ChristmasReading2022A - Flipbook - Page 46
DAY Twenty-Two: December 19 - Monday
Joseph
…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream… Ma hew 1:20-21
…an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Ma hew 2:13
We do not know a lot about Joseph.
What li le we know would be absent
from the pages of the Bible except
that he was chosen by God to be the
earthly father of God’s Son, Jesus. He
would have been just another
unknown descendant of David.
The informa on gaps have spawned
specula ons about him. The
Protoevangelium of James (145 AD)
and the History of Joseph the
Carpenter (late sixth century?) state
that Joseph was a widower who had
several other children. We are not
told that Jesus had step-siblings in
the Bible. All we know is that he was
a carpenter by trade in a village
located on the backside of nowhere
during the rough days of Roman
occupa on.
“It is the
spirituality of
Joseph,
beautifully
mingling with the
hardships he
faced that make
his story one of
hope.”
-Acher Niyonnizigiye
But, he possessed an extraordinary spirituality, or be er put, it
possessed him. It was a spirituality that opened him to the possibility
of an unexpected life. When he discovers that Mary is pregnant, he
knows her future. And yet, he does not cast her out of his heart.
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Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not
want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her
quietly. Ma hew 1:19