Joseph is essentially the adopted father of Jesus. Even if there’s nothing else to say about Joseph, I think that would be enough that he was willing to take on that job.
There aren’t many places that we see Joseph directly in scripture. Actually, in most of the places we see his name, it's because it’s talking about how Jesus is in the family line of David because Joseph is his adopted dad, or it was someone talking about Jesus, and saying,
“he’s the son of Joseph.”
Joseph was Faithful
Luke 1:26-31
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
It’s obvious that Mary is the main character here, and Joseph feels more like an afterthought.
Luke 2:1-5
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Everyone would have assumed that Joseph and Mary slept together before marriage
, or that Mary cheated on Joseph.
Matthew 1:18-21
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 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.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Mary was an incredible woman and God used her in SUCH a powerful way. But, I think sometimes we downplay the part that Joseph had in this story. The fact that he stayed with her, shows his faith and his devotion to God.
Joseph was Consistent
Matthew 2:13-16
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod.
The angel says, “get up” and go. So they go. Joseph just did that God told him to do,
the moment that God told him to do it. Here we see Joseph radically leading his family and serving his wife and child.
Matthew 2:19-20
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
Matthew 2:21-23
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
God worked through Joseph to keep Jesus alive through his consistency to do whatever God said as soon as He said it.
Joseph was Secure
We don’t really know how secure or insecure Joseph was, but we can imagine that in order to lead at the level that he did, and parent Jesus, he’d have to be pretty secure and humble.
In Luke 2, Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord and they run into a guy named Simeon.
Luke 2:25, 34-35
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
…
34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Joseph was often just around to watch what was happening, and you never see him fighting for more attention. Sometimes, Joseph’s very existence was used to put a stain on the record of Jesus.
In John 6, Jesus feeds the 5000, walks on water and teaches a large crowd about the Gospel.
John 6:35
I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
The people Jesus was speaking to then responded:
John 6:41-42
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
Can you imagine being Joseph in that situation? The main reason these people say He can’t possibly be legit is because he's “the son of Joseph."
All we see out of Joseph is his faithfulness, his consistency, and his security in giving Mary and Jesus everything they needed.
