Joseph is probably one of the most awkwardly and reluctantly blessed men in the world.
No I’m not talking about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I’m talking about the man in those nativity scenes that always seems to be awkwardly standing beside Mary. In the Scriptures, while he was prominent at the beginning of Jesus’ life, he surprisingly fades away from the narrative as Jesus gets older. This doesn’t mean he was absent. It just means that we don’t know much about him.
One of the things that we do know about Joseph is that he was Jesus’ dad.
Just think about the implications of that for a moment. How would Jesus have been different if Joseph didn’t raise him as his son? What if Joseph left? What if he did actually divorce Mary in secret (Matt 1:19)? What if Jesus grew up fatherless? Or if another man entered the scene? Would Jesus have been different?
Recently, my wife and I have been watching a show called, Designated Survivor. It’s about a low-level cabinet minister that becomes President of the United States after a catastrophic attack destroys the capitol building and the government’s leadership infrastructure.
In a recent episode, there’s this scene where a news reporter asks the President’s son what he thinks about the fact that his dad might not actually be his real dad. Now just imagine how you would feel if someone dropped a bomb like that on you.
In one of the following scenes, while the son is watching TV trying to soak in what he’s going to do, Mike, the secret service agent assigned to him says,
You know, my dad’s called me everyday since I joined the secret service, just to make sure I’m staying safe.
The son responds,
Mike I…I know what you’re doing…You’re trying to tell me, no matter what, my dad cares.
Mike then says,
No I’m telling you about my dad. He taught me how to hoop and how to talk to girls. He pretty much made me who I am today. The funny thing is, I didn’t know him till I was three. That’s when my mom married him. I never met my biological father. Those tests—they tell you biology…but they don’t tell you who your dad is.
So yes, while Jesus is the Savior of the world, our messiah, the prophesied one, and the one who destroyed sin and death—Jesus, while being fully God, was also fully man. And because he was fully man—and had a mom, dad, and siblings—we can’t neglect the crucial role that his family had on him.
In other words, Jesus was shaped by his earthly dad.
When Joseph stuck with Mary and cared for his “adopted” son, this shaped Jesus. When Joseph brought Mary to Bethlehem, this shaped Jesus. And when Joseph listened to the angel that told him to get up and flee to Egypt since Herod was planning on destroying him, this shaped Jesus.
It wasn’t going to automatically happen. They weren’t going to be teleported to Egypt. Joseph had to get up, pack the caravan (the one with wood paneling on the side), chart the course, and bring his wife and his newborn son to Egypt.
Let alone the fact that they got up THAT NIGHT! Just imagine packing and moving within a moment’s notice?
So what does this have to do with being a reluctant leader?
While there are some areas in your life where you might have the title “leader,” there are many more where you are seen as a leader. These are the areas in our lives where, unfortunately, many of us are most reluctant to grab hold of our leadership responsibilities.
I’m primarily talking about the home. And in this article specifically, to parents. In other words, if you’re a parent, you’re a leader. So don’t neglect your children.
Your children are watching you:
- They’re watching the way you get home from work
- They’re watching the way you sometimes choose to be on your phone over interacting with them
- They’re watching the way you connect or don’t connect with your neighbors
- They’re watching whether or not you’re choosing to join together with the family of God and worship on a weekly basis, regardless of whether or not you want to
- They’re watching whether or not you’re in biblical community with others
- They’re watching whether or not you’re serving on a regular basis
- They’re watching if you’re making reading the Scriptures a priority in your life or not
I know this may sound harsh, but trust me, I’ve had to preach this to myself first. So this is more of a confession than it is anything else.
Since parenting is often caught more than taught, let’s stop leading passively and reluctantly towards an end that we don’t even want. Let’s together stop being reluctant leaders.
After all, just like Joseph’s actions shaped Jesus, the same is true for you. Your actions are shaping your children.