by David Scott Robertson
(Mat 1:18 NIV) This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
(Mat 1:19 NIV) Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
(Mat 1:20 NIV) But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
(Mat 1:21 NIV) She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Can you imagine the inexpressible joy of being the adopted parent of Jesus Christ, the Messiah? That privilege fell to a man named Joseph.
In His wisdom, God the Father had chosen Joseph, a righteous man, to serve in the key position of earthly father to God's only begotten Son. Mary, Joseph's virgin fiancé, was of course selected by the Holy Spirit to be the human host to usher in the incarnation, that is, God becoming man in the person of Jesus the Christ. Joseph and Mary, although by no means a perfect couple, was the perfect couple chosen by Almighty God to entrust the care and nurture of His beloved Son.
So then, into the house of this humble Jewish carpenter, Jesus was carefully, lovingly, and providentially placed. What an honor! What a responsibility!
I'm curious, aren't you, if there ever was a time when Joseph had to speak sternly to Jesus as a toddler? "Don't go out in the road, son!" "Come over here and sit down." "Pick that up, Jesus."
When the Lord was 12 years old, He amazed the religious leaders with theological discussions over a three-day period in the temple while separated from His very worried parents oblivious of His whereabouts. Can you just imagine what must of have been running through Joseph's mind those three agonizing days? "Dear God, I'm supposed to be looking after your Son and I've lost Him!" The young lad Jesus calmly comforted His earthly parents when at last they located Him:
(Luke 2:49 NIV) "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?"
So Jesus came home to His earthly father's house and continued to be obedient to them.
Throughout the remainder of His childhood, Joseph and Mary were there to provide for all the needs of the Savior of the world as He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).
As a young man growing up in a carpenter's house, there must have been many years of hard labor involved in doing His part to support the family and assist His dad, Joseph.
"Jesus, I need you to go down to Ezra's and pick up a load of wood."
"Son, can you finish this table for me?"
"We've nearly out of nails, Jesus, I want you and James and Simon to make the trip to get more."
In his heart Joseph knew all along that his firstborn Son would not be carrying on the family business.
The Bible doesn't give us many details about Joseph's life and is completely silent about his death. It seems apparent, though, that at some point before Jesus entered His public ministry that Joseph passed away. We can deduce this from the fact that at His crucifixion, Jesus commits the responsibility of the long-term care of His mother to John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 19:26-27). (It's interesting to me that Jesus did not assign this task to James, Simon, and Judas, his half-brothers or His earthly sisters. Evidently, Jesus discovered first hand that Proverbs 18:24 applied to his beloved and trustworthy friend, John, "…a friend who sticks closer than a brother.")
Most of us know the heartache and pain of losing a loved one, and losing a father, the head of the family, is most especially traumatic. I wonder how Jesus felt when this crisis visited His own home? I wonder about the reaction of Jesus' brothers and sisters. I wonder about the crushing anguish that Mary must have experienced.
"Can't you do something, my brother?"
"Why does he have to die now?"
"Is there any other way, Son? Please ask your Father to heal your father."
I'm curious if losing Joseph - and Jesus' apparent inability to do something about it - skewed his family's view of Jesus and His destiny. It seems so because the scriptures record subsequent doubt and unbelief manifesting in his family in bizarre ways such as this instance captured in Mark's gospel:
"Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind" (Mark 3:20-21).
Friends of the family, neighbors, and those they went to synagogue with were no less kind in their estimation of who Jesus was:
"Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor'" (Matthew 13:55-57).
I wonder if some of the doubt and unbelief stemmed from a funeral many of them attended some time back, the funeral of Joseph, as they watched a nice family helplessly weep and grieve over their dead loved one.
But the Lord Jesus Christ would not be called to action ahead of God's timing. He would not be driven by emotions but by obedience to His Father's perfect will.
The time to unveil the miracle power of Jesus the Christ began not in a funeral parlor but oddly enough at a wedding feast. It seems the wedding party ran out of wine and Mary petitioned Jesus to do something about it. He responded:
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come" (John 2:4).
No doubt at this point Jesus calls upon His Father God in brief and perhaps silent prayer for direction and quite obviously received it. Because His next act was His first miracle, transforming the water of six stone water pots into 120-180 gallons of high quality wine.
"This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him" (John 2:11)
The forgotten funeral of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Matthan, may have faded into the pages of unwritten history, but history is not yet complete.
One fine day, ten thousand years from now in the New Jerusalem, Jesus Himself may be walking down the golden streets as millions of people out of every nation, people, tongue, and tribe worship Him in humble adoration saying, "behold, my Lord!" At that time, there will be only two in heaven that have the right to say of the King of kings and Lord of lords, "behold, my son!"
DSR
4/5/04