The Great Man “Joseph” Is Slighted At Christmas: Why?

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I am speaking of one of the greatest of men (it would seem to me) Joseph the “Father” (Guardian) of Jesus Christ. So much is spoken of Mary at this time of year, songs such as this…(as well she deserves praise)

But what a great and humble man Joseph must have been for “God the Father” to entrust the care and education of his “only begotten” too.

Of the most “great men” I would like to meet in the heavens…he ranks very high. Why is so little written and spoken of him?

Here is is a live performance of the song linked above...

Edited December 22, 2011 by Bill “Papa” Lee

[Nathair/|\]

We do have this in our primary songbook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfgUUxP9O8Q

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

We do have this in our primary songbook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfgUUxP9O8Q

Well that is something.

[seriously honestly]

I am speaking of one of the greatest of men (it would seem to me) Joseph the “Father” (Guardian) of Jesus Christ. So much is spoken of Mary at this time of year, songs such as this…(as well she deserves praise)

But what a great and humble man Joseph must have been for “God the Father” to entrust the care and education of his “only begotten” too.

Of the most “great men” I would like to meet in the heavens…he ranks very high. Why is so little written and spoken of him?

Here is is a live performance of the song linked above...

There's a song written from Joshep's persective called Joshep's Lullaby by Mercyme. It's him talking to Jesus as a baby in the manger.

[Rivers]

When I first saw title of this thread, I thought you were asking why Joseph Smith is slighted at Christmas time. I'm glad I was wrong.

I think this song might answer your question:

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

There's a song written from Joshep's persective called Joshep's Lullaby by Mercyme. It's him talking to Jesus as a baby in the manger.

That is good, but I know of no man in history with as much influence as he had to have attending Synagogue with someone he took as his son and teaching him to work with his hands and all a father does...so forgotten.

[blueadept]

There's lots of celebrations of St. Joeseph in the RCC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph's_Day

I will admit though that he is remembered more in the Eastern Orthodox Church than he is in the western churches.

[zeez]

Mary is celebrated more than Joseph because Mary had a God growing inside her. This means Mary was touched by God in a more intimate way than Joseph was.

[Calm]

More is written about Mary, she has all the good lines. Joseph quickly disappears after Jesus' childhood so we don't have any interactions between him and Jesus as both adults.

[Stargazer]

More is written about Mary, she has all the good lines. Joseph quickly disappears after Jesus' childhood so we don't have any interactions between him and Jesus as both adults.

In a series of audios whose script was written by Orson Scott Card, Card posited in the dialogue that that Joseph had not lived to see Jesus in his ministry. This seems likely anyway. Life expectancy in those days was such that it would be no surprise that man's father would be long dead by the time he was 30. The age of 50 was not attained by many way back when. The disciples all knew Mary, as she was alive then. If Joseph had died before Jesus came into his ministry then he would have been known only as a legend.

[altersteve]

One of my favorite songs:

Absolutely beautiful, in my opinion.

Edited December 24, 2011 by altersteve

[LeSellers]

Life expectancy in those days was such that it would be no surprise that man's father would be long dead by the time he was 30. The age of 50 was not attained by many way back when.

You seem to be suffering form a common illusion.

"Life expectancy" is a meaningless phrase. However, most people use it to mean life expectancy at birth. And it is true that a neonate in 1820 or 1 bc could expect to live to age 30 or so, but that is because a huge percentage of his cohort would have died by age five by disease or injury (and even then, it was usually a resulting infection that killed, not the broken bone or missing finger).

If a child lived to age five, he was very likely to live to age 70 or eighty, but even then he still had to face the next obstacle: young adulthood (age 15~25) but he could reasonably expect to live even though injury due to the harsh life and unsafe conditions would claim many of his peers or complications of child birth for hers.

A very large percentage of parents in the ii or XVII would bury five or six out of eight or nine children in very small coffins. Peasants were no more likely than kings to do so. A man might bury three or four wives, and a wife two or three husbands.

However, if someone lived to age 30, his chances of seeing 70 were not a whole lot less than ours today, government medical care notwithstanding. His "life expectancy", at age 30, was ~70, and ours, at age 30, is ~77 (depending on how old you are right now). I'm approaching 64, so mine was somewhat lower three decades back than a thirty year old today. (Interestingly, my current life expectancy is higher than his because, having passed by all the possible things that have already killed my cohort, and left me standing, I can reasonably expect to life into my mid-to-late 80s.)

So, to say that life expectancy was severely less than ours today is misleading. It leads one to believe everyone died at age 45, which is manifestly not the case.

Lehi

Edited December 27, 2011 by LeSellers

[katherine the great]

I think Joseph is "slighted" because so little is written about him in scripture. I think it is assumed that he died sometime between Jesus teaching in the temple as a boy and the beginning of his ministry.

[blackstrap]

Let's see. Carpenter,sharp tools,unsanitary conditions,poor infection control. Yup, a recipe for a shortened life.

I think I read about the idea that the age difference between Joseph and Mary may have been considerable.

Edited December 27, 2011 by blackstrap

[Nominee]

When I first saw title of this thread, I thought you were asking why Joseph Smith is slighted at Christmas time. I'm glad I was wrong.

I think this song might answer your question:

I love the "Forgotten Carols" dvd! What a wonderful play, I do highly recommend.

[Nominee]

Mary is celebrated more than Joseph because Mary had a God growing inside her. This means Mary was touched by God in a more intimate way than Joseph was.

Mary would not have been capable of her task without the support and defense of Joseph. She would have been stoned on the spot.

[katherine the great]

Mary would not have been capable of her task without the support and defense of Joseph. She would have been stoned on the spot.

Not likely. Jews were not allowed to execute people under the Roman occupation (at least not without Roman permission.) This is why the Jewish authorities could not execute Jesus themselves.

Edited December 27, 2011 by katherine the great

[Nominee]

I love what Jeffery R. Holland has to say here about Joseph in a talk he gave in 1977 named "Maybe Christmas Doesn't Come From A Store."

As a father I have recently begun to think more often of Joseph, that strong, silent, almost unknown man who must have been more worthy than any other mortal man to be the guiding foster father of the living Son of God. It was Joseph selected from among all men who would teach Jesus to work. It was Joseph who taught him the books of the law. It was Joseph who, in the seclusion of the shop, helped him begin to understand who he was and ultimately what he was to become.

I was a student at BYU just finishing my first year of graduate work when our first child, a son, was born. We were very poor, though not so poor as Joseph and Mary. My wife and I were both going to school, both holding jobs, and in addition worked as head residents in an off-campus apartment complex to help defray our rent. We drove a little Volkswagen which had a half-dead battery because we couldn’t afford a new one (Volkswagen or battery).

Nevertheless, when I realized that our own night of nights was coming, I believe I would have done any honorable thing in this world, and mortgaged any future I had, to make sure my wife had the clean sheets, the sterile utensils, the attentive nurses, and the skilled doctors who brought forth our firstborn son. If she or that child had needed special care at the Mayo Clinic, I believe I would have ransomed my very life to get it.

I compare those feelings (which I have had with each succeeding child) with what Joseph must have felt as he moved through the streets of a city not his own, with not a friend or kinsman in sight, nor anyone willing to extend a helping hand. In these very last and most painful hours of her “confinement,” Mary had ridden or walked approximately 100 miles from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. Surely Joseph must have wept at her silent courage. Now, alone and unnoticed, they had to descend from human company to a stable, a grotto full of animals, there to bring forth the Son of God.

I wonder what emotions Joseph might have had as he cleared away the dung and debris. I wonder if he felt the sting of tears as he hurriedly tried to find the cleanest straw and hold the animals back. I wonder if he wondered: “Could there be a more unhealthy, a more disease-ridden, a more despicable circumstance in which a child could be born? Is this a place fit for a king? Should the mother of the Son of God be asked to enter the valley of the shadow of death in such a foul and unfamiliar place as this? Is it wrong to wish her some comfort? Is it right He should be born here?”

But I am certain Joseph did not mutter and Mary did not wail. They knew a great deal and did the best they could.

If you would like to read the talk in its entirety, here is the link.

[The Nehor]

It's hard to tell stories about someone we know virtually nothing about.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

It's hard to tell stories about someone we know virtually nothing about.

We know he had great courage, honor that he loved Christ very much when upon leaving him behind and 12 in Jerusalem by his reaction. We know that it would have been Joseph who would have been entrusted with Christ’s spiritual learning of the Torah and attendance at Synagogue. Also the fact that God chose him just as he did Mary to care for his only begotten…I think you know a lot.