JOSEPH

(Father of Jesus Christ)

            A person sensitive to God’s guidance and willing to obey god’s commandments, will do anything, no matter what the consequences are. Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus Christ, stands as a symbol of obedience and strong belief. We read very little about him in the gospels of Mathew & Luke. The other two writers viz. Mark and John did not mention anything about Joseph. He is a less familiar and little known person in the New Testament compared to big names like John, Peter, Paul, etc. Yet, we learn great lessons from him.

Lesson No.1 Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she found out that she was going, to have a child by the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph was a righteous man, he did not want to expose her to public disgrace. Instead, he made plans to break the engagement privately (Mathew 1/18-19). This must have been a shocking news for Joseph. But, he handled the situation in a polished and dignified way. He had every reason to call off the pledge publicly. In fact, commandments of Moses permit cancellation of the wedding proposals on complaints of adultery and authorise stoning of the accused. But Joseph was sympathetic towards Mary. He did not want to take the extreme step of breaking the alliance openly. He wanted to give a quietus to the proposal. Others would have fled from the scene after making the “pregnancy matter” a big issue. But Joseph behaved gently and differently. Therefore, the Bible calls him as a “righteous person”, a rare honour that has been given only to a select few. Do we have that gentle, dignified and sympathetic attitude?

Lesson No.2 While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy spirit she has conceived’ (Mathew 1/20). A perusal of following verses clearly reveals that Joseph believed what all the angel told him. In this context, mentioning two points would be relevant and appropriate.

a)     Joseph believed what the angel told him in his dream. The angel did not appear before him in person, but revealed this secret in his dream. Believing would mean, not believing what he had seen and heard about Mary. Yet, he believed. Something unheard of anywhere. For believing, people demand evidence / proof. But Joseph believed that the child was someone very special and obeyed god’s leading. What would be our reaction to a situation like this?

b)     Joseph believed some unbelievable utterances of the angel. A virgin getting pregnant is beyond human logic or reasoning. Becoming pregnant through Holy Spirit is another story not heard of so far in human history. But Joseph believed the sayings of the angel in full. He was believing “things not seen” (Hebrew 11/1). He believed that God could create anything anywhere. He trusted god’s authority over every aspect of human life. Do we have such faith?

Lesson No.3  Joseph was not only a believer, but also a doer. (See James 2/14-17). He married Mary, as the angel of the Lord told him. But he had no union with her before she gave birth to a son. (Mathew 1/24-25). Believing unbelievable things is a difficult exercise. Doing what he heard and believed is yet another difficult exercise. Joseph did what he believed. Even after marrying Mary he kept himself away from her. Therefore, writer Mathew carefully coined verse 16 in Chapter 1 to reflect this correctly. What a noble person?

3)        I wish to close the essay with the following two carry home memories:-

i)         Joseph was Jesus Christ’s earthly father. He was certainly a worthy father to a great son.

ii)        If Joseph had refused to believe Angel’s sayings, what would have happened? People would have mocked at Jesus and refused to accept his teachings saying that he was born to a woman who had no husband. Christianity might not have witnessed any growth at all. Joseph is the person who checked all possible unwanted happenings and facilitated hassle free spread of Jesus’s teachings.

Joseph Stephen

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