Pastor Walt is traveling, please enjoy this timely and timeless message from June 2019:

Just Like Us
 
There are many days during which I discover something new about Jesus. It is amazing to me that the youthful version of me thought that there would be a limit to that discovery. That happened to me again today.
 
The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way that all humans are and yet was without sin. (see Heb. 4:15) It’s easy to think of this as the kind of temptation that draws me to failures of spiritual practice. But what about the faith struggles caused by loss. In Jesus’ ministry, we know that he felt the pain of rejection, betrayal, and even the death of a good friend.
 
But I had never realized that Jesus lost His earthly father early enough that Joseph is not even mentioned after Jesus’ twelfth year.
 
It had not occurred to me that Jesus lost a parent while he was still quite young. Sometime after he was twelve and before he was thirty. Jesus learned the carpenter’s trade; His father lived long enough to be known in the village years later, he had other children with Mary but that’s about all we know.
 
Joseph died when Jesus was likely in His twenties. I wonder what kind of doubt the growing knowledge of His messianic role and the death of His earthly father brought to Jesus? Was Jesus tempted to doubt God’s watchfulness in that loss? Did he wonder why God did not answer the prayers for Joseph’s recovery? Did He seek to heal his father?
 
The struggle for Jesus may have been stronger than ours because of His knowledge of His divine/human nature. Powerlessness is a tough pill to swallow.
 
We have had a number of losses lately in our church. We have experienced the passing of several in our church family. Perhaps that is why God reminded me today that Jesus really knows our sorrows, and really suffered the pains and losses of humanity. He knew hunger, temptation, heartbreak, and joy as a human. And He stands as our advocate today sending the comforter to walk this sin potholed road at our side.
 
Thank you, Jesus, for acquainting yourself with sorrows and grief for us.
 
Gracepoint you are in my prayers and His hands.
 
Walt
 
Epilogue: The average life expectancy of the first-century male was about 40; Joseph is not mentioned at the wedding feast at Canna a village very near to Nazareth; Joseph does not take charge of Jesus’ body at the cross which would have been in keeping with Jewish norms, and Jesus asks John to take care of his mother. For all these reasons, most scholars agree that Joseph passed away before Jesus’ ministry started.