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A Carpenter Called Joseph
Joseph was an unlikely choice to be the earthly father of Jesus. There was nothing about him on the surface that would have prompted any of us to consider him worthy. And yet, no other man in history has been charged with the tremendous responsibility he was given. He wasn’t randomly chosen by God. He wasn’t chosen simply because he and Mary were engaged to be married. He was, most definitely, not an after-thought or a footnote. He and Mary were betrothed because God had chosen them both and ordered their steps accordingly … from before the beginning of time. God had been at work in Joseph’s life long before he ever knew the events that would unfold in his life. God carefully molded and shaped Joseph into the man to whom He could entrust this special assignment. Through this novella, you’ll discover the heart and character of the carpenter God called to raise His Son.
- GenresChristian Fiction
192 pages, Paperback
Published October 22, 2021
177 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 28, 2022
I really enjoyed this novella imagining what it would have been like for Joseph to experience his role as Jesus’s earthly father. The author does a very thorough job of identifying which characters are fictional, as well as the extent to which he fictionalizes actions of historical people. An interesting peek into the heart and mind of Joseph.
October 30, 2022
At last, a book about Joseph, the carpenter who was foster father to the Messiah! Thie book is long overdue and I am grateful the author has chosen to write about this man.
At one point in my walk, when I was reading about Joseph and his encounters with angels, it struck me how brave this man was. He obeyed God's messenger without hesitation, despite knowing what nasty comments might ensue. And once the angel spoke, Joseph got up and obeyed right away - no hesitation. Marry Mary, even though the baby wasn't his? It was God's baby. Done. Get up in the middle of the night and take off for Egypt when Mary's purification was barely accomplished? Done. With gratitutde that the Magi's gifts were sent by God to provide for the trip. Go back to Nazareth now that the threat was over? Done. We don't know how Joseph died, only that between their frantic search for Jesus when he was 12, and the time Jesus had John baptize Him, Joseph was no longer in the picture. Knowing a bit about Jewish law from Old Testament readings, I knew that the eldest son was responsible for providing for the family once the father died. When someone mentioned that from age 12 to age 30 when Jesus started His ministry, 18 years would have passed, and asked why it took Jesus so long to get a move on, aside from saying God did things on His schedule & not ours, I realized - and passed on - that once Joseph had died, Jesus was responsible to run the carpenter's shop and provide for the entire family. Until Jesus found a younger sibling(s) willing to take over, by the Law - which He created - Jesus was on the hook for the family's survival. It might be that most of His half brothers agreed to stay and run the shop. Perhaps they had married themselves, and this was their living, Mary included in the provision. In Cana, when Jesus was hanging out at a wedding with a few disciples and they ran out of wine, Jesus said it was not yet His time. Mary ignored him and told the workers at the feast to listen to what Jesus told them to do. He turned water into wine that was superior to the initial servings of wine. Still, it was a relatively low profile miracle.
In the story, the fictional account of Joseph's death is consistent with how Joseph lived his life - in love and service to others. When his other children blame Jesus, Joseph explains to them how they must live their lives in service to God, not their own needs and wants, and to realize God's plans for all of us are sovereign. He is, as the Jewish folks say on the Sabbath, the King of the Universe. And when you think of it, He is perfect, all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at one time, creating the beauty and diversity of landscapes, plants, animals, climates, and yet, we question Him all the time. And He loves us so He puts up with it. He could smack us down for daring to question Him or not believing Him, and yet He doesn't. In the fictional account of Joseph's death in the book, Joseph gives blessings to each child and comforts them by his acceptance of God's plan, including comforting Jesus.
The book insists Jesus was likely born without a sin nature. I disagree. The scriptures clearly state Jesus was tempted just as we are, but without sin. In fact, after His baptism, marking the start of His dedication solely to His ministry, Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He fasts and prays for 40 days and nights. At the end of the 40 days, Satan appears to Him to tempt Him to take a shortcut to atoning for the sins of all mankind. Basically, Satan says that Jesus must be pretty hungry by now - so why not command the rocks around Him to become bread? Jesus answers straight from scripture, teaching us how best to respond to evil. Jesus says that men do not live only by bread, but by every Word that comes out of God's mouth. Undeterred, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and brags, "These are all mine. I'll give them to You if You bow down and worship me." Jesus responds that the only one worthy of worship is God. He doesn't mention that the devil is a liar and would never give up that much power - even if, theoretically, Jesus had bowed to him (which would never have happened), the world's kingdoms would have remained firmly in Satan's grasp. He was giving nothing up. So, Satan still has one more hand to play. He takes Jesus to the highest pinnacle of the Temple and says that if Jesus jumped off thwt pinnacle, Scripture says God's angels wouldn't let Him be hurt in any way, and thus implies that people would acknowledge Him as Messiah, and Jesus wouldn't have to work for it. Jesus tells Satan that it is foolish to think you can put God to the test. Out of temptations, Satan leaves, and angels minister to Him. This would mean they fed Him, gave Him something to drink, got Him into the shade, and strengthened His body as His Spirit had been strengthened. To think that Jesus wouldn't be tempted to make stones into bread when His body would be screaming with hunger would, IMO, be foolish. He was tempted but resisted. To think that either of the shortcuts to proving He was the Messiah wouldn't tempt Him even as they repulsed Him is IMO to say He was completely divine and not human at all. He had a human mother with a sin nature so half of Him had a sin nature. And of course, the initial mention I made that the Bible says Jesus was tempted like we are, but He never caved. What did He do that we forget? He stayed close to His heavenly Father by reading Torah and praying. Resisting the devil so he flees requires we draw near to God...He will draw near to us as we seek Him, and it will be easier to resist the temptation to take the easy way out.
The book is written at upper middle/high school level. Like all this author's books, it is a good read as someone progresses through remedial or ESL classes, and it gives a cultural context to both Christianity and a story of a man chosen to be foster father to the Son of God. Hopefully, once someone reads this book, and sees the scriptures cited and the characters listed - along with the information on fictional v real parts of their lives - perhaps those people would read more scriptures and find out more about our Savior. That is my prayer.
At one point in my walk, when I was reading about Joseph and his encounters with angels, it struck me how brave this man was. He obeyed God's messenger without hesitation, despite knowing what nasty comments might ensue. And once the angel spoke, Joseph got up and obeyed right away - no hesitation. Marry Mary, even though the baby wasn't his? It was God's baby. Done. Get up in the middle of the night and take off for Egypt when Mary's purification was barely accomplished? Done. With gratitutde that the Magi's gifts were sent by God to provide for the trip. Go back to Nazareth now that the threat was over? Done. We don't know how Joseph died, only that between their frantic search for Jesus when he was 12, and the time Jesus had John baptize Him, Joseph was no longer in the picture. Knowing a bit about Jewish law from Old Testament readings, I knew that the eldest son was responsible for providing for the family once the father died. When someone mentioned that from age 12 to age 30 when Jesus started His ministry, 18 years would have passed, and asked why it took Jesus so long to get a move on, aside from saying God did things on His schedule & not ours, I realized - and passed on - that once Joseph had died, Jesus was responsible to run the carpenter's shop and provide for the entire family. Until Jesus found a younger sibling(s) willing to take over, by the Law - which He created - Jesus was on the hook for the family's survival. It might be that most of His half brothers agreed to stay and run the shop. Perhaps they had married themselves, and this was their living, Mary included in the provision. In Cana, when Jesus was hanging out at a wedding with a few disciples and they ran out of wine, Jesus said it was not yet His time. Mary ignored him and told the workers at the feast to listen to what Jesus told them to do. He turned water into wine that was superior to the initial servings of wine. Still, it was a relatively low profile miracle.
In the story, the fictional account of Joseph's death is consistent with how Joseph lived his life - in love and service to others. When his other children blame Jesus, Joseph explains to them how they must live their lives in service to God, not their own needs and wants, and to realize God's plans for all of us are sovereign. He is, as the Jewish folks say on the Sabbath, the King of the Universe. And when you think of it, He is perfect, all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at one time, creating the beauty and diversity of landscapes, plants, animals, climates, and yet, we question Him all the time. And He loves us so He puts up with it. He could smack us down for daring to question Him or not believing Him, and yet He doesn't. In the fictional account of Joseph's death in the book, Joseph gives blessings to each child and comforts them by his acceptance of God's plan, including comforting Jesus.
The book insists Jesus was likely born without a sin nature. I disagree. The scriptures clearly state Jesus was tempted just as we are, but without sin. In fact, after His baptism, marking the start of His dedication solely to His ministry, Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, where He fasts and prays for 40 days and nights. At the end of the 40 days, Satan appears to Him to tempt Him to take a shortcut to atoning for the sins of all mankind. Basically, Satan says that Jesus must be pretty hungry by now - so why not command the rocks around Him to become bread? Jesus answers straight from scripture, teaching us how best to respond to evil. Jesus says that men do not live only by bread, but by every Word that comes out of God's mouth. Undeterred, the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and brags, "These are all mine. I'll give them to You if You bow down and worship me." Jesus responds that the only one worthy of worship is God. He doesn't mention that the devil is a liar and would never give up that much power - even if, theoretically, Jesus had bowed to him (which would never have happened), the world's kingdoms would have remained firmly in Satan's grasp. He was giving nothing up. So, Satan still has one more hand to play. He takes Jesus to the highest pinnacle of the Temple and says that if Jesus jumped off thwt pinnacle, Scripture says God's angels wouldn't let Him be hurt in any way, and thus implies that people would acknowledge Him as Messiah, and Jesus wouldn't have to work for it. Jesus tells Satan that it is foolish to think you can put God to the test. Out of temptations, Satan leaves, and angels minister to Him. This would mean they fed Him, gave Him something to drink, got Him into the shade, and strengthened His body as His Spirit had been strengthened. To think that Jesus wouldn't be tempted to make stones into bread when His body would be screaming with hunger would, IMO, be foolish. He was tempted but resisted. To think that either of the shortcuts to proving He was the Messiah wouldn't tempt Him even as they repulsed Him is IMO to say He was completely divine and not human at all. He had a human mother with a sin nature so half of Him had a sin nature. And of course, the initial mention I made that the Bible says Jesus was tempted like we are, but He never caved. What did He do that we forget? He stayed close to His heavenly Father by reading Torah and praying. Resisting the devil so he flees requires we draw near to God...He will draw near to us as we seek Him, and it will be easier to resist the temptation to take the easy way out.
The book is written at upper middle/high school level. Like all this author's books, it is a good read as someone progresses through remedial or ESL classes, and it gives a cultural context to both Christianity and a story of a man chosen to be foster father to the Son of God. Hopefully, once someone reads this book, and sees the scriptures cited and the characters listed - along with the information on fictional v real parts of their lives - perhaps those people would read more scriptures and find out more about our Savior. That is my prayer.
June 4, 2022
Interesting perspective
We don’t know much about Joseph, earthly father of Jesus, from Biblical account. This short novella gives us a little bit of the author’s perspective and he does a very good job of writing a possibility of what Joseph was like and what transpired in his life. The author also tells us this is just his perspective, not Biblical, he does write some Scripture in the book where it coincides with the Biblical account. I liked this short novella and I can’t wait to read the next one!
We don’t know much about Joseph, earthly father of Jesus, from Biblical account. This short novella gives us a little bit of the author’s perspective and he does a very good job of writing a possibility of what Joseph was like and what transpired in his life. The author also tells us this is just his perspective, not Biblical, he does write some Scripture in the book where it coincides with the Biblical account. I liked this short novella and I can’t wait to read the next one!
January 7, 2023
Very well done, engaging, and faithful
This book is so very well done. The author clearly differentiates between his narrative and the Scriptures, and takes great care in contradicting no part of them. I have much to ponder about Jesus' youth, and the lives of Mother Mary and Joseph.
This book is so very well done. The author clearly differentiates between his narrative and the Scriptures, and takes great care in contradicting no part of them. I have much to ponder about Jesus' youth, and the lives of Mother Mary and Joseph.
February 13, 2023
I was very happy to read a book which considers the story of Joseph and I really did like this book. But as a Catholic the portrayal of Mary was hard to take. She did not have more children after Jesus. This ruined the book for me and hence my 3 star rating. I won’t be reading the rest of the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2022
Carpenter called Joseph
It's very interesting to see how this author can take scripture and flesh it out with his imagination. I know he is very careful to stick to scripture and makes it very clear what is and is not in the Bible that we can only conjecture.
It's very interesting to see how this author can take scripture and flesh it out with his imagination. I know he is very careful to stick to scripture and makes it very clear what is and is not in the Bible that we can only conjecture.
September 13, 2022
Well Done!
I enjoyed reading this first place fiction story of Joseph and Mary and Jesus. I always knew that Joseph had died before Jesus' ministry began, but this story allowed me to entertain thoughts of his life and what it may have been like. I really enjoyed it!
I enjoyed reading this first place fiction story of Joseph and Mary and Jesus. I always knew that Joseph had died before Jesus' ministry began, but this story allowed me to entertain thoughts of his life and what it may have been like. I really enjoyed it!
November 11, 2022
Joseph
I was looking for something spiritual to read. I happen to come across this book. I enjoyed it. We know so little of Jesus's life as a child. I like stories of what it was possibly like to have known Jesus and who he was before he began his ministry.
I was looking for something spiritual to read. I happen to come across this book. I enjoyed it. We know so little of Jesus's life as a child. I like stories of what it was possibly like to have known Jesus and who he was before he began his ministry.
April 21, 2022
A wonderful story!
I have been blessed by Kenneth Winter’s books! I want to read all of them to expand my knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ and his life here on earth.
I have been blessed by Kenneth Winter’s books! I want to read all of them to expand my knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ and his life here on earth.
June 11, 2022
Wonderful
You will enjoy learning about Joseph, Jesus' father. Excellent tale by author. You will be able to read quickly... But take your time and enjoy the journey. Q
You will enjoy learning about Joseph, Jesus' father. Excellent tale by author. You will be able to read quickly... But take your time and enjoy the journey. Q
January 5, 2023
This book showed what type of man Joseph may have been. Since the Bible did not elaborate these traits, the author did a very good job describing this man called Joseph.
November 28, 2023
Wonderful. Thank you Lord. "Until that day.". Amen
This is a wonderful book. My heart is full as well as yours will be when you read it. Praise the Lord!
This is a wonderful book. My heart is full as well as yours will be when you read it. Praise the Lord!
May 22, 2024
The audio really pushed this to a 5-star rating for me. Such a great narration!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews