Lessons from My Stepfather

When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. – Matthew 1:18-19 (NRSV) 

Who could blame Joseph for tossing and turning over the news that his fiancée had become pregnant before the wedding, without his (ahem) involvement?  

The law was clear about how to handle a situation like this. Deuteronomy stipulated death as the appropriate punishment for infidelity. By the time of Jesus, those rules had softened. Instead of death, the punishment was a formal, public renunciation of the woman—a ritual that would have shamed her and her family for life. 

Joseph declined. Before the angel appeared, he resolved to break it off quietly, which suggests he truly loved Mary despite the circumstances.  

I wish the Gospels offered more about the role Joseph played in the life of young Jesus. After Mary and Joseph find their precocious 12-year-old in the temple educating the educators, Joseph drops entirely offstage.  

But we know this: the fearless love that Jesus talked about, the love he stood for and died for, was the same rule-changing, sheltering, protecting love that Joseph demonstrated. 

In other words, if we ever wonder where Jesus got his compassionate heart and habit of erring on the side of mercy over judgment, it might have come as much from his earthly father as from his heavenly one. 

Prayer
Gracious One, thank you for Joseph, patron saint of all families, parents, immigrants, refugees, and compassionate folk everywhere.

About the Author
Matt Laney is co-Pastor of Virginia Highland Church UCC in Atlanta, GA and the author of Pride Wars, a fantasy series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers. The first two books, The Spinner Prince and The Four Guardians are available now.