Joseph the Stepdad

In the Christmas story, Joseph plays an interesting role. Certainly not an easy one (although, arguably, none of the roles are "easy"). Some discussion on facebook got me thinking about one of my favorite songs by Wyclef Jean, Baby Daddy. It's from his album The Preacher's Son, also a favorite.



The refrain:
I'm not that baby's daddy
treat him like he's my own
but, sometimes I sit and wonder
how can I father another man's son?
when the argument breaks in the pad
Shorty wanna scream I ain't his real dad now
I may not be your father, but I'm the closest thing to him

***

"Didn't you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49, CEB) says twelve year old Jesus to his frantically worried parents who have been searching for him for three days.

I can imagine that Joseph would have known something the tension of the step-parent relationship. We celebrate in Advent that Joseph said "I'm going to treat him like he's mine."