Driving home one night last week I noticed a nativity scene in front of a church. Joseph had been blown over by the wind so you could really only see Mary and Jesus. No big deal, I thought to myself. It’s just Joseph. Then I got home and watched this video:
Joseph’s side of the story has never been so real to me. His love for Mary, his pain, his joy, and his devotion to his wife and son.
We don’t know a lot about the life of Joseph, but one characteristic that stands out in the verses that describe his life is his obedience.
- He was obedient to take Mary as his wife after he heard the word of the Lord in a dream.
- He was obedient to circumcise Jesus and present Him in in the temple, according to Jewish law.
- He was obedient to take his family to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod.
- He was obedient to take his family back to Israel and settle in Nazareth.
- He was obedient to take his family to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover each year.
Even though Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father, he was obedient to the call God placed on his life to raise Jesus as his own. As my family moves through the adoption process and hopes to have our new son home from Ethiopia by next Christmas, the story of Joseph touches me in new ways. May we all be obedient to raise the children God has blessed us with to honor Him!
Sandra ~ What a beautiful and powerful video! What a wonderfully powerful post! The strangeness of Joseph’s call did not hinder his obedience. Great lessons to learn from one we knew little about!
Thank you for sharing this. It has touched my heart in a special way today. In 2011, I want to be obedient and may my life reflect that.
Such a neat perspective on being an adoptive parent. I think you’re so right that we can learn much from Joseph.
I love that Matthew describes Joseph as a good man. So true and he must have loved Mary very much to not publicly disgrace her before the angel came to him in his dream. Thank you for sharing that video and your thoughts on Joseph. He indeed is a very important part of Christ’s coming.
I love that video. I think whoever did it did a wonderful job of capturing the feelings, power, and wonder of the birth story.
Joseph teaches some great lessons with so few recorded words about him. (I’ve been studying him lately, too!) Obedience is absolutely a strong point. He also shows trust in God’s plan, reliance on Him, and perseverance through what had to be challenging times.
I agree with and pray for this, too: “May we all be obedient to raise the children God has blessed us with to honor Him!”
Thank you for this post!
Well the video made me cry and rejoice! Very cool video! Thanks for sharing it!