Contemplating Joseph Sir 3:2-6, 12-14; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Col 3:12-21 or 3:12-17; Lk 2:41-52 I often find myself thinking about Joseph a lot on the Feast of the Nativity and during the season of Christmas. Of the two parental figures of the Holy Family, we often focus most on Mary. This is understandable, as she is the Blessed Mother, after all. But I wonder what we can learn from the man that God chose to be Jesus’ father figure on earth? Joseph is the only man in the Bible to be identified through his relationship to a woman. Throughout the Bible it is customary to introduce characters by their relation to either a man (father, husband, son) or a location (Nazareth). This custom is the same for both male and female characters. Joseph, however, is never called “son of Jacob,” even though Jesus’ genealogy tells us the name of Joseph’s father (Mt 1:16). Nor is Joseph identified by his hometown, Bethlehem. Instead, he is called Joseph, husband of Mary. This may seem insignificant. However, rooting Joseph’s identity in his wife rather than in a male family member indicates that we are about to read a very different story. And it is a story in which we encounter a very different man. The first thing we learn about Joseph is that he is a righteous man. In the biblical world, a righteous person is someone who follows God’s law, the law of Moses. However, after immediately telling us that Joseph is righteous, we are shown exactly what that means. Unlike the men who accuse a woman of adultery without proof in the Gospel of John, Joseph does not try to seek a punishment that is unjustified when Mary tells him she is pregnant. He decides to divorce Mary quietly, allowing them to both go on with their lives peacefully. Joseph demonstrates that love and compassion form the foundation of the law, and, as such, should be the foundation of our actions. He could have lashed out and behaved cruelly. Instead, he chose to forgive Mary and move on with his life. We often think of the Holy Family through a traditional lens. Joseph is seen as the protector and provider; indeed, he is also known as Joseph the Worker and Joseph the Terror of Demons. Mary, then, is portrayed as the gentle, nurturing mother. Scripture shows us that there is more to the story. Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph will act (alongside Mary) to protect his family from King Herod (Mt 1:12-23). However, the purpose of this particular story is to create a comparison between Moses and Jesus. What remains most important about Joseph are the characteristics we see at the beginning of the Gospel. It is clear why God chose Joseph as the man to help Mary raise Jesus. Surely a God who is gentle, merciful and compassionate would want an infant to be raised by a father who shares those traits. These are the only stories we have of Joseph in the New Testament. We do not know what kind of father he was throughout Jesus’ life. We may be able to see some of Joseph’s influence over Jesus, especially in John 8, where Jesus saves the life of a woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus, whose own mother was accused of adultery, follows Joseph’s lead by not condemning a woman accused of the same act. It is apparent that Joseph showed Jesus how to be discerning about the law, to see the love and compassion at its foundation. Joseph must have done this not just through his words but through his own example as a husband and father. In turn, Jesus shows us through his actions how the foundation of God’s law is based on love, which should lead us all to living compassionately and walking through the world gently as both Joseph and Jesus did.
About the Author Kate Oxsen is an assistant professor of Old Testament studies at Catholic Theological Union.