“An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’” Matthew 1:20-21
I have known about Joseph basically all my life… “Mary and Joseph” were a couple in my mind from childhood, and I remember helping my dad set up our little creche with the figurines representing the most famous family in history. We would place the baby Jesus in the manger, mother Mary (always dressed in a blue cloak) next to the manger, and Joseph, strong and silent, watching over them reverently. After I came to Christ and memorized the account in the Gospel of Matthew, it struck me suddenly at one point that Joseph never speaks a word recorded in the Bible. Mary says things, the angel says things, the magi say things, King Herod says things, Herod’s counselors say things. But Joseph never spoke a word that made it into eternal scripture.
However, his role is significant. I believe a key job description for a godly husband and father is found in God’s stated intention for Adam and the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 2:15. It says there that God put Adam there literally “to serve and protect.” Those are the simplest translations of the two Hebrew verbs in that verse. Remarkably, that slogan often represents the goal of police officers in communities. So, a godly husband serves his wife and children and protects them from harm. So, it was with Joseph. He was betrothed to the virtuous Mary, and the two of them were making their plans for their married life together when the angel Gabriel came to give Mary the astounding news that she would be pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. When she told Joseph, we have his understandable reaction recorded for us in Matthew 1:19: “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” It was initially too much to accept her account of her pregnancy; it was and still is unique in all of human history. He knew the character of Mary, and it was absolutely incongruous for her to have been immoral. But her explanation stretched his soul to the breaking point. He decided for a compromise—divorcing her quietly. He was tender toward her but also righteous and unwilling to marry her under such circumstances.
"But he served them and protected them from hunger and harm when they were their most vulnerable."
Then an angel of the Lord told him in a dream the same thing that Mary had told him—the greatest news in all history! Furthermore, the angel told him what his name would be—Jesus, meaning “Salvation is from the Lord.” The reason was glorious: “because he will save his people from their sins.” Joseph obeyed the angel despite the fact that it would appear that he was complicit in her sexual immorality—most likely even the cause of it. But he silently bore that slander and served her, protecting her honor.
And when Herod determined to kill the baby Jesus, an angel told Joseph, again in a dream, to take him and Mary and flee to Egypt. Joseph obeyed the angel and was willing to flee to a foreign country and find a way to survive. We don’t know how he provided for them in Egypt—perhaps with his carpentry skills. But he served them and protected them from hunger and harm when they were their most vulnerable. Then, when the danger had passed, an angel told Joseph once more to return to Galilee where he settled in Nazareth and lived the life of a simple carpenter. Always there were questions about these events; later in life, Jesus’ enemies accused him of being a Samaritan, clearly implying he was a child of fornication. Joseph, along with Mary, bore these slanders with dignity and a quiet strength that was essential to Jesus’ childhood development. I seek to imitate Joseph here on earth as I look forward to honoring him in heaven.
