© Illustration by Michael Woodruff
Bible Personalities: Joseph & Mary
Only a small portion of the New Testament describes Christ's parents' Joseph, His stepfather, and Mary, His mother. Yet the New Testament details about their lives enhance our understanding of these two highly honored parents.
Joseph was a carpenter. The Greek word is tekton, which was used of a versatile and skilled builder or craftsman who worked with various building materials including wood and stone. Jesus, having learned the trade from Joseph, later used references based on His experiences at Joseph's side to explain man's relationship to God and His coming kingdom.
Some months after Joseph's betrothal to Mary, he discovered she was pregnant. Joseph naturally assumed Mary had been unfaithful to him, but Joseph's subsequent actions tell us much about his character and nature. After he had been informed of the truth by an angel (Matthew 1:18-25), he treated Mary kindly. “On being summoned to Bethlehem by the requirements of the census, he would not leave her at home to suffer the slanders of misjudging neighbors, but took her with him and treated her very gently in her time of need” (Hastings, p. 529).
Joseph never appears in the Gospel account after the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41-51). Since Mary subsequently always appears alone in the narratives of Christ's public ministry, it is reasonable to conclude that he had already died.
God had entrusted Joseph and Mary with the enormous responsibility and blessing of overseeing the childhood of His very own Son. Read more about this remarkable couple at:
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