Sunday 25 December 2016

Another Joseph

And so in this Christmas period,in keeping with the flow of the season but still in the spirit of our ongoing series, On the Way to the Palace I would like us to examine the life of  one of the  men in the most talked about family in this season. Although  a lot of attention given to Mary and Jesus  we sometimes  forget the great role that Joseph played in the story. He is another Joseph whose son eventually got to the Palace.

“Jacob was the father of Joseph, who was the husband of Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called Christ”.- Matthew 1:16 GW God’s Word Translation 
“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ”.- Matthew 1 :16 KJV King James Version
We are first introduced to this Joseph  as Matthew recounts the genealogy of Jesus..His father’s name was also Jacob, so we see him and his father being namesakes with our original Jacob who had twelve sons one of which was Joseph (Genesis 37:1-2)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. –Matthew 1:18 King James Version

“This is how the birth of Jesus ·Christ [the Messiah] came about. His mother Mary was ·engaged [pledged; T betrothed; C a formal agreement between families that required a “divorce” to annul] to marry Joseph, but before they ·married [came to live together], she ·learned she was [or was found/discovered to be] ·pregnant [T with child] ·by the power of [through] the Holy Spirit”.-Matthew 1:18-Expanded Bible EXB
The very first thing we are told after that is that he was the husband  of Mary and later verses tell us that Mary was espoused to him.In modern words they were engaged. This to me shows something admirable in his character. He was first engaged and eventually became a husband.
Joseph was a man of commitment. He  become engaged to one woman only; he was not the type that had five different sisters in different cities(some actually have five in  thesame Church!) who were believing that they were in a relationship . He was definitely a man who followed through his commitments as he eventually became Mary’s husband in spite of all odds.

Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately.- Good News Translation GNT

The next thing we are told is that he is a just man and when the Bible declares a man to be just, we better take it as the truth. Although Jesus Christ had not yet come and people had not began to live by faith through Jesus ,Joseph is decribed as “just” . Other translations describe him as  “good”, “righteous”,”a  man of stern principle”, ”honourable” .Ask any group of women to give some qualities they would want in a mate and these attributes are usually among the first to be listed.

“Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly”.-Matthew 1:19-Common English Bible CEB
“Joseph, because he was kind and upstanding and honorable, wanted to spare Mary shame. He did not wish to cause her more mbarrassment than necessary”.- Matthew 1:19 VOICE
“Joseph ,the man she was to marry was a good man.He did not want  her to be made ashamed .So he planned to leave her without telling people about it “-Matthew 1:19 Worldwide English WE
“And Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily”.(emphasis mine)-Matthew 1:119 KJ21

Although this man is just, Joseph  is sensitive. He is sensitive to the feelings of Mary and just this little phrase alone (..minded to put her away privily.....)underscores volumes of how much he really loved her. His love was not just based on “as long as I marry you”. Yes she had done something that was outrageous and he was hurt, disappointed and felt betrayed, yet he did not think there was any need to put Mary through any further turmoil. In our day, he did not see the need to go to Facebook or send tweets on Twitter ranting about how disappointed he was and looking for cheap sympathy. Usually this would draw several biased comments from people who are not seeing the other side of the picture and only end up strengthening whatever hurt he may have felt or the need to soothe his ego.Sometimes the simple reason while we choose this course of action is the need for revenge but Joseph did not have any iota of this . He knew what the law demanded but he also knew he had the rights to execute mercy. He could not control what had happened but could definitely control his reactions. He did not leave his thoughts to dwell on his hurts but thought about what it would mean to the woman he loved .This was a man any woman would want any day, He was a protector.

On the Way to the Palace, we need to be people who can be trusted to follow through our commitments and we should not let our doing things right hinder us from being sensitive to others.
.
Merry Christmas,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

No comments: