Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
In case you didn’t know, did not see on Facebook or other social media outlets, or slept straight through the past few days, last Sunday was Father’s Day. (I will admit I was a day late on giving my dad the ‘Happy Father’s Day!’ call. In honor of Father’s Day I want to give a shout out to the non-biological fathers out there by talking about Joseph, the stepfather of Christ. Joseph played a very vital role in at least the early life of Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew starts out by listing Jesus’ genealogy. Guess who connects him to David? “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham…and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.” – Matthew 1:1…1:16 (NRSV) The promised Messiah was meant to fulfill the promise given to King David that someone from his lineage will establish the throne forever (2 Sam 7). Jesus fulfills that criterion, but only through his stepfather Joseph. Joseph also seeks to protect his new born stepson and wife. Herod, out of fear of being overthrown, ordered all newborn males to be slaughtered in and around Bethlehem. Thanks to an angel’s warning to Joseph, he flees with Mary and Jesus to Egypt where they stay until King Herod’s death. (Matt 2:12-18) Upon returning to Israel Joseph, with an angel’s prompt, chooses to go to Galilee to once again keep his family safe from the current ruler who might also want his stepson, Jesus, to die (Matthew 2:19-23) As father of the house Joseph would have also been in charge of providing for his family. How amazing that God would choose this carpenter for such a job. He was not able to show his stepson Jesus a life of luxury and palaces, but instead would probably only have him interacting with lower class people (the type of people whom Jesus seemed to teach and tend to the most). Being a stepdad is not an easy job. There are plenty of people who have made a bad name for all stepdads, but there have also been a lot of great ones in history and today. What I am willing to stake for certain is that Joseph was a loving and protective father to Jesus. Jesus’ biological Father could never be topped, but Joseph did what he had to in order to nurture and protect a child without his DNA. Here’s to the great fathers out there! Here’s to the great stepdads! God blessings be to all who seek to be a father figure to the young minds of today! Points to Ponder:
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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