Devotional 12-19-13

Just Joe

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.  Matthew 1:19

I was the church lay leader in 2004 when Rev. Joseph Shreve was appointed senior pastor of Johnson Memorial.  He and Vicky moved into the parsonage a day earlier than we expected.  I went over to welcome them and to see if they needed anything that evening; the moving van would not arrive until the next day.  During our brief conversation, I asked Rev. Shreve what he wanted the congregation to call him: Rev. Shreve?  Dr. Shreve?  Pastor Joe?

“Just Joe,” was the reply.  So of course, when I introduced Rev. Shreve during the time of announcements the following Sunday, I called him “Just Joe.”  The name stuck for a while among some of the church comedians. Namely, me.

Our scripture lesson today is about another “Just Joe.”  We know very little from the gospels about Joseph, but in Matthew’s introduction, we learn that he is “just.”  What does “just” mean?  As an adverb, it can mean “simply” as in “Just call me Joe;” it can mean “barely” as in “I turned my devotion in just in time;” or it can mean “precisely,” as in “the trombone sounded just right.”  As an adjective, however, “just” is more closely related to the Latin original justus, which meant “lawful” or “right.”  This, of course, is what Matthew means when he refers to Joseph as “just.”  In fact, other translations call Joseph a “righteous man.”

It is this quality of being just or righteous that moves Joseph to act compassionately toward Mary.  We know the birth stories so well that we sometimes forget the shock and hurt Joseph must have experienced upon learning that she was pregnant.  The law permitted, perhaps even required that Mary should be put to death.  Joseph, because he was just, resolved to handle it quietly and preserve her life.

I regret that we do not know more about Joseph.  I like to imagine that as a boy, Jesus was formed, informed, and influenced by Joseph.  I think of my relationship with my own father and wonder if Jesus had a similar relationship with Joseph that might have provided the image for God as father.  Maybe Jesus spent time in Joseph’s shop and learned the trade of carpentry, among other things.  Jesus might have found in Joseph an example of compassion and in looking out for others.  Perhaps Joseph taught Jesus how to treat others with caring and compassion.  

Of course, when an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream to explain the circumstances of the pregnancy, and the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah that “the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel,” we discover more evidence of Joseph’s justness.  “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him…”  Matthew 1:24.  This lesson in obedience to God’s will might have proven to be the most important, and challenging example that Jesus would recall near the end of his own life.

Jeff Taylor