I’ve always been a fan of Joseph. Maybe it is because he reminds me of my own father.
Later in the Gospel of Matthew we learn that Joseph was a tradesman, a carpenter. Jesus had returned home and had gone to the synagogue and he began to teach. He astonished them with his wisdom. He astonished them because none of us ever quite expect the people we know best to move beyond our expectations. They say of him, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” They are incredulous, but at least some new information surfaces about Joseph.
He was probably more than just a carpenter for the word used can imply that he was rather handy with a chisel and stone, with a hammer and metal.
My father was a carpenter. He was a person who could take wood and fashion a chair or a cabinet and once he even made a crib for my daughter’s baby dolls. He also knew how to make steel and to shape a red-hot ingot into a piece of pipe or a structural beam, which is what he did for more than forty years. I’m a fan of Joseph because he helps me to remember how much of a fan I was of my own father. And in a world where so many have difficulty being able to say that, I am glad that Joseph helps me to remember that I can.
They were similar in another respect. Joseph was a dreamer. Dad was, too. I guess you have to be a dreamer to be creative. You have to have that ability to see beyond the raw materials what is possible. Dreamers can do that and those of us who watch them benefit from their skill. I think I had the same privilege that Jesus had to be exposed to someone who knew how to dream.
Look at how Matthew introduces us to him. He chronicles a long list of people’s names to tell us that Joseph was a descendant of David. Those roots are to become Jesus’ roots. But then we learn the details of Jesus’ birth. Engaged to Mary, Joseph learns that she was with child from the Holy Spirit. We can’t make light of that, but if you’ve lived long enough you can at least smile and say to yourself, I’ve heard all sorts of things, but you expect me to believe that? Somehow Joseph summons up the most extraordinary kind of resolve and decides that he cares too deeply for Mary to expose her to public disgrace. The old laws prescribed stoning, which meant death, but Joseph was also a person of grace and wasn’t about to let that happen. He would simply “dismiss her quietly.”
Those have always been powerful words when I hear them. My dad was an orphan. He never knew his parents. He was a victim of being “dismissed quietly” and it was a pain he carried throughout his life.
Before Joseph could act, though, God did. There wouldn’t be a silent departure. Instead, in a dream, this carpenter who could see what others couldn’t, was told to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, for the child was the one who would save his people from their sins, a child conceived by the Holy Spirit. Joseph doesn’t have a word to speak. There he lay, his eyes closed, but the angel of the Lord was speaking to him with purpose. Name the baby Jesus. Honor Mary. Take care of them. Well, the angel doesn’t say, “take care of them,” but clearly that is what Joseph did, and I’ve always been his fan because of it.
I’ve thought to myself on many occasions how I would respond to a dream like his. What if God called me to break the social conventions that place boundaries on our decisions? What if God whispered to me in the comfort of my sleep about things that had to happen to fulfill what had been spoken by a prophet? It took great courage for Joseph to be Joseph. It takes great courage for any of us, I suppose, to finally be obedient to God, which is all that God asks us to be, especially during the Advent season. How often have we been willing to respond to a dream like his?
We can learn from this man, especially in a time when we need to have models to emulate. He accepted the responsibility. He chanced his reputation on a dream. He allowed God to touch the deepest parts of his soul. He awoke and he did what he was commanded to do. He named the baby Jesus. He helped birth salvation into the world so that world would call this child, “Emmanuel, God with us.” God among us; God come to bring light to the darkness; God walking with us so that we might walk with God.
How can we not appreciate Joseph, the man who had a dream come true!
Larry Chottiner is pastor of Salisbury Church in Midlothian, Va.
