I’ve been thinking about Joseph lately. Joseph is the husband of Mary and the stepfather of Jesus, who never speaks a word anywhere in Scripture. We don’t know much about him except that “he was a righteous man.” We could also use more like him in our world today.

Matthew 1:18-25, talks about how the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph to let him know that everything was going to be alright. After all, Joseph was as surprised as anyone when he found the woman to whom he was betrothed was with a child. Being a righteous man we know that he would not have broken any of the religious laws at the time and had relations with Mary before they were married. He could only assume someone else had gotten her that way since she was pregnant. We all know it takes two to tango as the old saying goes.

So here is Joseph, perplexed but knowing he needs to do the right thing and divorce her quietly. He didn’t want to expose her to shame, he just wanted to sweep everything under the rug. I am not sure how often that happens today. What more than likely would happen would be either:

1. Joseph would have denied that the baby was his (which technically, he was right) and made sure everyone knew through various social media outlets.
2. Talked trash about Mary.
3. Talked Mary into having an abortion.
4. Left town.

Joseph didn’t disappear. He didn’t run away. He didn’t ask the Roman government for help. He didn’t treat Mary with disrespect. He accepted all that came his way as a man. He worked harder to provide for Mary and Jesus. He became a real dad.

You know Joseph had to have been a great man. How many fathers today, even though they accepted what the angel of the Lord said, would truly accept Jesus as their son? I can picture it now, every time Jesus misbehaved Joseph would say to Mary, “You handle it, he’s not my kid.” We know Joseph wasn’t like that. He accepted Jesus, raised him as his own, and look how that all turned out.

We need more fathers like Joseph today. Fathers who will take the responsibility to raise their children correctly. Even if they find they are not their own, they still take ownership of them. They don’t become someone else’s problem, they are theirs.

Where are the Dads today?

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), Mt 1:18–21.