The Forgotten Man - Jospeh

All the attention is given to Mary the Mother of Christ, but what about Joseph?

Joseph had as much to do with raising Jesus as Mary and maybe even more. 

After the bar mitzvah the Jewish boy became the responsibility of the father. That is how Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem. Jesus got separated from his parents after his bar mitzvah and they started home. Going he would have traveled with His mother and returning it would have been the custom for Him to travel with his father. Each parent probably thought Jesus was with the other. 

There is not much said of Joseph in scripture. He is only mentioned by name about 17 times. The preachers do not mention Joseph much and do not preach sermons on Joseph. Sometimes he is mentioned on Father's Day.

I know my denomination teaches there were no other children than Jesus, but I personally do not believe that teaching is correct. I do not accept the doctrine that my denomination uses to explain away the reference in the Bible of Jesus siblings in order support the doctrine of Perpetual Virginity.

We do not know much about Joseph, but we do know he was a carpenter and trained Jesus to be a carpenter. We do know he was an honorable man. He married Mary in spite of the pregnancy.

We can use our imagination and assume since Joseph was a carpenter (craftsman) he would have been creative, patient, dedicated, disciplined, took pride in what he did, quite and humble. I say humble because God always chose the humble for great things in scripture. Scripture makes clear God always looks into a mans heart when judging him.

Joseph did not build houses because he worked with wood and houses were not made of wood in Israel. He made furniture, doors, shutters, etc. requiring great skill and dedication to perfection.

I would also assume Jesus had a good relationship with Joseph and called him daddy, since Jesus called His Heavenly Father Abba meaning daddy.

Yes, I would say Joseph was a good father and a good man all together. Jesus had a good role model on earth.

We can learn much from Joseph, especially daddies. If we do perhaps 26 percent of young men that were surveyed in the U.S. in 2016 when ask next year about their relationship with their father’s will not say they have a bad relationship with their father's.

What have we all done (mothers, daddies, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles) to be good role models to children and young people today? We need to model our faith in order to pass it on to the next generation. We need to demonstrate love of God, others and self.

You would be surprised how many men and women avoid a relationship with God the Father because they had a bad experience with their earthly father.