Hold Fast to Hope- Hebrews10:23
What an enormous blow it must have been for Joseph to find that Mary, his young, beautiful, innocent fiancé was as the Scriptures write, with child. Consider his preparation, his anticipation, his hopes and plans of what was to be for him and Mary. Then those dreams of marriage and a life together were shattered, inexplicably, by betrayal that he would never have thought of Mary. Yet the evidence painfully was there and so now he must quietly end their bond and release his dream.
Yet as he slept, an angel appeared to him and replaced the hope that he thought was ruined with a new hope, a new reality where he would be the guardian step father of a baby that he would name. What a privilege to name someone. Joseph would watch over Mary, protect her and the baby, that the angel said, “You should name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Question: What do we know about Joseph, who was engaged to Mary?
Answer: We know that Joseph was a carpenter because Jesus is described as a son of a carpenter in the books of Matthew and Mark. Some experts believe that as a carpenter Joseph was a craftsman that designed and built tools and also worked with masonry and stone. The last that Joseph appears in the life of Jesus was when Jesus was 12 and the family went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
