The Leadership of Joseph

Hello friends,

Merry Christmas to you and your families! I hope that this time will be filled with joy, family fun and recharged faith. God sent His love, His Son to embody that love, to reconcile us back to Him.....hallelujah!

Last year at this time, I wrote about Mary and her own courageous leadership as she accepted the great responsibility posed to her by the angel Gabriel, to give birth to the Son of the Highest (Lk 1:32). Even just prior to Jesus' birth, the path was wrought with tremendous challenges. Mary, after conversing with Gabriel simply says "Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word." Courageous faith and servanthood!

I'd like to look at Jesus' earthly father, Joseph. From scripture, we don't know all that much about him, however he played a key role in bringing Jesus into the world we live in. Joseph was in the bloodline which extends from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through David and Solomon, along with many other key historical people, all the way to Jesus. Joseph's position in the lineage, described in Matthew 1:1, therefore was no accident, but he was chosen by God for who he was!

In scripture, Joseph sort of disappears from the record with no mention, as opposed to Mary, who is very visible throughout the Gospels. Some speculate that in the culture of the time, he was perhaps significantly older than Mary, who may have been an early teen at the time, and then Joseph died well before her.

We do know that he was a carpenter by trade, something we didn't know until it surfaces later in Matthew, as a knock against Jesus "worthiness", suggesting that a carpenter's son could never amount to much. (Insert laughing emoji's here). What I do know of carpenters is that they are very patient and artistic with their craft, which lends perhaps to a compassionate side of one's character.

This was certainly true of Joseph who, when he found that Mary was pregnant...not by him...did not want to make a public example of her, but was "minded to put her away secretly" (Mt 1:19). This was countercultural and a violation of Jewish Law, which might have resulted in her death! Thankfully, an angel of the Lord (as opposed to "the angel Gabriel") appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel called him Joseph, son of David.......pause here; King David was 28 generations prior to Joseph. Other than Solomon who was the physical son of David, only Jesus has been referred to as the Son of David. I find this interesting and significant, as Joseph will soon be faced with a life-changing decision.

The angel, after saying what angels say when they appear, "do not be afraid", goes on to let Joseph in on the plan, also quoting from Isaiah saying "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated "God with us."

In that time, the cultural, religious and political scene was tumultuous to say the least. And such was the time when God chose to extend His grace and mercy by sending His Son, not to condemn, but to seek and save the lost and to draw us closer to Him. That said, as cunning, deceptive, evil King Herod was on the throne during Jesus' birth, Joseph was again warned in a dream to flee with Mary and Jesus to Egypt, as Herod sought to kill Jesus. For certainty, Herod ordered the slaughter of males younger than 2 years old.

Years later, Herod had died and Joseph was again visited in a dream by an angel to return to the land of Israel. As he neared Judea, Joseph was afraid of the current king and now the scripture says he was warned by God in a dream, so he turned his journey to dwell in Nazareth, in Galilee. God was directing Joseph's steps the whole way.

This whole series of episodes fulfilled many various scriptures and prophecies from hundreds of years earlier. Now, almost every night I have very active dreams. I will say that I have never acted on something I dreamed about. For Joseph to have had 4 different messages in dreams, 3 from angels and one from God, and acted on them, uprooting his family when he wasn't even involved in conceiving the baby, is hard to fathom! I wondered about the angels, if it was always the same one, so they had some personal history (lol).

Joseph's place was in the bloodline of Abraham and David, but he still had free will. Yet he made a decision to choose obedience and servanthood to God's plan to bring His Son into our world. This is solid leadership!

Often, along the way we are tasked to do something we don't want to do, that seems beneath us or trivial. All through it, God is molding and shaping us in His plan and purpose for our life and He doesn't want to leave any minute detail out. My job is to submit to His sovereignty in my life, to seek and be obedient to His calling, and rely on Him for my guidance. He supplies the rest: skills, passion, tools, people in our path, a plan and a purpose. What for? To serve and to point the way to others!

I hope that this Christmas draws you near to family and friends, and also near to Him as He relentlessly pursues you! Merry Christmas! 🎄