This seems to be the Advent year of Joseph. Several times already I have heard speakers or read articles about Joseph, the (sort of) father of Jesus. More, I think, than in any past year.
I started thinking–Matthew gives a genealogy of Jesus through Joseph. Mary did not have sex with Joseph. Jesus was not Joseph’s kid. Weird.
Almost nothing is written about Joseph in the Bible. Yet, we keep speculating about him. He was a skilled tradesman. He didn’t live in the same town as Mary. He had a vision from God that told him to go ahead and marry Mary even though she was pregnant outside of marriage. His ancestral home was Bethlehem, city of David. That’s pretty much it.
Oh, and the gospels describe him as a just man. Righteous. So his primary role in Jesus’ birth came from his relationship with God. He agreed to give Mary legitimacy–a marriage, a home, a family. He decided not to denounce her and have her stoned. That action would have had historical consequences.
People love to speculate that Joseph made Jesus a carpenter, because he was a carpenter. The gospels never say that. There is a reference to Jesus as “the carpenter’s son.” I think that beyond making Jesus legitimate in the eyes of society, Joseph probably passed along his right relationship to God.
Children learn by modeling the behavior of those close to them. Joseph had to have been chosen because he could model the right relationship to God that Jesus needed as he grew up.
Joseph listened to God. It changed his life. He raised a child that was given to him, not one that he helped create. Looks like he did a pretty good job. Maybe God is telling us to do something. Maybe we need to listen and then act. Are we listening?
Faith Venture 
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