Father's Day

Sunday is Father's Day and on Saturday I'm going to see a daughter I haven't seen since she was two years old. Now she has two children of her own. I've six children and seven grandchildren - only two of whom have ever met me. By all rights, I haven't been the kind of father you see depicted on a Norman Rockwell painting. I tried to do right by my youngest daughter, but it's been a tough and shameful road.

As I think about the ideal human father, I'm drawn to Joseph, the father of Jesus. He married a woman in spite of the shame her presumed infidelity brought upon him. He loved her and protected her and her son from those who would kill them. Joseph took his family to another country to protect them from Herod and he took a child that wasn't his as a son and brought Him up as his own. Joseph didn't own much, but what he had, he shared with Jesus. He taught him a skill that provided a profession for the young man. Apparently, Joseph made sure that Jesus was schooled because Jesus' knowledge and insight impressed scholars, even at a young age. Probably, Joseph talked to Jesus about responsibility for himself and for his mother and siblings.

We don't know what happened to Joseph - how long he was around, how he died, etc. But we do know the character of the son he raised. While Jesus was fully God, he was also fully human. He learned how to walk, then talk, then to use both hammer and scripture with purpose. Before Jesus died, He charged John to care for his mother, probably just as Joseph charged Him to care for her before he died.

Joseph was not well-known. Although his wife is revered today, Joseph is mostly forgotten. All we know about him is that he did the right things, never seeking a reputation for himself. Joseph's legacy however is the Savior of the whole world. Not bad for a poor carpenter from Bethany.

I've fathered some great kids. Although I wasn't around much in their lives, they are still my legacy and I'm very proud of them.