Joseph, the Also-Ran

His name was Joseph. He was a Jew from a priestly family, who lived outside of Palestine; from the island of Cyprus, specifically. Apparently others who followed Jesus in first century referred to him as "barnabus" meaning, "son of encouragement." Maybe he was an uplifting person to be around. We don't know. The sum total recorded of Joseph is that he owned a piece of property somewhere in the region, he sold it, and gave the money from the sale to the early work of meeting human need among in the ministry of introducing people to Jesus of Nazareth, the one they claimed was "lord" above all. (Acts 4:36-37) Preachers seldom preach about him. I can't remember ever hearing anything taught about him in a Bible study, nor teaching anything myself. Biblical commentaries tend to treat him as an example of sacrificial sharing in the early Church, or as a set up for the dismal story of Ananias and Sapphira that follows. Joseph, by the world's standards, was an "also ran."

However, we don't know the results of the sale of that field. Did a hungry person get fed because of Joseph's acts, and thus see the sacrificing love of Jesus in flesh-and-blood action? Did that person come to know Jesus and feel welcomed in the believing community? Did that story become the vehicle through which other people turned God-ward? Could my faith or yours be not that many degrees separated from what Joseph started?

Be careful assuming anyone is an "also ran" or making that assumption about yourself. We don't know the monumental things God has done through those who don't happen to have been or to be in the limelight.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.