Day Seven: Joseph

Talk about a tough situation.

Your fiance is mysteriously pregnant.  You're tasked to be step-father to the Divine.  Angels are showing up in your dreams.  You become a refugee.

Challenging.

As I write this, I want to praise the faithfulness of Joseph.  His moral uprightness.  His obedience.

And while these descriptions seem apt, in reality, the Bible gives very little additional information about Joseph.

He's a relative of David.  He was upright.  He was a carpenter/stonemason.

And that's about it.

I honestly intended to write about Joseph, but I don't have much to work with.

Which makes sense, I guess.  Because this isn't a story about Joseph.  This isn't a story about his ethical victory or moral stamina.

Just like this moment in 2012 isn't about Marc Nettleton.  It isn't a story about his ministry fruitfulness, his essential decisions, or his current mindset.

It is a greater story.  A story in which Joseph becomes smaller and smaller and smaller, yet as he shrinks, he somehow becomes more significant.  As his character, identity, and accomplishments diminish, the more clearly his central life event stands out: He was with Jesus.

To a level few ever would, Joseph experienced the presence of Jesus.

In my Bible, Joseph is quite anonymous, but he watched Jesus grow and walk and talk and live.  He knew him distinctly, specifically, and continuously.  This is of most importance.

Oh, that I would diminish, that I would fade to insignificance, that my publicity would end, so that he might be greater.