Feeling Like Joseph

Seeing as it's Christmas Eve, I find myself thinking about the first Christmas. Of all the characters of the nativity, the one person that I find I relate to the most is Joseph. I've always had a fascination with Joseph, maybe because there is so little actually known about him. We know he was a carpenter. We know he was from Bethlehem. We know that he didn't quite believe Mary's claims to be with child from the Holy Spirit, at least until he was visited by an angel. We know he was a devout, God-fearing man, loyal to God and to Mary. But after Christ's birth, there is very little mention of him in the Bible.

Even today, Joseph has become the unheralded member of the nativity, almost as if his presence was more of an afterthought than a requirement. Maybe that's why I've always been fascinated by Joseph. There have been many times in my life when I've felt like I'm just a bit character in a larger story. Yet the truth is, Joseph's presence had a much larger impact on the story than most of us probably realize. We attribute so much of Christ's upbringing to Mary, or to the Holy Spirit, that we tend to overlook the influence that Joseph had to have had on Christ's early life. We know that Jesus was a carpenter, like his father. This is not something that magically happened. Not that God couldn't have imbued Christ with all the knowledge needed to be a carpenter, but it's more likely that Joseph spent many years teaching Jesus the skills necessary to learn this trade. This teaching would have taken place over years. There would have been many hours where Joseph and Jesus would be working together, talking, sharing, experiencing life together. To think that the only thing Joseph taught Jesus was about carpentry is probably a bit, well, foolish. What loving father doesn't try to teach his son about life? Even with the knowledge that Jesus was the son of God, Joseph surely felt the weight of being his earthly father, of needing to teach his adopted son about life, about the world, about how to be a man.

Maybe my fascination with Joseph is what has led me to this place in life. I don't think it's coincidence that this man that I have studied was an adoptive father, as I will soon be. I don't think it's coincidence that I've felt drawn to a man who was given the task of being a father to a child that was not biologically his, as I will soon be. Perhaps my fascination with Joseph over the years is, in some way, part of God's reminder of his role in my path to parenthood.

I sit here tonight, thinking of Christmases past, remembering the joy of Christmas morning when we first saw what Santa had left for us under our tree. I remember thinking how cool it would be to see my own child experience that same joy someday. For years, that seemed like it would never become a reality. And yet, in God's own way, he has once again reminded me of his love for me, leading me down a path where I would finally get to experience all that comes with being a father. And while Colin is not biologically mine, as Jesus was not biologically Joseph's, I have come to learn and to believe that biology is merely a technicality when it comes to being a father. The love that I already have for Colin is beyond anything that I could have ever though possible. The weight of the responsibility of being the father to this young child is also beyond anything that could have ever thought possible.

For the first time, my fascination with Joseph has changed into a unique sense of kinship. All these years I've wondered how Joseph was able to be the father of Jesus, his adopted son. Now, so very soon, I am going to find out for myself.