Joseph Father and Husband

Merry Christmas to you all. Thank you for reading these little missives over the year.

Christmas is a very special time of year for me and as usual, I am reflecting on Mary and Jesus. But this year God has prompted me to reflect on Joseph, too.

Joseph Father

He gets to be part of the manger but not much more. The fact is he is so much more. He is truly the first “defender of the faith.”

I suppose I am thinking about him because a woman was recently executed for the sole reason of her beliefs. No, she was not a Christian. In fact I believe that her beliefs were simply misguided and false.

Joseph Husband

But I like to think that folks around Mary thought she was also misguided and deluded, or deceptive and sinful. Joseph, however, at the prompting of an angel, did not stone Mary to death; he protected her.

It is one of the most beautiful tenets of my faith. Perfect religion is to care for widows and orphans and I might add unwed mothers and helpless or misguided women.

There was a time when prostitutes or women who had been seduced by a man were stoned to death. Mary easily fell into that category by the standards of her society.

But, Joseph listened to the Angel of God and did the right thing. In parts of today’s world Mary could be executed because she brought shame on her family. I like to think that if I lived in the country where the woman was recently executed for her ill-begotten beliefs, I would have done something to help her. But I don’t know.

I get angry that there was no Joseph for her. Then I ask, where were her own sisters? Where were the other women of her community and country? How can women just stand by and do nothing while a woman is executed for her beliefs. Remind me again what century this is.

Where are the women of the world who espouse beliefs about the sanctity of life…just not her life? We have all watched as women of Afghanistan have been summarily executed and even in our own towns we have seen relatives attack and abuse women with impunity.

When will we care enough to stand shoulder to shoulder and tell the world that “No longer can you kill women solely because of your beliefs?” Women who walk in freedom have a responsibility to defend our sisters around the globe and in our own back yards.

What will it take? When will we move from our stunned passivity to action? This is not the purview of a particular political party. Politics should not enter into the discussion. This is the responsibility of every free woman on the planet.

So, as I reflect on the courage of one man, Joseph, to stand against the teachings of his community and to defend his woman, I wonder, “Where were all her sisters?”

It is no wonder that Jesus knelt down in the dirt to defend a helpless sinful woman some 30 years later. Defense of the weak, helpless and even sinful women is a legacy Christ left us. No wonder, he grew up in a home that had experienced that grace!

Thank you Joseph and thank you Jesus. Also, thank you all you brave and wonderful husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons who have willing set aside your own needs and sometimes your own lives to defend your women.

We may not be able to say it but in our hearts we know that you have done what we are seemingly unable to do for ourselves. We still need Joseph. And perhaps that is the most important message of all.

Will you be Joseph in someone’s life today?

Merry Christmas,

Brenda Standlee
www.americanprudential.com