Today we start the New Testament and boy am I excited. The New Testament contains the only record we have of the Saviors life when He was on the earth. It is a very sacred record, as all are the scriptures but there is just something about the 4 Gospels. I really debated on whether or not to read the synoptic Gospels, namely Matthew, Mark and Luke together, reading the chapters that deal with the same parables and teachings all at once or just do a straight read through. I finally decided to just do a straight read through because each of these Gospels were written to different audiences.
Matthew was one of the Lord's Apostles and was a publican, or tax collector, before his calling. He is writing to the Jews to show that Jesus is indeed the prophesied Christ. Now, I want to let everyone know up front that I will be reading the standard King James version of the Bible, but I will be using the Joseph Smith footnotes in the LDS version of the King James Bible. The first thing that Matthew does is give the genealogy of Joseph, the step-father of Jesus here on the earth. This is important, especially to the Jews as we will find out through our reading, but genealogy is everything to the Jews, especially the Pharisees. They are constantly telling Jesus that they are the sons of Abraham. Well, so is Jesus, and not only that, but He is the direct descendant, or would be if He were Joseph's son, of King David and Solomon. This is important because this means that if the Romans were not in control, Joseph would have been the King of the Jews.
Now, there is not a lot specifically explained about Joseph in the scriptures, but there is a LOT we can infer from what is told us. We know he is a humble and kind-hearted man. In the Jewish culture, if a man, even just an engaged man, found out his wife or intended were cheating, as Joseph surely thought at first, actually had the right to put that woman in prison and make a public spectacle of her. However, that is not what Joseph wanted to do. He truly loved Mary and despite what must have felt like a betrayal, he still did not wish to ruin her life. Rather he wanted to just quietly call off the engagement and go on his way. This one simple act tells us all we need to know about Joseph.
Now, it is no surprise to me that Jesus would pick someone like Joseph to be his step-father, and be thought of as his true father while here on the earth. Since Jesus knew He would be thought of as whoever was His step-father, it makes total sense that He would choose someone humble and possessing of the qualities that would make Jesus proud to be thought of as that man's son. We know Joseph was a hard working man, because Jesus had several half brothers and sisters and only a hard working man could provide enough for a large family in those days without being a farmer.
We also know he was a God fearing man and a man who understood the scriptures. When the angel appeared to him in the dream, he obeyed without question, as far as we know of course. We know that he accepted Jesus and treated him as his own even though he knew where He had come from. We know he loved God and desired to do that which is right in His sight. Not to be crass, but how hard would it have been to get married and not have sex with your spouse for about 7-9 months because she is pregnant with a child which is not yours? I know for me that would be very hard, even knowing that it was a child conceived beyond my comprehension and it was Heavenly Father's child, it would still be a challenge. Yet this is exactly what happened according to the scriptures.
Truly Joseph was an amazing man and we would expect no less from the man who was handpicked to be the Savior's step-father. It is too bad we don't have more information than we do concerning Jesus' earthly parents. They were truly chosen and an incredible man and woman, but we'll learn more about Mary in Luke chapter 2 in a couple of months from now. Until tomorrow.
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