All that we know of Joseph we learn from the first two chapters of Matthew and of Luke. Otherwise he is mentioned only in passing in Luke 3:23; John 1:45; John 6:42 as the supposed father of Jesus. In the face of circumstances where a man of lesser character might have reacted very differently, Joseph graciously assumed the role of Jesus’ father. He is well remembered in Christian tradition for the love he showed to the boy Jesus, and for his tender affection and care for Mary, during the twelve years and more that he was their protector. Joseph was a pious Jew, a descendant of David, and a carpenter by trade. The Gospels use the Greek word tekton, which means “builder,” as in “architect” and he may have been a mason or a metalworker, or what we might think of as a building contractor. In favor of the traditional translation Justin Martyr, who was born in Palestine around 100, wrote that he has seen plows and ox-yokes still in use which were said to have been made in the carpenter-shop at Nazareth. In the past claims like this were too quickly and superficially dismissed, but they are at the very least testimony to what the Christians of Palestine in the early second century believed that Joseph’s occupation had been. Because of the silence of the Gospels, and because Jesus entrusted Mary to the care of John, it is generally believed that Joseph died a natural death after the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve (Luke 2:41-51), but before the Baptism of Jesus when He was thirty. Joseph’s influence during those early years must have been wholesome indeed. When Jesus spoke of God as being like a loving Father, He was using a word that he had first learned as a child to apply to Joseph. Joseph stands as a testimony to the value of simple everyday human things, and especially that human thing called “fatherhood.”