This Good Man, Joseph

And so now comes Father's Day and I think of Joseph. This loyal man who blunted the sneers visited on Mary, this brave father who taught his own manhood as shadow example and earned the daily bread for the Son of the Father; what humble courage to embrace the adopted son and keep the Saviour safe, to hold faith with the messanger, abandoning his home to save the baby son -- the seedling life of the living Vine. What a blessing to all humanity that this father, this often overlooked carpenter who now and then is mentioned in a history or as a figurine, in vignette or a nativity, is the father that loved the Son. How blessed was he for all time,not only for the swaddling cloth, but for the cloth of honest humanity that protectively he spread and knotted safe inside the visage of his workman's brow: The daily cares of family fell from the eyes of the skilled craftsman as his storied hands built the home where Jesus lived. Certainly tendered by the touch and yet as certain Joseph's calloused hands were blessed, fingers that had the kingly honor to trace the first smiles across His face, to hold the baby Son of God -- Joseph's little boy who is our great I Am.