The Faith of the Carpenter {The Greatest Story}

How different would the Christmas story have been if Mary hadn't been betrothed to Joseph?

Really, think about it.

Mary very likely would have been stoned, and then where would we be?  It takes a special man to listen to an angel from a dream. 

Joseph is someone I've really started thinking about just over the past few years.  My dad basically did a whole sermon on him at one point.  (Well, him and one other character... for Father's Day... yeah).

As many times as Mary must have wondered why she had been chosen, Joseph must have had those thoughts tenfold.  I mean, Mary was great, her faith was strong and her heart was pure - of course she'd been chosen to bear the Messiah.  But Joseph?  He was just a carpenter from Nazareth trying to make an honest living and provide a good life for Mary and their future family. 

And then those hopes were smashed when she told him the news - she was pregnant.  And it wasn't his baby.  More than that, she claimed that God was the father, of all things. 

Now, I like to think that Joseph really wanted to believe her.  He really did.  But the idea was so ridiculous that surely there was a lot of inner turmoil trying to figure out what to do.  His sleep the night of the dream was fitful, as he turned the problem over and over in his mind.  If he does let her live, her reputation will be destroyed.  If he marries her, his will be.  And the only other option is for her to die. 

But when he finally slips off into slumber, he's awoken moments later with the answer.  She's telling the truth.  Of course she is.  She's never lied before.  And he knows what he must do.

Maybe he concocts a story, claiming that the child is his, he seduced her.  Or maybe he just lets the gossips of Nazareth decide what happened.  It doesn't really matter, does it?  He knows the truth.  He lets her go to her cousin Elizabeth while he stays behind to start building them a life together, attempting to make one befitting of a young Messiah.

Obviously, then, nothing goes according to plan and he has to take her with him to Bethlehem by order of a Roman who had no clue what was at stake here. 

And to Joseph's horror, the only place he can find for the Messiah is a stable.  One that didn't come with a complimentary midwife.  Where it was just him and Mary to try and go about bringing God into the world.

How terrifying must that have been?  To know that the best you can offer God is a borrowed manger and a few ragged cloths.  To know that you have to raise Him with no experience and not much money.

And then, to save his life, Joseph had to take God incarnate to a pagan land, even farther from relatives and the safety of the Promised Land.  Carrying nothing with them but the gifts of the wise men and faith enough to move mountains.

I sometimes wonder if Jesus looked like Joseph.  If people saw Jesus and thought, "Wow, he's growing up to look like his father."  Not just in appearance.  I wonder if he picked up his mannerisms, his quirks, his terms for things.  His skills, his personality.  I wonder if Joseph was his hero.  How often did he think, "I chose the right man."

We don't see Joseph again after the fateful day in the temple at Passover.  I hope his death was peaceful.  Maybe he spent his last moments in the arms of his son, who would be his savior.  Maybe Mary was there, crying, begging Jesus to save him, knowing that he could if he willed it.  And Joseph looked into the eyes that had seen the dawn of time and were full of tears, and knew that his time on Earth was done.  And he touched the face of the one who had spoken everything into existence, and trusted that He would take care of Mary and the other children.  That everything, somehow, would be alright.

Joseph was incredible.  And he's so underappreciated.  Being the step-father of the Savior was no minor feat.  I can't wait to meet him in heaven and ask him about Jesus as a child.  To ask him about the flight into Egypt, the visit from the Magi, Jesus' first steps and His first words and His first laugh.

Won't that be amazing?

~ Abby