Tag: joseph

 How did he do it?

How in the world did he do it?

Mary would’ve been about 15 years old when they were engaged. I can only imagine how beautiful she would’ve been. Imagine with the singular grace she received from God, never having sinned in her whole life. When Joseph laid eyes on her for the first time, I can’t imagine what he must’ve felt. Can you picture the sheer beauty that would be before his eyes?

Sometime during their engagement, Mary conceives Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Immediately following that moment, Mary goes to her cousin Elizabeth to take care of her during the later stages of her pregnancy. I can imagine that Joseph took Mary to Elizabeth to protect her along that journey. And while she was there for three months, he most likely returned home to work.

So he is working hard and anticipating marrying this beautiful girl. But when she returns three months later, she is noticeably pregnant. What could possibly be going through his mind? I can’t even imagine the anxiety, the questions, the doubt. 

He went from being on top of the world to distressed beyond belief. I like to think that he decided one night to pack up his things and just leave and travel to a far off place never to be heard from again so that Mary’s virtue would be protected.

How much did Joseph pray during those trouble moments? How many times he must’ve said to our Lord “what should I do?” 

And then, Joseph gives us perhaps the greatest example of trusting in God. In a dream, an angel tells Joseph to not be afraid, to take Mary into his home, and that the baby, Jesus, would be the savior of the world. And what does Joseph do? He trusted in God’s will and took Mary as his wife and raised Jesus as his son.

Each time we hear of Joseph in the Bible, he is undergoing some incredible test. When Mary is nine months pregnant, they must make the journey to Bethlehem. A very difficult thing to do. And then, upon arriving, having no place to stay. Joseph must’ve felt like a failure as a protector and provider, especially knowing who Jesus was. And then the humility it took to stay in a lowly stable. Could you imagine? 

When they presented Jesus to the temple to be circumcised. Simieon, the priest, fortold to Joseph and Mary that Jesus was the Christ and that in the end, Jesus would suffer, as would Mary, for the sake of the whole world. Can you imagine Joseph’s reaction. How that must have hurt his heart to hear that. Yet he persevered.

Soon after Joseph, because of another dream, would have to take Mary and the baby and flee in the middle of the night on an incredibly dangerous journey to Egypt to save Jesus’ life. I’m not sure if I had a dream that I would get up and undertake such an incredible difficult task. At the time, Egypt was a place where Jews were not liked. Joseph had to provide for his family in a strange place, probably without any tools. I just can’t imagine the stress he must’ve been under. Yet he persevered.

Maybe the one that gets me the most, because I can identify with the sheer vulnerability, is when while traveling from Jerusalem back to Nazareth, Jesus is separated from Joseph and Mary. They searched for Him for three days!!!! Can you even conceive of the stress, the prayers, the anxiety that Joseph must have felt. 

Joseph was one of us. And he gives us the greatest example of trusting in God’s plan. He had to abandon his will to trust in Gods. And God always gave him the strength to persevere, to protect, to nurture, to love, to be a great father. 

That’s how he did it.