He is the forgotten one of the gospel drama. In reality, Joseph fills an essential role not only in the birth narrative of the Christ, but in the entire story of Jesus. We had better not forget Joseph. If we do, we will be poorer for it, and the Christian message will have lost a noble spirit.
JOSEPH’S ROLE
A major reason for overlooking Joseph is the historic emphasis on the virgin birth. It is my conviction that if God chose to bring his Son to life by means of miraculous birth, who can say he could not do it? I accept Jesus’ birth as providential. This is not to say, however, that the birth of any child is less than miracle.
Joseph: we hear the proud Old Testament name meaning may God add, first in the story of the oldest son of Jacob and Rachel. In subsequent generations many were so named. Joseph entered the record as the betrothed of Mary who, legend says, was the daughter of his uncle Joachim. The primitive church regarded Joseph as young, and he was so pictured in early Christian art, always with Mary and the Christ Child. It was not until the fifth or sixth centuries that he was presented as an aged, debilitated widower an idea borrowed from apocryphal books. Unfortunately, this view has persisted. Common sense tells us that heavy labor in a carpenter shop required a man of vigorous, prime years. I see Joseph as a man of strength, a proud descendant of King David by a double lineage (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38), taking the hand of Mary.
Word reached Joseph that his intended was expecting "... before they came together ...", and he naturally assumed she had been unfaithful. Jewish law required death by stoning; Joseph could have demanded this penalty. God answered the gossip through Joseph’s dream, "... fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ..." (Matthew 1:20)
It was a tiresome journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem - the detested Roman census. Rejected by the innkeeper, Joseph obtained accommodations in a stable. Throughout the ordeal, it was Joseph who stood by - not in the way nor out of reach. He was at hand, giving Mary comfort and sustaining, supportive love, so welcome and so needed.
Jesus was born in miracle, but the setting conveys normal relationships. Joseph opened the door to shepherds and wise men. With genuine pride the couple made their way for presentation in the Temple, "... they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord ..." Old Simeon appeared as "... the parents brought in the child ..." Saintly Anna spoke to them, of redemption yet to come. They were together, as a family.
Warning came, and it was to Joseph that the dream-message was delivered. "Arise, and take the young child and his mother ..." There was the frantic dash to the Nile valley, with Joseph as guide and protector. As time came to return to Nazareth "... he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel." There followed the interval of childhood experiences, when Joseph would have clasped a toddler’s hand, and helped him walk, and watched him grow. The child Jesus is difficult to comprehend theologically. He is wondrous indeed. Even at this early age, he was the Only-Begotten of the Father. At the same time, he was a normal, healthy little boy who laughed, cried, and played with simple wooden toys that Joseph made.
A simple-hearted Child was He,
And He was nothing more;
In summer days, like you and me,
He played about the door,
Or gathered, when the father toiled,
The shavings from the floor.1
"Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover." Jesus, now twelve, delayed in the Temple, talking with kindly priests and learned doctors of the Law. Mary’s rebuke reveals more about Jesus than anyone else, "Here have your father and I been looking for you anxiously!" (Luke 2:48 Moffatt) "Your father," she said. This was the family background. Though he may not have been so in fact, Joseph filled that essential father’s role and relationship for a growing lad.
AT NAZARETH
It would be wonderful if we knew of those "hidden years," the growth period. "And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them ..." Those were adventuresome days in the carpenter shop. Jewish tradition required that each son be taught a trade by his father. Jesus would have learned to use hammer, saw, and plane.
As Jesus grew to young manhood, there would have been treasured father-son dialogues, with wise suggestions, gently given; firm admonitions, solemnly spoken. Stories would have been told with mingled tears and laughter. Lessons of life were discussed in quiet confidence; love shared in word and deed. Were some of the parables born in these conversations? Was it here that Jesus learned of common, household terms: bread, coins, sheep, lamps, vineyards, seeds? Can a boy really come to adulthood without the close acquaintance of an understanding, compassionate older man?
Sometime during these years, Joseph died. Legend fixes the date at A.D. 18 or possibly as late as 27. One story claims that Mary and Jesus were at his side when death came. Narratives, obviously without foundation, have crept in regarding Joseph’s grave and even his physical translation to heaven. These pious tales can be dismissed, along with accounts of relics his clothing or the betrothal ring. One point is simple and clear, Jesus assumed the role of breadwinner and head of the family until he was thirty, taking Joseph’s place, looking after younger brothers and sisters. "Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren ... And his sisters ...?" (Matthew 13:55-56)
Joseph was a true father for the growing Jesus - the only one he ever knew, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph ...?" (John 6:42) And again, "Is not this Joseph’s son?" (Luke 4:22)
FATHER
How much the word father means. What would Jesus’ early years have been without the strong, manly sway and authority of Joseph? The influence is seen later, as Jesus taught the disciples to pray, "When ye pray, say, Our Father ..." Of course he was speaking of God the Father, yet the term was father, a word dear to our Savior.
O Joseph, of the holy family least,
A just man art thou called, and all the rest
Of flaw and virtue in thy homely life
Is left unnamed, to be inferred or guessed.
But who can doubt thy warmth of heart, thy grace
Of spirit wise, or who shall think it odd
To hold thee great? When Jesus spoke to heaven,
"My Father" was the name he gave to God.2
We are grateful that our’s is the blessed privilege of saying, "Father." We are sons and daughters, "... heirs of God ..." (Romans 8:17)
Our role in life’s drama may not be exactly as we wish. We think we have been overlooked, bypassed, forgotten; our potential has been neglected by our peers, our real worth unrecognized. It may be that we are the Josephs of life. Our destiny could be that of support and strength for another who will rise to sublime heights. Joseph enables us to see that rather than being downgraded, we have an opportunity to be part of another’s success. We can learn to live so that those who come after us will say that we were faithful, and like Joseph, be remembered for quiet strength and loving patience.
In my boyhood home ... and in yours probably ... Christmas was Mother’s responsibility: gifts and wrappings and decorations. But on Christmas morning it was always my Father who came to my room to say, "Merry Christmas - time to get up." No other person could have said it. No other person can take a father’s place in the life of a child. Joseph the Carpenter was that man for the boy Jesus.
1. "The Little Child" by Albert Bigelow Paine in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, ed. by Morrison (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1948), p. 170.
2. "The Father" by Dorothy Scott Ballard in Christ in Poetry, ed. by Clark (New York: Association Press, 1952), p. 18. Used by permission.