An excerpt from my recently-released book, ‘The Holocaust of Triggerization.”

Although this is really a Christmas story, this story has application YEAR-ROUND…

This is one of MY favorite Christmas stories, and I’ve only heard it spoken by one preacher, in the 40 plus years that I’ve attended church of any type. Joseph is the perfect metaphor for the type of man that we need in the African-American community today, as his story with Mary, the mother of Jesus, is quite comparable and compatible to many of our family situations today.

In the story about the arrival of Jesus upon the earth, as recorded in the Bible, it seems that most of the accolades and attention are showered upon Mary, and of course, the baby Jesus.

Even the Magi get more ‘airtime’ than Joseph, whose quiet, unassuming role was CRITICAL to the well-being of the Messiah during His childhood.

As with much of life, we seem to romanticize the parts we want to remember, and discard the gritty, necessary details. In the case of Joseph’s story, this is a mistake that we want to rectify ASAP.

Just as it is now, during this time in our nation, the ‘good guys’ don’t receive enough in the way of accolades or attention.

Joseph was living life just fine, thank you very much, working his business, and engaged to this beautiful young lady – Mary – before his discovery of his wife-to-be’s immaculate conception – talk about rocking somebody’s world!

Keep in mind, during that time, it was not a flippant, nor a cavalier thing to conceive a child out-of-wedlock. People did not celebrate the birth of that child with a baby shower, nor did unwed mothers walk around proud as a peacock with their stomachs stuck out in the dusty streets of Israel…

Joseph’s entire life AND reputation were irrevocably altered because of his decision to proceed with the marriage of Mary – AFTER he found out that she was pregnant, and he knew that there was NO WAY that he could be the father of the child in her womb, as he did not have sex with her prior to their marriage.

Joseph’s bedrock of character is glimpsed, even prior to the angelic visitation, as he thought it best to ‘put away Mary privately’…

But, when Joseph had a visitation from the Lord in a dream, that he should proceed with marrying Mary, he did. By an act of Caesar Augustus, of calling every man to his home town, to be taxed, it was fortuitous that Joseph and Mary were called away to Bethlehem, where Jesus ended up being born… This gave the couple a temporary respite from the cackling mouths of their friends and family in Nazareth…

Nevertheless, Joseph faced social ridicule from his peers, who felt he could’ve done MUCH better than marry a ‘dirty’ Mary…

Joseph faced lifelong questions and looks of condescending pity from others, as many of his friends did not believe that Jesus was born of supernatural circumstances, no matter how much of a model child that He was.

Joseph faced the real possibility of financial loss because of his family’s tarnished reputation – well, he did until God compensated Joseph, as the Magi blessed the family with GOLD, frankincense, and myrhh…

But, as much as some of us want to ascribe divine characteristics to Mary (and the Catholic Church has) for being the human vessel that brought the Savior into the world, we also need to remember that God entrusted Joseph with the tremendous, weighty responsibility of raising Jesus, the Son of Man to maturity and manhood.

We seem to forget, or not realize, that Joseph married into a ready-made family- which made him the step-father to the Son of God…

So, Joseph went about his business (his vocation), and his work (his family) in a diligent fashion, handling the affairs of his life with a quiet dignity, while raising his so-called bastard son – are you shocked at that statement? Many of you have romanticized the story about the birth and childhood of Jesus to the point of not seeing what His earthly family dynamics were REALLY all about…

One of the solutions for our communities is that we need more men that are willing to take it on the chin, so to speak, to marry women with so-called ready-made families. To marry women that have been abandoned and left desolate by other men.

This will need to be the case until the African-American out-of-wedlock birth rate drops well below the 71 percent it hovers around now…

To be willing to take on the challenge, the opportunity, and the eventual blessing…

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