Without a doubt, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born; an astonishing gift from our Heavenly Father in the humblest of forms. A newborn baby, given to us as a gift of unconditional love and forgiveness. When an angel of the Lord came to a betrothed virgin and told her that the Holy Spirit would give her a child to carry, the Holy Mother Mary replied “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). Although she knew that this would be a trial for her, she was willing to do as the Lord asked. This was the beginning of the gift that would change the world.
When reading the story of Christmas, it is natural to wonder about Mary, about the Shepherds and Wise Men, even about King Herod, but Joseph often slips through the cracks as a background figure. Perhaps this suits his role well, however. Joseph quietly and steadily proves his faith to God and devotion to family time and time again. Joseph was described as “a righteous man” in the Gospel of Matthew. He provides us with a steady, faithful example of everything a husband and father should be as the head of his household.
Joseph had incredible faith, to believe in his task. He protected his wife and trusted that she was in fact carrying the Savior. Under traditional Jewish law, Mary could have been severely punished for committing infidelity, and even put to death. Knowing this, Joseph decided to divorce her quietly in order to protect her from shame. He then received a message through an angel of the Lord, telling him that his wife had not committed infidelity and was instead carrying a baby conceived by the Holy Spirit. He chose to protect his pregnant wife based on his own faith, take her with him on his journey to Bethlehem, care for her while she gave birth, and raise the child as his own.
Jesus’ lineage is first mentioned in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is of the genealogy of David, which comes to him through Joseph. 14 generations separate Abraham and King David, 14 generations separate David from the exile to Babylon, and 14 generations from the exile to Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew outlines the story of how Mary became pregnant and Joseph intended to divorce her quietly in order to protect her honor. An angel of God appeared to him and told him that Mary’s baby had been conceived through the Holy Spirit, and that Joseph must name the child Jesus. The angel told Joseph that Jesus would save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Joseph then receives a message from the angel of God, telling him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt in order to protect Jesus from King Herod. After Herod’s death, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Nazareth under the order of another message from the angel.
Joseph is last mentioned in the second chapter of Matthew, when Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem after the Passover Festival. Joseph and Mary travel back to search for him, eventually finding him in the temple. Jesus says “’why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them” (Luke 2:49-52). Although Jesus garnered a lot of attention as a wise and prophetic teenager, nonetheless he remained obedient to Joseph as his father. There is no indication that Joseph took offense or was jealous over this statement from Jesus. He understood his role as Jesus’s earthly father, and as a son of the Heavenly Father.
Nothing is mentioned of Joseph’s death in the New Testament, however after Jesus’s childhood Mary is continuously mentioned by herself. There are also no lines spoken directly by Joseph in the New Testament. We know that Joseph was a carpenter by trade, and it is evident that Joseph provided well for his family.
Luke 10:27 – And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Why is Joseph so important? Other than his grand example of a faithful man and protective husband, God provides us with inarguable evidence for the importance of a father. God could have chosen anything or anyone to bring His son into the world, and certainly could have provided all the protection Mary needed along the way. God is the Father of Jesus. Why then, did He give Jesus an earthly father, when He could have guided Jesus without one? Why would God decide to give Joseph the tests and burdens that he underwent in order to become Jesus’ earthly father? The answer becomes clear when we study what else the Bible tells us about men, husbands, and fathers, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament:
The Head of the Household
Psalm 103:13 – As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
Psalm 127:3-5 – Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
Proverbs 4:1 – Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.
Proverbs 13:24 – Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 – And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Proverbs 23:24 – The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
Servant Son of God
Proverbs 14:26 – In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.
Proverbs 3:11 – My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof.
Matthew 7:9-11 – Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Hebrews 12:4-13 – In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. …
Romans 8:14 – For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Proverbs 13:22 – A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.
Proverbs 21:20 – Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.
1 Corinthians 16:13 – Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
1 Timothy 5:8 – But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
James 1:19 – 20 – Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Leading as a Husband
Proverbs 31:28 – Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.
Ephesians 5:21-33 – Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.
1 Corinthians 11:3 – But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
Mark 10:9 – What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.
1 Peter 3:7 – Likewise, husbands, love with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Psalm 68:5 – Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
God calls men to a great purpose. From the very first man, He created men built for servant leadership. A good man is charged as the head of his household, disciplining and training his children, loving and protecting his wife, and living as a servant to God the Father. Joseph lived his life as a prime example of all of these. He could have chosen an easier path at many turns, however he recognized the righteousness and importance of raising the child who was to be the Savior of humanity. Although God is the Father of all humankind, Psalm 68:5 states that He is the “Father of the fatherless”, meaning that the role of the earthly father is irreplaceable in the home. If all men strived to live with the convicted faith of Joseph, perhaps more children would grow up striving towards the righteousness of Jesus.
Mark 1:11 And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”