Documents in Order: A Look at Joseph, Jesus’ father

A RECAP Last week, we learned that John the Baptist was to prepare a people ready for the arrival of the Messiah by urging them to confess, repent and anticipate His arrival. The challenge of Advent is to understand our specific call to prepare our world for Christ’s second coming by living lives of confession, repentance and anticipation, thereby witnessing to the good news of Jesus Christ in full view of the community around us.

An Adventure in Vacationing

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, 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.” 

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-25)

We often gloss over this detail in our rush to the manger, but it is amazing to think about how perilously close Jesus came to being raised in a “fatherless” household. Fatherhood matters. The family, and especially the father, was at the centre of the first-century Mediterranean world. In first century culture, a father provided three significant things for his family: a place to belong, a people and a purpose.

First, the father of a household was not merely an impregnator, but also a provider and protector. Joseph, although he played no role in procreation, was willing to assume the more weighty responsibility of being Jesus’ father. By accepting Jesus as his son, Joseph provided a place for Jesus to belong. By establishing a home for Jesus, first in Bethlehem, then in Egypt, and finally in Nazareth, Joseph created stability in the life of his adopted son. Joseph provided a place of protection in which Jesus could grow up and mature.

Joseph provided Jesus with a people to which He could belong. In first century times, it was not a child's birth that made it a part of a household, but the father's decision to adopt it into the household. Had Joseph not accepted Jesus as his son, He would have found himself labelled as an “impure one” – disbarred from the Temple and prevented from being called a child of Abraham, that is child of God. Being a child of Joseph would give Jesus legitimacy to be called a child of Abraham and a child of God, so, culturally, it was important for Christ to have been able to call Joseph his father.

Thirdly, the father's role in the family was to ensure that God was worshipped and obeyed. The life of obedience we see Christ live out is, at least in part, reflective of the influence of Joseph in His life - Joseph set a spiritual baseline for Jesus and provided direction for his son in life. Considering Joseph’s influence upon Jesus is a fun and imaginative thing.

Just as Joseph provided a place, a people and a purpose for Jesus, God seeks to do the same for us. This began with the people of Israel in the Old Testament and continued into the New Testament. Through the ministry of Jesus, we see that God is still in the business of fatherhood. He desires to create for us a place, a people and a purpose. Christ has prepared a place for you right here and right now. Do you find yourself in the place God has prepared for you today?

Secondly, through Christ’s death and resurrection, God has created a people for us to which we may belong. When we place our faith in Jesus, we are permitted access to the body of Christ; we become a part of the church. Am I a part of the family of God? Am I counted as one of His people, by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ?

We also are given a purpose when we commit to following Jesus. We have a Father in heaven who desperately wants us to be a people located in a specific place who, having been reconciled to God, act as Christ’s ambassadors, informing the world that “God [is] reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Are we obedient to God’s voice and His call upon our lives, even during those times when it seems difficult to be so?

A SPECIFIC CHALLENGE God is calling us to step up to accept the mantle of true fatherhood He has for us. Some of us need to begin protecting and providing for our families again; others must engage relationally with our children; others must seek to teach our children obedience and worship of God. For others among us, God is calling you to accept a role of “father to the fatherless” within the church. He is calling you to work to provide a place, a people and a purpose for us as a church. If God is calling you to father, will you accept that call, as Joseph did so many years ago?