The Forgotten Partner
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph; being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." Matt. 1:18-20, RSV.
And then there was Joseph! Not in a good situation.
Most of us never give much thought to him or the anguish he must have felt in his role in God's plan. He is just there, kind of like a house down the street that we are aware of but don't know anything about even though we pass it every day. Because of our lack of interest in him, I almost decided to skip over him in this devotional. After all, "he is only the husband of Mary." But, we need to remember that the neglected partners of highly visible people are individuals who support and enable the celebrated ones to perform their functions.
So it was with behind-the-scenes Joseph. Not merely "the husband of Mary," he also functioned as the earthly father of Jesus. Of course, most of their neighbors considered him to be the father, giving the rather scandalous circumstances of Jesus' birth. It was Joseph who took Mary and Baby Jesus to the Temple to dedicate Him to the Lord, it was Joseph who led the family to Egypt to escape the machinations of Herod, it was Joseph who brought the family back to settle in Nazareth, it was Joseph who accompanied the 12-year-old Jesus to the feast for His Bar Mitzvah, and it was Joseph the carpenter who taught Jesus the same trade. And during that teaching they spent countless hours together as the older man helped guide and shape the younger. To put it bluntly, Joseph is a crucial character in the story of redemption. Invisible to us, but quite visible and important in the life of our Lord and Savior.
Joseph faced the crisis of his life when he discovered that Mary was pregnant. He knew for certain it wasn't by him. But who then? She had that story about the angel and the Spirit, but that was far-fetched to say the least.
As a man with rights he could have made a scene. But being a good man who loved the "wayward" teenager, he decided to put her away silently. Then the angel visited him also and changed the course of his life--and ours.
There is a lesson here. We are all too prone to overlook the person or persons who sacrifice to make possible the public work of more visible individuals. Today is the day to stop that injustice. Think of the sacrificing but "invisible" people in your world and go out of your way to drop them a card or make a phone call of appreciation--today.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph; being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." Matt. 1:18-20, RSV.
And then there was Joseph! Not in a good situation.
Most of us never give much thought to him or the anguish he must have felt in his role in God's plan. He is just there, kind of like a house down the street that we are aware of but don't know anything about even though we pass it every day. Because of our lack of interest in him, I almost decided to skip over him in this devotional. After all, "he is only the husband of Mary." But, we need to remember that the neglected partners of highly visible people are individuals who support and enable the celebrated ones to perform their functions.
So it was with behind-the-scenes Joseph. Not merely "the husband of Mary," he also functioned as the earthly father of Jesus. Of course, most of their neighbors considered him to be the father, giving the rather scandalous circumstances of Jesus' birth. It was Joseph who took Mary and Baby Jesus to the Temple to dedicate Him to the Lord, it was Joseph who led the family to Egypt to escape the machinations of Herod, it was Joseph who brought the family back to settle in Nazareth, it was Joseph who accompanied the 12-year-old Jesus to the feast for His Bar Mitzvah, and it was Joseph the carpenter who taught Jesus the same trade. And during that teaching they spent countless hours together as the older man helped guide and shape the younger. To put it bluntly, Joseph is a crucial character in the story of redemption. Invisible to us, but quite visible and important in the life of our Lord and Savior.
Joseph faced the crisis of his life when he discovered that Mary was pregnant. He knew for certain it wasn't by him. But who then? She had that story about the angel and the Spirit, but that was far-fetched to say the least.
As a man with rights he could have made a scene. But being a good man who loved the "wayward" teenager, he decided to put her away silently. Then the angel visited him also and changed the course of his life--and ours.
There is a lesson here. We are all too prone to overlook the person or persons who sacrifice to make possible the public work of more visible individuals. Today is the day to stop that injustice. Think of the sacrificing but "invisible" people in your world and go out of your way to drop them a card or make a phone call of appreciation--today.
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