Saint Joseph, The Man Closest to Jesus

 

Homily for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 2:22-40. Theme:  Saint Joseph, The Man Closest to Jesus

 The fact that Saint Joseph was a vital figure in the story of our salvation is often overlooked.   Not on purpose, of course, but I suppose it's understandable at least on surface level. Jesus is, and must always be of course, the center and focus of our Faith.  And Mary is always close at hand, right there beside Him. But it seems to me that St. Joseph is too often treated as the "forgotten member of the Holy Family", so to speak. To some extent I guess this is not surprising given that from a theological point of view, he seems to be out-shined by a wife who is the all-holy Immaculate Conception and an adopted Child who is the very Son of God. But I think that if we look at it from a different point of view, from the practical instead of the theological, we might better appreciate St. Joseph, who was the man closest to God on planet Earth.

 Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who has a strong devotion to St. Joseph, wants to bring him out of the shadows and so has written and spoken much about him.  He has asked us to deepen our understanding of this man whom God appointed to be husband and father, provider and protector of the Holy Family of Nazareth. To do so requires intentional determination  on our part because we know so very little about St. Joseph. Scripture doesn’t say much about him and not a single word of his is recorded for us in the Gospels. But we can learn some basic facts about his life and draw important conclusions about his character if we really just stop and reflect on the little information we do have.

 We are told that he was a descendant of the great King David of Jerusalem who had lived 500 years before him.  But by Joseph’s time the royal family had disintegrated socially and was mixed in among the common people. This didn’t, however, change the fact that Joseph was a branch on David’s family tree and the prophets of Israel foretold that the Messiah would be born from this House of David. But how would this apply to Jesus, who was only biologically born from Mary?  Well, this is where we need to know ancient Jewish law. You see, according to this law when a man officially held and named a child at the 8th Day circumcision ceremony, that baby became his very own son and legally inherited his family line. No questions asked. And so the boy whom Joseph officially named “Jesus” thus became like Joseph a member of the House of David.  So, St. Joseph made it possible for the prophecies of the Messiah's lineage to be fulfilled.

 The Holy Bible gives us only a brief two-word introduction to Joseph.  We find it in the Gospel of St. Matthew where he is described as a “just man”.  In our modern language, we would translate this as a righteous man, a holy man, a virtuous man, a man who always did the right thing even at personal cost. For example, when Joseph was informed of Mary’s inexplicable pregnancy, he could have made a big deal out of it. He could have played the victim. He could have embarrassed her and her family in order to save his reputation. But Joseph was willing to let it go and chose the option of a quiet divorce which would cast shadows on his personal integrity.  By taking this route, people would assume that he had “jumped the gun” to his wedding night and thus blame the out-of-order pregnancy on his lack of chaste self-control. They would assume that “poor Mary” had to submit to his desire. Now, if he had divorced Mary publicly he would be declaring that she had been unfaithful and guilty of adultery.  But Joseph wasn’t willing to do this to her and her family because he was a “just man”.  His self-forgetfulness and heartfelt compassion was rewarded with an angel dream in which he was assured that the Child was of God and reaffirmed his commitment to proceed with the bond of marriage.  This example of St. Joseph calls us to be people of integrity, people of our word, people who think of others and do the right thing no matter what the personal cost.

 Another thing that I notice about Joseph from the Gospel stories is his spirit of prayerfulness that allows him to hear and recognize God’s voice.  We are told how he was able to receive the Lord’s message in dreams and be so convinced that it was indeed God speaking that he did exactly what the dreams indicated. He took Mary as his wife because of a dream. He fled with the Mother and Child to Egypt because of a dream. Years later he returned to Israel with them because of a dream. It seems to me that the only way Joseph could awaken and immediately do what his dreams commanded was because he had trained himself to hear and recognize God’s voice through prayer. This tells me that he must have spent quality time in silent prayer of the heart which breeds a sensitivity to the Divine Presence and Voice.  Through this example, I see St. Joseph calling us to also become people of deep personal prayer and silent meditation, people who learn to hear and recognize the voice of God whispering within us.

 Finally, I am deeply moved by the self-sacrificing love that St. Joseph shows for Jesus and Mary which characterized his entire adult life. His plans for marriage took a turn he didn’t expect when Mary conceived Christ. He sacrificed his sexuality and biological fatherhood, two things deeply dear to every man, for the sake of Mary’s unique role as Mother of the Son of God. And amazingly, it was this ordinary and yet extraordinary Joseph of Nazareth, whom God himself chose to become his male role-model when he came to live in the flesh on planet Earth. The generous and selfless heart of St. Joseph invites us to learn from his example what it looks like to truly love and generously serve those who are entrusted to our care. He devoted his whole life to simply being the best provider and protector, the best husband and father for the Holy Family.

 So, as we celebrate the Solemnity of St Joseph, let's do our best to grow in our understanding and devotion to him. Let’s ask him to help us become virtuous people, prayerful people, people wholly dedicated to loving and serving those with whom we live, work and socialize.  Let’s form the habit of turning to St. Joseph in prayer in our own times of need and with the same confidence that Mary and Jesus had in him. And then just like them, I am sure that we will never ever be disappointed!