Joseph Dear, O Joseph Mine

Photo Courtesy of Internet Search - The Nativity

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to

Joseph in a dream.  “Get up,” he said, “take the child and

His mother and escape to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, for

Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Matthew 2:13

My father and mother had been together for well over 60 years when Mom’s Alzheimer’s completely robbed her of her memory.  In the 69th year of their union, it became obvious that my father could no longer care for her – even with the wonderful help of hospice.  In January of their 70^th year, we moved Mom to a small private care home.  As the wheelchair rolled out the front door of our family home, my father slowly began to die.  Without his life-long companion and his work of taking care of her, he had no more reason to live, and passed away five weeks later.  My parents had been married 69 years, 1 month, and 27 days.

It appears from Scripture that Jesus did not have his earthly father with him for anywhere near that time.  We know that Joseph was there to take his son to Egypt and return him again to Nazareth.  He was an active participant for the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old [Luke 2:41-51], and Scripture records that at the end of that journey, “…He went down to Nazareth with them [his parents] and was obedient to them.”  After that reference, the record is silent about Joseph, until some grumbling Jews inquired, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?”  [John 6:42a]  This incident happened at the beginning of Christ’s ministry, and is the last reference to his stepfather.  Joseph definitely was not alive at the time of the crucifixion, for Jesus gave his mother Mary into the care of the disciple John [John 19:25-27].

It will be seven years this coming February since my father passed away, and I have thought of Dad and missed him every single day.  Because familial ties are some of the strongest emotions on earth, I think that it is reasonable to believe that Jesus thought fondly of the man who raised him after his passing.  At the resurrection, I will be reunited with my precious Clancy, and Jesus will have Joseph with Him again.