn't get it(or they may have thought that response was fairly flippant).
After that interaction, we only read that he went back home with them and was obedient to them... and chances are he was, in our vernacular, grounded for some time.
The last entry dealing at all with Jesus' upbringing - again by the personable Luke -is that Jesus "increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor".
There are records that Joseph and Mary had more children after Jesus(a small family in that day and age would have been unusual). It's reasonable that Jesus - from an early age - would have watched Joseph at work in the woodshop and perhaps learned some techniques at his father's elbow...but we don't know. We don't know how and when Joseph died. We know only that he did the best he could with what he had.... and because none of the Evangelists mention him later on during the ministry of Jesus, his death must have occurred before Jesus was 30.
Joseph was a good man, open to divine revelation. He lived and died an honorable, generous man of goodwill - an example to all fathers and workers. A relatively unsung hero, his task was unique in some ways and completely average in others: Be a good Dad, provide for the upkeep of the family, provide a loving and living example of faith in action.
Blessed Joseph, help us to encourage all in our charge to live with dignity, integrity and grace.
There is no mention in the Bible that Joseph and Mary had an arranged marriage. They sought each other out, rather than marrying for the prestige or any financial implications to either Joesph or his family.
Joseph was a tradesman, not the upper crust. He was, I imagine, a real 'regular guy'. Even while the outside of him tended to the ordinary side, on the inside he must have been a wonderfully holy man.
He had reason, occasion and law to fall back on when Mary disclosed she was pregnant - and he KNEW he wasn't the father. There would be finger pointing and local scandal and the utter humiliation of the woman he had grown to love... and his conscience and a dream convinced him that letting her go would be a devastating mistake to everyone concerned. He believed in God and the power of prayer and the word God speaks to our hearts even when we sleep.
They would marry - and he would love her and the child that he loved as his own. From a humble beginning he would teach his first born son the ways of life and and love and devotion to God in prayer. Joseph continued to be open in his mystic knowledge when warned that his young family may be in danger and they had to migrate elsewhere for sanctuary. They eventually settled in Nazareth.
While it is never mentioned in the books we collectively call the Bible, we can certainly imagine this Jesus going through the terrible twos and inquisitive threes.... and the teen years?? In Luke we know that age 12 on a Passover caravan trip to Jerusalem he peeled off from the group, staying behind. When Joseph and Mary found he was not with any of their relatives or friends, they backtracked to Jerusalem and spent 3 days looking for him, worried out of their wits. When they eventually found him in the temple, swapping questions and interpretations of the Torah with the Rabbis, Mary pulled Jesus aside for a slice of guilt "Why have you treated us like this? We looked everywhere for you!" Jesus' reply, supplied by Luke, could be translated- "Well.... why didn't you look here first? Didn't you think I would be in my Father's house?" ... and they didn't get it(or they may have thought that response was fairly flippant).
After that interaction, we only read that he went back home with them and was obedient to them... and chances are he was, in our vernacular, grounded for some time.
The last entry dealing at all with Jesus' upbringing - again by the personable Luke -is that Jesus "increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor".
There are records that Joseph and Mary had more children after Jesus(a small family in that day and age would have been unusual). It's reasonable that Jesus - from an early age - would have watched Joseph at work in the woodshop and perhaps learned some techniques at his father's elbow...but we don't know. We don't know how and when Joseph died. We know only that he did the best he could with what he had.... and because none of the Evangelists mention him later on during the ministry of Jesus, his death must have occurred before Jesus was 30.
Joseph was a good man, open to divine revelation. He lived and died an honorable, generous man of goodwill - an example to all fathers and workers. A relatively unsung hero, his task was unique in some ways and completely average in others: Be a good Dad, provide for the upkeep of the family, provide a loving and living example of faith in action.
Blessed Joseph, help us to encourage all in our charge to live with dignity, integrity and grace.
posted by Joanna Depue | 1:38 AM
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