Joseph (I Was Not His Father, He Was Mine)

Song: Joseph (I Was Not His Father, He Was Mine)

Artist: Michael McLean's The Forgotten Carols

 

I really love this sweet and tender song. Joseph was a wonderful man who truly loved his wife Mary and Jesus. He was their protector while Jesus was young. He got them away from a wicked king who would have had the baby killed. (Matthew 2:13-14, 19-23). Although Joseph knew he was never truly Jesus' father, he loved him as his own. I believe Joseph was a valiant, faithful, humble, kind and loving man who was the perfect "father-figure" for the Savior while he was growing up.

 

I love how this song shows this tender side of Joseph and his humble love to his Savior.

 

 

He was working late one evening
With the wood he knew so well
When she thought
she recognized him
Though at first,
She couldn't tell

As she humbly begged his pardon
A strange sadness swelled inside
When she asked,
"aren't you the father,
 of the man they crucified?"
Then the carpenter repeated
What he'd said so many times
He said, "I was not His father,
He was mine."

Then he humbly went on working
With his worn
and calloused hands
Though she did not ask
more questions
He knew she didn't understand.

So he asked if she would help him
He saw her answer
in a glance
And she did all the chores
he asked her
And she was grateful for the chance.
Then they talked for hours of Jesus
And how he knew He was divine He said "I was not His father,
He was mine.
How could one
So foolish and so flawed
Ever hope to raise
the Son of God?"

Then he spoke
of the misgivings
That he had had
a thousand times
And how Jesus found
the tender moments
To let him know
He'd done just fine

Then the carpenter recited
The greatest truths
he'd ever learned
And testified
they came form Jesus
And then her heart
within her burned

 Then they embraced as she departed,
And Joseph told her one more time,
"Tell them I was not His father
Tell them He was mine.
No, I was not His father,
He was mine."