And Jesus Himself, when he began His work, was about thirty years old being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph.
Pray for us, holy Joseph.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O blessed St. Joseph, tender-hearted father, faithful guardian of Jesus, chaste spouse of the Mother of God, I pray and beseech you to offer to God the Father my praise to Him through his divine Son, who died on the cross and rose again to give us sinners new life. Through the holy name of Jesus, pray with us that we may obtain from the eternal Father, the graces we need. We have been unfaithful to the unfailing love of God the Father; beg of Jesus mercy for us. Amid the splendors of God’s loving presence, do not forget the sorrows of those who suffer, those who pray, those who weep. By your prayers and those of your most holy spouse, our Blessed Lady, may the love of Jesus answer our call of confident hope. Amen.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Meditation for Holy Week: The Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph
Ever-obedient Joseph, you trustingly returned to Nazareth at God’s command, in spite of your fear that King Herod’s son might still be a threat to Jesus’ life. Then what fatherly pride you had in seeing Jesus grow in wisdom and grace before God and men under your care.
Show us St. Joseph, how to be free from all useless fear and worry, so we may enjoy the peace of a tranquil conscience, living safely with Jesus and Mary in our hearts.
Dependable father and husband, how frantic you and Mary were when, through no fault of yours, you searched for three days to find Jesus. What incredible relief was yours when you found Him safe in the Temple of God.
Help us St. Joseph, never to lose Jesus through the fault of our own sins. But if we should lose Him, lead us back with unwearied sorrow, until we find Him again; so that we, like you, may finally pass from this life, dying safely in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Show us St. Joseph, how to be free from all useless fear and worry, so we may enjoy the peace of a tranquil conscience, living safely with Jesus and Mary in our hearts.
Dependable father and husband, how frantic you and Mary were when, through no fault of yours, you searched for three days to find Jesus. What incredible relief was yours when you found Him safe in the Temple of God.
Help us St. Joseph, never to lose Jesus through the fault of our own sins. But if we should lose Him, lead us back with unwearied sorrow, until we find Him again; so that we, like you, may finally pass from this life, dying safely in the arms of Jesus and Mary.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Meditation for Holy Week: The Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph
Joseph, loving husband, how bewildered you were when Simeon spoke the words of warning that the hearts of Jesus and Mary would be pierced with sorrows. Yet his prediction that this would lead to the salvation of innumerable souls filled you with consolation.
Help us, St. Joseph, to see with eyes of faith that even the sorrows and pains of those we deeply love can become the pathway to salvation and eternal life.
Courageous protector of the Holy Family, how terrified you were when you had to make the sudden flight with Jesus and Mary to escape the treachery of King Herod and the cruelty of his soldiers. But when you reached Egypt, what satisfaction you had to know that the Savior of the world had come to replace the pagan idols.
Teach us by your example, St. Joseph, to keep far from the false idols of earthly attractions, so that like you, we may be entirely devoted to the service of Jesus and Mary.
Help us, St. Joseph, to see with eyes of faith that even the sorrows and pains of those we deeply love can become the pathway to salvation and eternal life.
Courageous protector of the Holy Family, how terrified you were when you had to make the sudden flight with Jesus and Mary to escape the treachery of King Herod and the cruelty of his soldiers. But when you reached Egypt, what satisfaction you had to know that the Savior of the world had come to replace the pagan idols.
Teach us by your example, St. Joseph, to keep far from the false idols of earthly attractions, so that like you, we may be entirely devoted to the service of Jesus and Mary.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Meditation for Holy Week: The Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph
Faithful guardian of Jesus, what a failure you thought you were when you could only provide a stable for the birth of the Holy Child. And then what a wonder it was when shepherds came to tell of angel choirs, and wise men came to adore the King of Kings.
Through your example and prayers, help us St. Joseph and all we love to become like sinless mangers where the Savior of the world may be received with absolute love and respect.
Tender-hearted Joseph, you too felt pain when the blood of Jesus was first shed at His circumcision. Yet how proud you were to be the one privileged to give the name Jesus, Savior, to the very Son of God.
Pray for us St. Joseph, that the sacred blood of Christ, poured out for our salvation, may guard our families, so the Divine Name of Jesus may be written in our hearts forever.
Through your example and prayers, help us St. Joseph and all we love to become like sinless mangers where the Savior of the world may be received with absolute love and respect.
Tender-hearted Joseph, you too felt pain when the blood of Jesus was first shed at His circumcision. Yet how proud you were to be the one privileged to give the name Jesus, Savior, to the very Son of God.
Pray for us St. Joseph, that the sacred blood of Christ, poured out for our salvation, may guard our families, so the Divine Name of Jesus may be written in our hearts forever.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Meditation for Holy Week: The Seven Sorrows and Joys of St. Joseph
St. John Chrysostom (?407) described the life of St. Joseph in terms of the "sorrows and joys" that characterized his earthly existence.
In 1536 John da Fano, an Italian Capuchin, published a devotion called "the seven Our Fathers of Saint Joseph," in an appendix to a spiritual work of his. Da Fano presented Saint Joseph himself speaking to two ship-wrecked monks he had saved off the coast of Flanders, advising them to recite daily seven Our Fathers and Hail Marys in honor of his sorrows. The devotion seems to be modeled after the corresponding devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows that was enjoying much popularity at the time. Before long the seven joys were added to the seven sorrows.
The "Seven Sorrows and Joys of Saint Joseph" is a widespread devotion, whose original formula is attributed to Venerable Gennaro Sarnelli (?1744). On December 9, 1819 the devotion was indulgenced by Pius VII. On January 22, 1836 Gregory XVI granted further indulgences to the "Seven Sundays in Honor of the Seven Sorrows and Joys of Saint Joseph." Under Pius IX in 1846 these indulgences were granted also to a shorter version for the sick, and in 1847 were extended for the Seven Sundays. Under Pius XI, indulgences for the Seven Sorrows were granted again in 1932 and for the Seven Sundays in 1936.
Chaste Lover of Mary, how overwhelmed you were when you thought that you would have to end your betrothal to her. But when the angel of God came to you in a dream, you were filled with awe to realize that Mary would be your wife, and you would be the guardian of the Messiah.
Help us St. Joseph, help our families and all our loved ones to overcome all sadness of heart and develop an absolute trust in God’s goodness.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
St. Joseph in the Gospel of St. Luke
Luke presents Joseph somewhat in the background of his narrative, which is developed from the perspective of Mary. Nevertheless, this Gospel provides a rather definite portrayal of him and of the roles he fulfills.
Joseph is Mary's betrothed, but has no sexual relations with her and is not involved in the conception, which is wholly God's work in her. Being of the house and lineage of David, he is Jesus' legal, genealogical father. It is through him that the Son of God has a genealogy in the human race springing from Adam, inherits Davidic descent, comes to be born in the city of David, and can be called the Davidic Messiah.
Joseph and Mary are never called "husband" and "wife," but are seen as such to form a family together with Jesus. They are called "parents" together, and Joseph is called "father" and referred to as such by Mary. Together they see to the circumcision and naming of the child, obediently fulfill all the prescriptions of the law and temple worship, and are blessed by Simeon. Together they are subject to parental worry and incomprehension while raising Jesus. Together they are obeyed by him. Besides providing for the child, Joseph presumably also instructs him in the law. He is known to all Nazareth as Jesus' father, in a manner that appears totally ordinary.
What is most characteristic of Joseph in Luke's Gospel is his total obedience to God, both in fulfillment of the angel's instructions to Mary and especially in compliance with the law of the Lord. Luke portrays the model of a faithfully observant father who fulfills all the natural and religious obligations of a human parent for the Son of God. He is the obedient man whom Jesus obeys. He lives out this role in the background, a part of Jesus' "hidden life." In faith and in respect for the mystery, Joseph never competes or interferes with the Fatherhood of God. As the time comes for Jesus to begin his mission and publicly proclaim God as his Father, the human father of his childhood quietly fades from the scene.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part2sec5.php
Joseph is Mary's betrothed, but has no sexual relations with her and is not involved in the conception, which is wholly God's work in her. Being of the house and lineage of David, he is Jesus' legal, genealogical father. It is through him that the Son of God has a genealogy in the human race springing from Adam, inherits Davidic descent, comes to be born in the city of David, and can be called the Davidic Messiah.
Joseph and Mary are never called "husband" and "wife," but are seen as such to form a family together with Jesus. They are called "parents" together, and Joseph is called "father" and referred to as such by Mary. Together they see to the circumcision and naming of the child, obediently fulfill all the prescriptions of the law and temple worship, and are blessed by Simeon. Together they are subject to parental worry and incomprehension while raising Jesus. Together they are obeyed by him. Besides providing for the child, Joseph presumably also instructs him in the law. He is known to all Nazareth as Jesus' father, in a manner that appears totally ordinary.
What is most characteristic of Joseph in Luke's Gospel is his total obedience to God, both in fulfillment of the angel's instructions to Mary and especially in compliance with the law of the Lord. Luke portrays the model of a faithfully observant father who fulfills all the natural and religious obligations of a human parent for the Son of God. He is the obedient man whom Jesus obeys. He lives out this role in the background, a part of Jesus' "hidden life." In faith and in respect for the mystery, Joseph never competes or interferes with the Fatherhood of God. As the time comes for Jesus to begin his mission and publicly proclaim God as his Father, the human father of his childhood quietly fades from the scene.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part2sec5.php
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Joseph in the Gospel of St. Matthew
From the Gospel of Matthew, one learns that Joseph is a just and obedient man, the husband of Mary who has no relations with her when she conceives, the matrimonial father of Jesus, who names him and gives him a place in the line of David, who guards and defends him under God's guidance, and who raises him as a carpenter at Nazareth. He receives his vocation in dreams, and is the final link in the line of the Old Testament patriarchs who await the fulfillment of the promise.
What most stands out in Matthew's manner of presenting all of this is Joseph's tremendous faith. The commonly held suspicion interpretation of Matthew 1:18-21 is due in part perhaps to a failure to perceive the depths of the faith which Matthew attributes to Joseph. The first example of this faith is not Joseph's response to the first message of the angel in Matthew 1:24. It is presumed in Matthew 1:18, when Joseph is named as Mary's betrothed in the sentence saying that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Before the angel's appearance, Joseph is the first one, together with Mary, to believe in the virginal conception of the promised Messiah. This faith is why he is called "a just man" from the start, and why he decides to separate from Mary out of reverent awe for the mystery. This faith makes him open to receive divine communications and recognize their authenticity. Joseph is a model of faith in always complying exactly and without hesitation to whatever God indicates to him. His faith is totally oriented to collaborating with the divine designs for the Savior conceived in Mary's womb and raised as their child.
In this faith Joseph is a type of first Christian, a model of faith-filled cooperation for all who follow and also call the name "Jesus," Savior. Joseph plays a most key role in the mystery of the Incarnation and is a model of righteousness for the Church.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec7.php
What most stands out in Matthew's manner of presenting all of this is Joseph's tremendous faith. The commonly held suspicion interpretation of Matthew 1:18-21 is due in part perhaps to a failure to perceive the depths of the faith which Matthew attributes to Joseph. The first example of this faith is not Joseph's response to the first message of the angel in Matthew 1:24. It is presumed in Matthew 1:18, when Joseph is named as Mary's betrothed in the sentence saying that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Before the angel's appearance, Joseph is the first one, together with Mary, to believe in the virginal conception of the promised Messiah. This faith is why he is called "a just man" from the start, and why he decides to separate from Mary out of reverent awe for the mystery. This faith makes him open to receive divine communications and recognize their authenticity. Joseph is a model of faith in always complying exactly and without hesitation to whatever God indicates to him. His faith is totally oriented to collaborating with the divine designs for the Savior conceived in Mary's womb and raised as their child.
In this faith Joseph is a type of first Christian, a model of faith-filled cooperation for all who follow and also call the name "Jesus," Savior. Joseph plays a most key role in the mystery of the Incarnation and is a model of righteousness for the Church.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec7.php
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Joseph the Laborer in the Gospel of St. Matthew
Having explained Jesus' origins in the infancy narrative, the Gospel of Matthew next jumps immediately to Jesus' baptism by John and the beginning of his ministry as an adult. The reader is told nothing about his childhood or his life at Nazareth, and consequently nothing about Joseph, who simply vanishes from the scene never to be mentioned again, except for one brief reference: "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?" (Mt 13:54-55). The question asked has a type of parallel in each of the other Gospels (Mk 6:3; Lk 4:22; Jn 6:42), but none says "carpenter's son." Only Mark 6:3 uses the word "carpenter," but applied to Jesus, without mention of Joseph. It was the natural responsibility of a father to teach his trade to the son he was raising. Besides the title "Son of David," Jesus also receives from Joseph the title "son of the carpenter," adding a concrete human dimension that is part of the mystery of the Incarnation. The son of the carpenter who grew up working at his father's side would necessarily also be known to the people of his hometown as "the carpenter."
The actual Greek word used for Joseph's profession occurs nowhere else in the New Testament apart from these two cases of Matthew and Mark. The word is broader than simply "carpenter," and may be applied to a builder or a worker of any hard material such as stone or metal, thus opening a wide range of possibilities for the type of work that Joseph did.
The passage containing this reference (Mt 13:53-58) indirectly may shed some light on Joseph's disappearance from the scene. It is the only time that this Gospel actually names Jesus as Joseph's "son," and it is the people of Nazareth, "his own country," who refer to him in this way. They are the first to take offense at his teaching, because they are all too aware of his ordinary human upbringing. This would furnish one explanation for Joseph's absence in Jesus' ministry, which begins immediately with a voice from Heaven declaring "This is my beloved Son" (Mt 3:17). It could only cause confusion in people's minds to have Jesus' human father present while he was being revealed as the unique Son of God.
The presence of a human father was necessary for Davidic descent, for protection, affection, and instruction. The years of Jesus' life with Joseph and Mary at Nazareth are not recorded in history. It is reasonable to conclude that, in his human nature, Jesus learned from his parents, as every child must, and that what he learned was evidenced in the human manner in which he expressed his teaching and in the concrete images he used in the parables. Perhaps the very ordinariness of these years, in which nothing special stands out to record, is part of the principal information one needs to know about Jesus' human origins: he became like every other human being. Once Jesus' identity has been firmly established, one is prepared to receive the divine Good News he brings. From the absence of Joseph even when Mary is mentioned in the rest of Gospel, it may be concluded that he had died by the time of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. No further data is available. The carpenter of Nazareth faithfully and unquestioningly fulfills all that God asks of him, and then just as quietly disappears.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec6.php
The actual Greek word used for Joseph's profession occurs nowhere else in the New Testament apart from these two cases of Matthew and Mark. The word is broader than simply "carpenter," and may be applied to a builder or a worker of any hard material such as stone or metal, thus opening a wide range of possibilities for the type of work that Joseph did.
The passage containing this reference (Mt 13:53-58) indirectly may shed some light on Joseph's disappearance from the scene. It is the only time that this Gospel actually names Jesus as Joseph's "son," and it is the people of Nazareth, "his own country," who refer to him in this way. They are the first to take offense at his teaching, because they are all too aware of his ordinary human upbringing. This would furnish one explanation for Joseph's absence in Jesus' ministry, which begins immediately with a voice from Heaven declaring "This is my beloved Son" (Mt 3:17). It could only cause confusion in people's minds to have Jesus' human father present while he was being revealed as the unique Son of God.
The presence of a human father was necessary for Davidic descent, for protection, affection, and instruction. The years of Jesus' life with Joseph and Mary at Nazareth are not recorded in history. It is reasonable to conclude that, in his human nature, Jesus learned from his parents, as every child must, and that what he learned was evidenced in the human manner in which he expressed his teaching and in the concrete images he used in the parables. Perhaps the very ordinariness of these years, in which nothing special stands out to record, is part of the principal information one needs to know about Jesus' human origins: he became like every other human being. Once Jesus' identity has been firmly established, one is prepared to receive the divine Good News he brings. From the absence of Joseph even when Mary is mentioned in the rest of Gospel, it may be concluded that he had died by the time of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. No further data is available. The carpenter of Nazareth faithfully and unquestioningly fulfills all that God asks of him, and then just as quietly disappears.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec6.php
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Joseph the Dreamer in the Gospel of St. Matthew
In the New Testament, only the Gospel of Matthew explicitly presents dreams as a means of revelation. Matthew relates six instances of divine communications in dreams, five of which are in the infancy narrative, one to the magi and the other four to Joseph. Of these five revelations, two are reported in the same abbreviated form "being warned in a dream" (Mt 2:12,22), while the other three (Mt 1:20-25; 2:13-14,19-21) are described according to an artificial pattern with the following elements:
1) an introductory description of the situation;
2) with very minor variations, the phrase "Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying;"
3) the message of the angel, containing a command with a form of the same Greek verb for "take," and a reason for the command;
4) faith response of obedient execution of the command;
5) a Scripture citation containing a form of the same Greek verb for "call" and a title of Jesus.
These three stereotyped formulas and one of the abbreviated forms all center around Joseph and regard, respectively: 1) taking Mary as wife and naming the child "Jesus;" 2) fleeing to Egypt to rescue the child and his mother; 3) returning from Egypt to Israel with the child and his mother; 4) withdrawing to Galilee and establishing residence in Nazareth. Joseph's cooperation with these divine revelations is in accord with the cited fulfillment of prophecies (the last two dreams being two stages of a single fulfillment) involving the child's titles of "Jesus" (Mt 1:25), "Son [of God]" (Mt 2:15), and "Nazarene" (Mt 2:23). The geographical movement from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth of Galilee is also accomplished in response to dreams (Mt 2:13,20,22) and shown to fulfill prophecies (Mt 2:6,15,23).
While rare in the New Testament, dreams are rather common in the Old Testament, and a variety of significances accompany them. When foreigners such as Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar dream, a Hebrew man of God, such as Joseph or Daniel, is needed to interpret for them (Gen 40:5--41:36; Dan 2:1-49; 4:1-25). Israel, however, needs no help in interpreting dreams, which are often means of divine communication. Yahweh, whom no one can see and still live (Ex 33:20), commonly reveals in dreams and night visions his plans for his people and the role they are to play in those designs, as seen in the examples of Abraham (Gen 15:12-13), Abimelech (Gen 20:3,6), Laban (Gen 31:24), Jacob-Israel (Gen 28:12-13; 46:2-4), Joseph (Gen 37:5-11), Samuel (1 Sam 3:1-14), Nathan (2 Sam 7:4-17), Solomon (1 Kgs 3:5), and Daniel (Dan 2:18-23).
In righteous Joseph's dreams (and not in that of the magi), it is the "angel of the Lord," who appears to him. This exact phrase is found repeatedly and consistently in the Septuagint as a translation for "the angel of Yahweh," who is sent with most important messages to Hagar (Gen 16:7-12), Abraham (Gen 22:11,15), Moses (Ex 3:2), the people of Israel (Jgs 2:1-4), the barren wife of Manoah (Jgs 13:3-5), Elijah (1 Kgs 19:7; 2 Kgs 1:15), and Joshua the high priest (Zec 3:1-10). The types of communications in the dreams cited above and those through the angel of the Lord are most similar, and it is not so surprising that for Joseph these two forms are combined, so that he invariably awakes with total faith and no doubt whatsoever about their interpretation. Gideon has both the appearance of the angel of the Lord addressing him with the title "man of valor," and God speaking to him at night with instructions as to what he is to do (Jgs 6:11-12,25). Balaam has the Lord come to him at night, and the angel of the Lord standing before him in the day (Num 22:20,31-32). The angel of God comes to Jacob in a dream (Gen 31:10-11), and Zechariah speaks with an angel in the night (Zec 1:7-9).
Matthew has shown how Joseph received the vocation to be a key personage in Jesus' infancy, and how that role can only be fulfilled by a special charism, a charism which was communicated to him by an angel of the Lord in dreams, in the way that God communicated to his patriarchs and prophets in the Old Testament. Joseph receives an initial revelation about the identity of the child Jesus, conceived of the Holy Spirit to save his people from their sins. He then receives subsequent messages about how he is to cooperate in that work of salvation by guarding and protecting the child and his mother. In the New Testament, this role and this manner of divine communication are unique to Joseph, so that he alone can be called a "man of dreams," a title previously given to his namesake, the patriarch Joseph (Gen 37:19).
Of all the Old Testament recipients of dreams mentioned here, probably none is more important than the patriarch Joseph. He not only interprets the dreams of Pharaoh and his court, but first of all is himself the recipient of divine communications in dreams, regarding his role in the history of the chosen people (Gen 37-50). Though Matthew's infancy narrative also contains other resonances and is by no means a systematic allusion to Genesis, there are many significant parallels between the two Josephs, which it will be well to catalog and examine:
1) Name. The name of New Testament Joseph could not help but recall that of Old Testament Joseph, so often repeated in the history of salvation, occurring almost 200 times in the Old Testament and at least eight times in the New. The name is built on the name of God, and means "Yahweh increases" or "Yahweh adds." It is given by Rachel at Joseph's birth in grateful appreciation that the Lord had "opened her womb," with the explanation that it means that God has added another son (Gen 30:22-24). Applied to New Testament Joseph then, it would mean: "God grants him descendence."
2) Name of Father. As already noted, Matthew differs from Luke by listing Joseph's father as "Jacob" (Mt 1:16), a name used for no one else in Scripture except the father of the patriarch Joseph.
3) Mention of name "Rachel." The name of the mother of New Testament Joseph is not given, but the citation in Matthew 2:18 mentions Rachel, the mother of the patriarch.
4) Dreams. In each Testament the respective Joseph is the person most known for dreams. The patriarch also has dreams revealing his future role (Gen 37:5-9 realized in Gen 42:6-9 when his brothers come to Egypt and bow before him). He becomes famous also for interpreting God's message in other people's dreams (Gen 41:12,16,25). Both Josephs are able to understand correctly God's communications in dreams.
5) Threats of Death. In Genesis Joseph's brothers want to kill him (Gen 37:18-20), while in Matthew Herod wants to kill the child entrusted to Joseph's care (Mt 2:13,16).
6) Egypt. The flight of New Testament Joseph into Egypt immediately recalls Old Testament Joseph's being saved from the pit and taken into Egypt where he lived long and prospered (Gen 37:28; 45:9; Acts 7:9), protected from the famine that would later afflict his homeland. In each Testament, a Joseph is the person most associated with Egypt.
7) Involvement with King. New Testament Joseph's stay in Egypt is determined by the hatred king Herod nourishes until his death. Old Testament Joseph's stay in Egypt becomes important because he wins the trust of the pharaoh who puts him in charge of his affairs (Gen 41:41). New Testament Joseph's return from Egypt is occasioned by the death of king Herod (Mt 2:19), while the great Exodus event in the time of Moses begins when there arises "a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (Ex 1:8; Acts 7:18). Joseph had predicted the exodus, and Moses carried his bones along with him (Gen 50:24-25; Ex 13:18-19; Heb 11:22). "Egypt was glad when they departed" (Ps 15:38).
8) Virtuous and Chaste. In Genesis Joseph resists repeated attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce him and he suffers unjust imprisonment for it (Gen 39). In Matthew Joseph is a just or upright man and he has no carnal knowledge of Mary.
9) Given Responsibility. Old Testament Joseph becomes overseer of officer Potiphar's house in charge of all that he has (Gen 39:4), keeper of the prison with all the prisoners under his care (Gen 39:22), and finally lord of pharaoh's house and all the land of Egypt (Gen 41:41-45; Ps 105:21). New Testament Joseph is responsible for Jesus and Mary in Bethlehem, Egypt, and Nazareth.
10) Favored and Fruitful. God favors the patriarch Joseph and makes him prosper (Gen 39:3,21,23). He becomes a "fruitful bough," with "blessings of the breasts and womb," and is called a nazîr, one "set apart" or "consecrated" (Gen 49:22,25,26). The people multiply in the land of Egypt (Ps 105:23-24). Joseph, son of David, is favored with the fulfillment of the promised descendence in Jesus, whom he names as his son, and with the fruitful mother of the Savior for his wife. God's guidance protects him from Herod and Archelaus.
11) Patriarchal. Old Testament Joseph is listed with the greatest patriarchs in the history of Israel, as is summed up in Psalm 105 which names him among the elite group of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Aaron; through them the promise first made to Abraham was fulfilled. New Testament Joseph is almost like another patriarch, the last in the chain, who receives in a dream the final assurance of a son and continued blessing.
Matthew has thus presented Joseph as the recipient of a combination of two means of divine communication common in the Old Testament: dreams and appearances of the angel of the Lord. The dreams and appearances are described as multiple, and are related according to a stereotyped pattern repeating the same expressions. Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled by Joseph's obedient cooperation with the messages. The prophecies are related to Jesus' titles, and to his geographical movement during the first years of his life. Matthew's Joseph is presented in a way that parallels his namesake, the patriarch Joseph, especially in his association with dreams and Egypt, but also in escaping threats of death, and in being protected and blessed for his faithful exercise of the responsibility entrusted to him.
Matthew's portrayal thus communicates the multi-leveled truth that Joseph has a patriarchal role to play in connection with the prophetic mission of Christ. As a privileged recipient of multiple, combined forms of divine communications, and as a perfectly obedient man of faith who collaborates with all that is commanded him, he recapitulates the history of salvation of Israel, which has reached its definitive culmination in the child he names, protects and raises. The man of dreams who took the child and his mother to Egypt and back is the last of the patriarchs, who receives revelations about the promised descendence in the style of the Old Testament shared by no one else in the New Testament or thereafter.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec5.php
1) an introductory description of the situation;
2) with very minor variations, the phrase "Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying;"
3) the message of the angel, containing a command with a form of the same Greek verb for "take," and a reason for the command;
4) faith response of obedient execution of the command;
5) a Scripture citation containing a form of the same Greek verb for "call" and a title of Jesus.
These three stereotyped formulas and one of the abbreviated forms all center around Joseph and regard, respectively: 1) taking Mary as wife and naming the child "Jesus;" 2) fleeing to Egypt to rescue the child and his mother; 3) returning from Egypt to Israel with the child and his mother; 4) withdrawing to Galilee and establishing residence in Nazareth. Joseph's cooperation with these divine revelations is in accord with the cited fulfillment of prophecies (the last two dreams being two stages of a single fulfillment) involving the child's titles of "Jesus" (Mt 1:25), "Son [of God]" (Mt 2:15), and "Nazarene" (Mt 2:23). The geographical movement from Bethlehem to Egypt to Nazareth of Galilee is also accomplished in response to dreams (Mt 2:13,20,22) and shown to fulfill prophecies (Mt 2:6,15,23).
Background on Dreams and Angel Appearances
While rare in the New Testament, dreams are rather common in the Old Testament, and a variety of significances accompany them. When foreigners such as Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar dream, a Hebrew man of God, such as Joseph or Daniel, is needed to interpret for them (Gen 40:5--41:36; Dan 2:1-49; 4:1-25). Israel, however, needs no help in interpreting dreams, which are often means of divine communication. Yahweh, whom no one can see and still live (Ex 33:20), commonly reveals in dreams and night visions his plans for his people and the role they are to play in those designs, as seen in the examples of Abraham (Gen 15:12-13), Abimelech (Gen 20:3,6), Laban (Gen 31:24), Jacob-Israel (Gen 28:12-13; 46:2-4), Joseph (Gen 37:5-11), Samuel (1 Sam 3:1-14), Nathan (2 Sam 7:4-17), Solomon (1 Kgs 3:5), and Daniel (Dan 2:18-23).
In righteous Joseph's dreams (and not in that of the magi), it is the "angel of the Lord," who appears to him. This exact phrase is found repeatedly and consistently in the Septuagint as a translation for "the angel of Yahweh," who is sent with most important messages to Hagar (Gen 16:7-12), Abraham (Gen 22:11,15), Moses (Ex 3:2), the people of Israel (Jgs 2:1-4), the barren wife of Manoah (Jgs 13:3-5), Elijah (1 Kgs 19:7; 2 Kgs 1:15), and Joshua the high priest (Zec 3:1-10). The types of communications in the dreams cited above and those through the angel of the Lord are most similar, and it is not so surprising that for Joseph these two forms are combined, so that he invariably awakes with total faith and no doubt whatsoever about their interpretation. Gideon has both the appearance of the angel of the Lord addressing him with the title "man of valor," and God speaking to him at night with instructions as to what he is to do (Jgs 6:11-12,25). Balaam has the Lord come to him at night, and the angel of the Lord standing before him in the day (Num 22:20,31-32). The angel of God comes to Jacob in a dream (Gen 31:10-11), and Zechariah speaks with an angel in the night (Zec 1:7-9).
Matthew has shown how Joseph received the vocation to be a key personage in Jesus' infancy, and how that role can only be fulfilled by a special charism, a charism which was communicated to him by an angel of the Lord in dreams, in the way that God communicated to his patriarchs and prophets in the Old Testament. Joseph receives an initial revelation about the identity of the child Jesus, conceived of the Holy Spirit to save his people from their sins. He then receives subsequent messages about how he is to cooperate in that work of salvation by guarding and protecting the child and his mother. In the New Testament, this role and this manner of divine communication are unique to Joseph, so that he alone can be called a "man of dreams," a title previously given to his namesake, the patriarch Joseph (Gen 37:19).
Parallels with the Patriarch Joseph
Of all the Old Testament recipients of dreams mentioned here, probably none is more important than the patriarch Joseph. He not only interprets the dreams of Pharaoh and his court, but first of all is himself the recipient of divine communications in dreams, regarding his role in the history of the chosen people (Gen 37-50). Though Matthew's infancy narrative also contains other resonances and is by no means a systematic allusion to Genesis, there are many significant parallels between the two Josephs, which it will be well to catalog and examine:
1) Name. The name of New Testament Joseph could not help but recall that of Old Testament Joseph, so often repeated in the history of salvation, occurring almost 200 times in the Old Testament and at least eight times in the New. The name is built on the name of God, and means "Yahweh increases" or "Yahweh adds." It is given by Rachel at Joseph's birth in grateful appreciation that the Lord had "opened her womb," with the explanation that it means that God has added another son (Gen 30:22-24). Applied to New Testament Joseph then, it would mean: "God grants him descendence."
2) Name of Father. As already noted, Matthew differs from Luke by listing Joseph's father as "Jacob" (Mt 1:16), a name used for no one else in Scripture except the father of the patriarch Joseph.
3) Mention of name "Rachel." The name of the mother of New Testament Joseph is not given, but the citation in Matthew 2:18 mentions Rachel, the mother of the patriarch.
4) Dreams. In each Testament the respective Joseph is the person most known for dreams. The patriarch also has dreams revealing his future role (Gen 37:5-9 realized in Gen 42:6-9 when his brothers come to Egypt and bow before him). He becomes famous also for interpreting God's message in other people's dreams (Gen 41:12,16,25). Both Josephs are able to understand correctly God's communications in dreams.
5) Threats of Death. In Genesis Joseph's brothers want to kill him (Gen 37:18-20), while in Matthew Herod wants to kill the child entrusted to Joseph's care (Mt 2:13,16).
6) Egypt. The flight of New Testament Joseph into Egypt immediately recalls Old Testament Joseph's being saved from the pit and taken into Egypt where he lived long and prospered (Gen 37:28; 45:9; Acts 7:9), protected from the famine that would later afflict his homeland. In each Testament, a Joseph is the person most associated with Egypt.
7) Involvement with King. New Testament Joseph's stay in Egypt is determined by the hatred king Herod nourishes until his death. Old Testament Joseph's stay in Egypt becomes important because he wins the trust of the pharaoh who puts him in charge of his affairs (Gen 41:41). New Testament Joseph's return from Egypt is occasioned by the death of king Herod (Mt 2:19), while the great Exodus event in the time of Moses begins when there arises "a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (Ex 1:8; Acts 7:18). Joseph had predicted the exodus, and Moses carried his bones along with him (Gen 50:24-25; Ex 13:18-19; Heb 11:22). "Egypt was glad when they departed" (Ps 15:38).
8) Virtuous and Chaste. In Genesis Joseph resists repeated attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce him and he suffers unjust imprisonment for it (Gen 39). In Matthew Joseph is a just or upright man and he has no carnal knowledge of Mary.
9) Given Responsibility. Old Testament Joseph becomes overseer of officer Potiphar's house in charge of all that he has (Gen 39:4), keeper of the prison with all the prisoners under his care (Gen 39:22), and finally lord of pharaoh's house and all the land of Egypt (Gen 41:41-45; Ps 105:21). New Testament Joseph is responsible for Jesus and Mary in Bethlehem, Egypt, and Nazareth.
10) Favored and Fruitful. God favors the patriarch Joseph and makes him prosper (Gen 39:3,21,23). He becomes a "fruitful bough," with "blessings of the breasts and womb," and is called a nazîr, one "set apart" or "consecrated" (Gen 49:22,25,26). The people multiply in the land of Egypt (Ps 105:23-24). Joseph, son of David, is favored with the fulfillment of the promised descendence in Jesus, whom he names as his son, and with the fruitful mother of the Savior for his wife. God's guidance protects him from Herod and Archelaus.
11) Patriarchal. Old Testament Joseph is listed with the greatest patriarchs in the history of Israel, as is summed up in Psalm 105 which names him among the elite group of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Aaron; through them the promise first made to Abraham was fulfilled. New Testament Joseph is almost like another patriarch, the last in the chain, who receives in a dream the final assurance of a son and continued blessing.
Joseph's Patriarchal Role
Matthew has thus presented Joseph as the recipient of a combination of two means of divine communication common in the Old Testament: dreams and appearances of the angel of the Lord. The dreams and appearances are described as multiple, and are related according to a stereotyped pattern repeating the same expressions. Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled by Joseph's obedient cooperation with the messages. The prophecies are related to Jesus' titles, and to his geographical movement during the first years of his life. Matthew's Joseph is presented in a way that parallels his namesake, the patriarch Joseph, especially in his association with dreams and Egypt, but also in escaping threats of death, and in being protected and blessed for his faithful exercise of the responsibility entrusted to him.
Matthew's portrayal thus communicates the multi-leveled truth that Joseph has a patriarchal role to play in connection with the prophetic mission of Christ. As a privileged recipient of multiple, combined forms of divine communications, and as a perfectly obedient man of faith who collaborates with all that is commanded him, he recapitulates the history of salvation of Israel, which has reached its definitive culmination in the child he names, protects and raises. The man of dreams who took the child and his mother to Egypt and back is the last of the patriarchs, who receives revelations about the promised descendence in the style of the Old Testament shared by no one else in the New Testament or thereafter.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec5.php
Friday, April 8, 2011
Obedient Father and Jesus' Protector in the Gospel of St. Luke
Whereas Luke omits use of the words "husband" and "wife," he does liberally apply to Joseph the terms "father" and "parent," which Matthew implies but never directly employs. And if Luke 3:23 adds "as was supposed" to refer to public lack of awareness of the virginal conception and divine Fatherhood, in Luke 2 it is not the unknowing, but the evangelist himself who uses the titles in an unqualified sense, even reporting Mary as explicitly saying to Jesus "your father and I" (Lk 2:48).
Luke sees no reason to "baptize" or qualify the terms. Besides providing Davidic descent for Jesus, Joseph is betrothed to Mary so as to be Jesus' parent with her. Neither the parenthood nor the virginity are compromised or minimized. In Luke, Joseph is portrayed as true father to Jesus and functions as such in every way, though this fatherhood is virginal or non-biological, and though human fatherhood will have to be understood in subordination to divine Fatherhood.
Among the roles Joseph is seen to fulfill as father of Jesus are Davidic genealogical fatherhood, and reputed fatherhood in the eyes of the public. Joseph functions as father during the journey to Bethlehem, the birth of the child in the manger ("while they were there ... no place for them," Lk 2:6-7), and the adoration of the shepherds (Lk 2:16). He undergoes the hardships of being subject to a census by a foreign ruler, having to travel with his pregnant wife and having to find a place for her to deliver. He cares for Mary and Jesus during the pregnancy and time of birth in Bethlehem. He is thereafter the one who, together with Mary, is responsible for the child being "brought up" (Lk 4:16) at Nazareth, so much so that when Jesus speaks in the synagogue there, the people are surprised, for they have known him always simply as "Joseph's son" (Lk 4:22). It is also Joseph and Mary who see to the fulfillment of all the temple rites for Jesus. Luke presents the circumcision and naming, the purification and presentation, and the episode when Jesus is twelve. In these three passages, he emphatically shows Joseph and Mary to be models of obedience to the angel and the law of the Lord, thus also fulfilling the parental role of being faithful examples for the child.
The circumcision and naming of Jesus are dealt with in one verse (Lk 2:21), paralleling a much longer section for the circumcision and naming of John the Baptist (Lk 1:59-66). Both passages are introduced with a time marker indicating the eighth day as prescribed for the sign of the covenant made with Abraham (cf. Gen 17:12ff; Lev 12:3; Phil 3:5). That Mary and Joseph would have Jesus circumcised appears quite likely according to the customs of the faithful of their time. Though a detail such as who did the actual circumcision cannot be determined, there should be noted at least the possibility that it was Joseph. The father was probably the usual one to perform the operation, as in the case of Abraham (Gen 21:4); although occasionally the mother could do it, as did Zipporah (Ex 4:25); and in later times recourse could be made to a third party, probably a medic (1 Mac 1:61). No references are found for priests performing circumcision, and Jesus' circumcision is related before any mention of being taken to the temple.
The verse does not mention Mary or Joseph, but is phrased in the impersonal. Their role in the circumcision and naming seems to be taken for granted, however, both in parallel to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and in light of the fact that this passage serves as a transitional introduction to the following episode wherein they are the grammatical subjects seeing to the fulfillment of the prescriptions of the law. It appears curious that Luke does not say that Mary named the child. Mention of her fulfillment of the angel's mandate to do so (Lk 1:31) would be expected, just as Luke has noted that Zechariah fulfilled the angel's command to him to name his son John (Lk 1:13,63). Whereas Matthew clearly states that Joseph named Jesus as commanded by the angel (Mt 1:21,25), Luke says simply "he was called." In the case of John the Baptist, it is the father's will which prevails as the final word when the choice of the mother is questioned (Lk 1:59-63), though it must be noted also that it was the father who was commanded by the angel. In the case of Jesus, the context only leaves the impression that Mary and Joseph are cooperating so that the child be called "Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb" (Lk 1:21). The main emphasis is that Jesus' parents are obedient to God's word as communicated by the angel, just as in the following passage they will be obedient to God's law.
The next verse begins with another temporal marker, "And when the time came," that introduces the passage of the presentation and purification (Lk 2:22-40), which concludes with the first statement of the child's growth and the favor of God. The geography moves from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and finally to Nazareth. The grammar moves from the impersonal to a personal but unspecified "they" as subject (Lk 2:22), which a few verses later is seen to refer to Jesus' "parents" (Lk 2:27). The referent of "their purification" has been questioned, but grammatically it can only be the subject of the sentence, Mary and Joseph, even though no law exists for the purification of the father.
One thinks first of the purification of the mother on the fortieth day after giving birth (Lev 12:1ff), but the Greek term used is much broader than the precise term for "purification" used in the Greek Old Testament. This broader meaning can be seen in the manner Luke's same term is used in other parts of the New Testament (Mk 1:44; Lk 5:14; Jn 2:6; 3:25; Heb 1:3; 2 Pt 1:9). It does not necessarily refer to ritual impurity of the woman, but can refer generally to whatever rites need to be performed, including that of the redemption of the firstborn. Luke, in fact, freely combines these two different customs: the purification of the mother on the fortieth day after giving birth (Lev 12:1ff), and the presentation or consecration of the firstborn male (Lk 2:22-23; Ex 13:1,11ff), which could also be bought back (Ex 13:15; Num 18:15-16). "Their purification" thus simply indicates the participation of both Joseph and Mary in the fulfillment of the prescriptions of the law.
Citation of the law for presenting "every male that opens the womb" (Lk 2:23) evidences the reason for having noted at Jesus' birth that he was Mary's "firstborn son" (Lk 2:7). The sacrifice which Luke reports that Mary and Joseph offer, however, is not that for redeeming the child, but two doves or pigeons, the poorer of the two options prescribed for the purification of the mother (Lev 12:6). A concern of Luke's which far outweighs the details of the customs involved, is to relate that Jesus' parents complied with the law of the Lord in his regard. Luke emphasizes this by his customary method of repeating important words: "according to the law of Moses" (Lk 2:22), "as it is written in the law of the Lord" (Lk 2:23), "according to what is said in the law of the Lord" (Lk 2:24), "according to the custom of the law" (Lk 2:27). If four references to the law in six verses are not enough, this scene on the purification and presentation concludes with the abundantly clear message of the passage: "And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, ..." (Lk 2:39). Joseph and Mary are faithfully observant Jews.
Though The Protoevangelium of James and subsequent apocrypha have influenced art to show Simeon as an old high priest with a flowing beard who offers the child up to God, from Luke it appears more likely that Mary and Joseph did the presenting: "when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him ..." (Lk 2:27). Simeon, who is never said to be a Levitical priest, comes into the temple and praises God, whereupon Joseph, who is called "father" for the first time and is named before the mother, marvels together with Mary and receives his blessing (Lk 2:33). Simeon, moved by the "Holy Spirit" (Lk 2:25,26,27), and the "prophetess Anna" (Lk 2:36) fulfill the role of prophecy, while Jesus' parents are the executors of the rites fulfilling the law.
Joseph's role as father is important here. Together with Mary he brought Jesus to the temple. He would be economically responsible for providing the offering. He and Mary present the child, marvel at the prophecy, and receive Simeon's blessing as Jesus' "father and mother." Having fulfilled all the rites at the temple, he would presumably fulfill the usual fatherly role of teaching the Torah to Jesus at their home in Nazareth. This would seem to be implied in the summary verse: "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him" (Lk 2:40). Jesus' parents raise him in the law which he will fulfill (Lk 24:44).
Though Joseph's role as human father is clearly asserted and exercised, it is also just as clearly shown to be in tension with and in subordination to God's divine Fatherhood. Luke is careful to show the primacy of God over human parenthood, a point developed in a final episode in Luke 2, which occurs when Jesus is twelve.
Mary and Joseph continue fulfilling their parental obligations to the temple by an annual Passover trip to Jerusalem (Lk 2:41). During Jesus' adolescence a type of challenge arises, signifying a new phase of transition between his childhood, during which he is dependent on his parents, and his future ministry in which he will proclaim his total independence from them in favor of his unique relationship with his heavenly Father: "... no one knows who the Son is except the Father ..." (Lk 10:22). In this scene Jesus' parents are unaware that he has stayed behind at the temple (Lk 2:43-44). They find him three days later more interested in conversing with the teachers there, than in returning with them. The bystanders are "amazed at his understanding," and Joseph and Mary are "astonished" (Lk 2:46-48), probably at the joy of finding him there, mingled with the even greater surprise that he would be so unconcerned about their feelings. Mary's words explain their worry by recalling the parental relationship between "son" and "your father and I," mentioning Joseph first in recognition of his headship over the household. Jesus' reply emphasizes the tension of the different perspectives (Lk 2:49). He is as surprised as they at the apparently opposing views, and the fact that they seem unaware of his duty to a higher authority, his "Father" (Lk 2:49).
The two occurrences of "you" in Jesus' reply are both in the plural, indicating that he is addressing both Mary and Joseph, in reply to Mary who speaks also on behalf of Joseph. In the phrase "in my Father's house," "house" may mean either "household" or "temple." Jesus' answer implies that his parents should have known where to find him, and that God is his Father. The first words of Jesus reported by Luke communicate the all important message that Jesus is God's Son in a way that transcends not only his being raised as son of Joseph, but even his conception in the womb of Mary. Mary and Joseph "did not understand" these words (Lk 2:50): their understanding of their present role as parents of the youth could not fathom the meaning of the transcendent mystery which he would be called to proclaim. They nevertheless accept his response unquestioningly, just as he patiently returns with them to Nazareth and is "obedient to them" (Lk 2:51). Here Luke presents a dramatic message: even with the awareness of being God's Son, Jesus remains subject to his human parents, postponing proclamation of his divine mission until the appointed time of his baptism.
These years in Nazareth have been called Jesus' "hidden life." No historical detail is preserved for us. He lives his simple role as child in a family, so as to be known by the people of his town as nothing more than "Joseph's son" (Lk 4:22). Joseph is the father who helps him increase "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:52). When the Son of Man is ready to begin his proclamation that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Lk 4:18), Joseph's role is completed, and he is no longer mentioned in the Gospel. From good Joseph's faithful care, the child Jesus learns by human experience that no earthly father would give his son a serpent instead of a fish, nor a scorpion instead of an egg. His revelation to us, though, is how much more the heavenly Father in his infinite goodness will give us the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:11-13). The Son of God obeys obedient Joseph as earthly father in preparation for faithful obedience to the mission entrusted to him by his heavenly Father.
Luke sees no reason to "baptize" or qualify the terms. Besides providing Davidic descent for Jesus, Joseph is betrothed to Mary so as to be Jesus' parent with her. Neither the parenthood nor the virginity are compromised or minimized. In Luke, Joseph is portrayed as true father to Jesus and functions as such in every way, though this fatherhood is virginal or non-biological, and though human fatherhood will have to be understood in subordination to divine Fatherhood.
Among the roles Joseph is seen to fulfill as father of Jesus are Davidic genealogical fatherhood, and reputed fatherhood in the eyes of the public. Joseph functions as father during the journey to Bethlehem, the birth of the child in the manger ("while they were there ... no place for them," Lk 2:6-7), and the adoration of the shepherds (Lk 2:16). He undergoes the hardships of being subject to a census by a foreign ruler, having to travel with his pregnant wife and having to find a place for her to deliver. He cares for Mary and Jesus during the pregnancy and time of birth in Bethlehem. He is thereafter the one who, together with Mary, is responsible for the child being "brought up" (Lk 4:16) at Nazareth, so much so that when Jesus speaks in the synagogue there, the people are surprised, for they have known him always simply as "Joseph's son" (Lk 4:22). It is also Joseph and Mary who see to the fulfillment of all the temple rites for Jesus. Luke presents the circumcision and naming, the purification and presentation, and the episode when Jesus is twelve. In these three passages, he emphatically shows Joseph and Mary to be models of obedience to the angel and the law of the Lord, thus also fulfilling the parental role of being faithful examples for the child.
The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus
The circumcision and naming of Jesus are dealt with in one verse (Lk 2:21), paralleling a much longer section for the circumcision and naming of John the Baptist (Lk 1:59-66). Both passages are introduced with a time marker indicating the eighth day as prescribed for the sign of the covenant made with Abraham (cf. Gen 17:12ff; Lev 12:3; Phil 3:5). That Mary and Joseph would have Jesus circumcised appears quite likely according to the customs of the faithful of their time. Though a detail such as who did the actual circumcision cannot be determined, there should be noted at least the possibility that it was Joseph. The father was probably the usual one to perform the operation, as in the case of Abraham (Gen 21:4); although occasionally the mother could do it, as did Zipporah (Ex 4:25); and in later times recourse could be made to a third party, probably a medic (1 Mac 1:61). No references are found for priests performing circumcision, and Jesus' circumcision is related before any mention of being taken to the temple.
The verse does not mention Mary or Joseph, but is phrased in the impersonal. Their role in the circumcision and naming seems to be taken for granted, however, both in parallel to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and in light of the fact that this passage serves as a transitional introduction to the following episode wherein they are the grammatical subjects seeing to the fulfillment of the prescriptions of the law. It appears curious that Luke does not say that Mary named the child. Mention of her fulfillment of the angel's mandate to do so (Lk 1:31) would be expected, just as Luke has noted that Zechariah fulfilled the angel's command to him to name his son John (Lk 1:13,63). Whereas Matthew clearly states that Joseph named Jesus as commanded by the angel (Mt 1:21,25), Luke says simply "he was called." In the case of John the Baptist, it is the father's will which prevails as the final word when the choice of the mother is questioned (Lk 1:59-63), though it must be noted also that it was the father who was commanded by the angel. In the case of Jesus, the context only leaves the impression that Mary and Joseph are cooperating so that the child be called "Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb" (Lk 1:21). The main emphasis is that Jesus' parents are obedient to God's word as communicated by the angel, just as in the following passage they will be obedient to God's law.
The Purification and Presentation
The next verse begins with another temporal marker, "And when the time came," that introduces the passage of the presentation and purification (Lk 2:22-40), which concludes with the first statement of the child's growth and the favor of God. The geography moves from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and finally to Nazareth. The grammar moves from the impersonal to a personal but unspecified "they" as subject (Lk 2:22), which a few verses later is seen to refer to Jesus' "parents" (Lk 2:27). The referent of "their purification" has been questioned, but grammatically it can only be the subject of the sentence, Mary and Joseph, even though no law exists for the purification of the father.
One thinks first of the purification of the mother on the fortieth day after giving birth (Lev 12:1ff), but the Greek term used is much broader than the precise term for "purification" used in the Greek Old Testament. This broader meaning can be seen in the manner Luke's same term is used in other parts of the New Testament (Mk 1:44; Lk 5:14; Jn 2:6; 3:25; Heb 1:3; 2 Pt 1:9). It does not necessarily refer to ritual impurity of the woman, but can refer generally to whatever rites need to be performed, including that of the redemption of the firstborn. Luke, in fact, freely combines these two different customs: the purification of the mother on the fortieth day after giving birth (Lev 12:1ff), and the presentation or consecration of the firstborn male (Lk 2:22-23; Ex 13:1,11ff), which could also be bought back (Ex 13:15; Num 18:15-16). "Their purification" thus simply indicates the participation of both Joseph and Mary in the fulfillment of the prescriptions of the law.
Citation of the law for presenting "every male that opens the womb" (Lk 2:23) evidences the reason for having noted at Jesus' birth that he was Mary's "firstborn son" (Lk 2:7). The sacrifice which Luke reports that Mary and Joseph offer, however, is not that for redeeming the child, but two doves or pigeons, the poorer of the two options prescribed for the purification of the mother (Lev 12:6). A concern of Luke's which far outweighs the details of the customs involved, is to relate that Jesus' parents complied with the law of the Lord in his regard. Luke emphasizes this by his customary method of repeating important words: "according to the law of Moses" (Lk 2:22), "as it is written in the law of the Lord" (Lk 2:23), "according to what is said in the law of the Lord" (Lk 2:24), "according to the custom of the law" (Lk 2:27). If four references to the law in six verses are not enough, this scene on the purification and presentation concludes with the abundantly clear message of the passage: "And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, ..." (Lk 2:39). Joseph and Mary are faithfully observant Jews.
Though The Protoevangelium of James and subsequent apocrypha have influenced art to show Simeon as an old high priest with a flowing beard who offers the child up to God, from Luke it appears more likely that Mary and Joseph did the presenting: "when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him ..." (Lk 2:27). Simeon, who is never said to be a Levitical priest, comes into the temple and praises God, whereupon Joseph, who is called "father" for the first time and is named before the mother, marvels together with Mary and receives his blessing (Lk 2:33). Simeon, moved by the "Holy Spirit" (Lk 2:25,26,27), and the "prophetess Anna" (Lk 2:36) fulfill the role of prophecy, while Jesus' parents are the executors of the rites fulfilling the law.
Joseph's role as father is important here. Together with Mary he brought Jesus to the temple. He would be economically responsible for providing the offering. He and Mary present the child, marvel at the prophecy, and receive Simeon's blessing as Jesus' "father and mother." Having fulfilled all the rites at the temple, he would presumably fulfill the usual fatherly role of teaching the Torah to Jesus at their home in Nazareth. This would seem to be implied in the summary verse: "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him" (Lk 2:40). Jesus' parents raise him in the law which he will fulfill (Lk 24:44).
Though Joseph's role as human father is clearly asserted and exercised, it is also just as clearly shown to be in tension with and in subordination to God's divine Fatherhood. Luke is careful to show the primacy of God over human parenthood, a point developed in a final episode in Luke 2, which occurs when Jesus is twelve.
The Adolescent Jesus in the Temple and at Nazareth
Mary and Joseph continue fulfilling their parental obligations to the temple by an annual Passover trip to Jerusalem (Lk 2:41). During Jesus' adolescence a type of challenge arises, signifying a new phase of transition between his childhood, during which he is dependent on his parents, and his future ministry in which he will proclaim his total independence from them in favor of his unique relationship with his heavenly Father: "... no one knows who the Son is except the Father ..." (Lk 10:22). In this scene Jesus' parents are unaware that he has stayed behind at the temple (Lk 2:43-44). They find him three days later more interested in conversing with the teachers there, than in returning with them. The bystanders are "amazed at his understanding," and Joseph and Mary are "astonished" (Lk 2:46-48), probably at the joy of finding him there, mingled with the even greater surprise that he would be so unconcerned about their feelings. Mary's words explain their worry by recalling the parental relationship between "son" and "your father and I," mentioning Joseph first in recognition of his headship over the household. Jesus' reply emphasizes the tension of the different perspectives (Lk 2:49). He is as surprised as they at the apparently opposing views, and the fact that they seem unaware of his duty to a higher authority, his "Father" (Lk 2:49).
The two occurrences of "you" in Jesus' reply are both in the plural, indicating that he is addressing both Mary and Joseph, in reply to Mary who speaks also on behalf of Joseph. In the phrase "in my Father's house," "house" may mean either "household" or "temple." Jesus' answer implies that his parents should have known where to find him, and that God is his Father. The first words of Jesus reported by Luke communicate the all important message that Jesus is God's Son in a way that transcends not only his being raised as son of Joseph, but even his conception in the womb of Mary. Mary and Joseph "did not understand" these words (Lk 2:50): their understanding of their present role as parents of the youth could not fathom the meaning of the transcendent mystery which he would be called to proclaim. They nevertheless accept his response unquestioningly, just as he patiently returns with them to Nazareth and is "obedient to them" (Lk 2:51). Here Luke presents a dramatic message: even with the awareness of being God's Son, Jesus remains subject to his human parents, postponing proclamation of his divine mission until the appointed time of his baptism.
These years in Nazareth have been called Jesus' "hidden life." No historical detail is preserved for us. He lives his simple role as child in a family, so as to be known by the people of his town as nothing more than "Joseph's son" (Lk 4:22). Joseph is the father who helps him increase "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:52). When the Son of Man is ready to begin his proclamation that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (Lk 4:18), Joseph's role is completed, and he is no longer mentioned in the Gospel. From good Joseph's faithful care, the child Jesus learns by human experience that no earthly father would give his son a serpent instead of a fish, nor a scorpion instead of an egg. His revelation to us, though, is how much more the heavenly Father in his infinite goodness will give us the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:11-13). The Son of God obeys obedient Joseph as earthly father in preparation for faithful obedience to the mission entrusted to him by his heavenly Father.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Joseph, Father and Protector of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Matthew
Because of his true marriage to Jesus' mother, Mary, Joseph is truly Jesus' father, although not in a natural, biological sense. Due to the inaccuracy of the terms "adopted" or "foster" father, it has been suggested that Joseph be called "matrimonial father," in that he acknowledges the legitimate offspring born to his wife; or "virginal father," since he is father in every way except by physical generation. His legal fatherhood is certainly key to Matthew 1, and it must be understood that in semitic thought such fatherhood was considered as no less real than biological fatherhood, so much so that phrases such as "descended according to the flesh" can be used without any incompatibility with the virginal conception (cf. Rom 1:3; 9:5).
Besides passing on a name in the line of David, Joseph also gives the faith name "Jesus," meaning "Savior" (Mt 1:20,25). This data leads one to assert that Joseph's affection for Jesus could not be less than that of any father for his natural child. To all appearances Jesus is known as Joseph's "son," so much so that people have difficulty imagining that he could be anything more (Mt 13:55). An examination of Matthew 2 will provide further information on Joseph and his exercise of fatherhood.
This episode of the magi is the only one of Matthew 1-2 in which Joseph is not a principal player and not even mentioned by name. We do learn, however, that Mary and Joseph had a house in Bethlehem, at least by the time the magi arrived. On entering they found "the child and his mother," a phrase that almost spontaneously leads one to think also of Joseph, since it occurs four other times in the chapter, always in connection with him (Mt 2:13,14,20,21). What is more, both the geography and the characters introduced in this scene flow into the following passage in which Joseph is again the protagonist. God has already begun to foil the threats from the Jerusalem authorities, by warning the foreign magi in a dream (Mt 2:12).
The fifth quotation closing the narrative, "He shall be called a Nazarene" (Mt 2:23), has no clear referent in the Old Testament. Some have suggested that the variant word used for "Nazarene" is a metaphorical combination of similar sounding Hebrew words nzîr, "holy" or "consecrated" like Samson from his conception in his mother's womb (Jgs 13:5; 16:17), and ner, a "branch" sprouting from the stump of Jesse, David's father (Is 11:1), two words which are combined in Isaiah 4:2-3. Whether or not that be the case, what seems evident in the context of the whole of Matthew's Gospel is that an explanation is being given for Jesus' coming from Nazareth in Galilee. His dwelling in Nazareth was in order that "what was spoken of by the prophets might be fulfilled" (Mt 2:23). This was a common phrase that could be applied to situations in continuity with God's saving plan throughout history, without always needing to refer to a particular literal verse, much as we today apply the phrase "in the spirit of Vatican II" to particular instances not specifically mentioned in any Council document. The citation answers the Nazareth problem by showing Jews as well as gentiles how this came about, and that it was in fulfillment of God's plan, as was being born in Bethlehem, the city of David.
Joseph's fatherhood is the instrument for the Son of God to be called "Son of David" (Mt 1:1,20), "Jesus" (Mt 1:25), and "Nazarene" (Mt 2:23). That fatherhood is real, human, legal, affectionate, protective, and also educative, as shall be seen in a later comment on "the carpenter." It is "matrimonial" and "virginal," since it begins during betrothal without sexual intercourse. It is in accord with fulfillment of the prophecies, and therefore is distinct from but obediently collaborative with the paternity of God, whom Jesus will later call his "Father."
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec4.php
Besides passing on a name in the line of David, Joseph also gives the faith name "Jesus," meaning "Savior" (Mt 1:20,25). This data leads one to assert that Joseph's affection for Jesus could not be less than that of any father for his natural child. To all appearances Jesus is known as Joseph's "son," so much so that people have difficulty imagining that he could be anything more (Mt 13:55). An examination of Matthew 2 will provide further information on Joseph and his exercise of fatherhood.
Problems with Nazareth
Whereas chapter one of Matthew explains the human parentage of the divinely conceived child and his connection with the line of David, chapter two explains why he was associated with Nazareth, another issue regarding his identity. The fact that Jesus was said to be "of Nazareth" (Mt 21:11; 26:71) in Galilee seems to have been a problem for some. Peter's Galilean accent associated him with Jesus of Nazareth whom he tried to deny (Mt 26:73). Galilee in general was not held in high esteem, and Nazareth was not a place from which the Messiah would be expected (Jn 1:46; 7:41-42,52). "Nazareth" and "Nazarene" are often mentioned in contexts of hostility, as if the name carried an element of prejudicial scorn (Mk 1:24; 14:67; Lk 4:34; Acts 22:8; 24:5; 26:9). The people of Jesus' own country are unbelieving and take offense at him (Mt 13:53-58; Mk 6:1-6; Lk 4:16,22-29). Matthew 2 thus introduces itself with "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea," the city of David, and then quickly shows the opposition of Jerusalem, followed by a geographical movement through Egypt that ends up in Nazareth.The Gentile Magi
In chapter two the emphasis is less on showing that the child is the "Son of David," the Messiah for the Jews, and more on his mission to the gentiles. The chapter can be said to develop the title "Son of Abraham," since Abraham is known as the father of many nations. In the first episode (Mt 2:1-12) of the chapter, gentile wise men from the East are the first to come pay homage to the child. They are looking for the newborn "king of the Jews" (Mt 2:2; 27:11,29,37), a title understood in Jerusalem to mean the destined descendent of David, whom the Jews were awaiting to establish God's kingdom, which was seen to imply the liberation of Israel from the foreign domination (Acts 1:6). That domination was then in the hands of the dynasty of Herod, which was under Roman control. Herod considered himself the only "king" (Mt 2:3) and was jealously and violently angered by any possible pretender to his throne. The Jewish chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem, who knew the prophecies, were in conspiracy with Herod and uninterested in seeking out the newborn king, while the gentile magi joyfully found and rendered homage to the child. Herod plotted "secretly" (Mt 2:7), in malevolent contrast to the earlier benevolent consideration of just Joseph to "secretly" separate from Mary (Mt 1:19); the same Greek word is used in each case.This episode of the magi is the only one of Matthew 1-2 in which Joseph is not a principal player and not even mentioned by name. We do learn, however, that Mary and Joseph had a house in Bethlehem, at least by the time the magi arrived. On entering they found "the child and his mother," a phrase that almost spontaneously leads one to think also of Joseph, since it occurs four other times in the chapter, always in connection with him (Mt 2:13,14,20,21). What is more, both the geography and the characters introduced in this scene flow into the following passage in which Joseph is again the protagonist. God has already begun to foil the threats from the Jerusalem authorities, by warning the foreign magi in a dream (Mt 2:12).
Saving and Protecting the Child
In the section which follows (Mt 2:13-23), Joseph is the visible protagonist who thwarts Herod in his intention to destroy the child. In this he exercises the protective role of father necessary for the survival of the child. Twice explicitly and once implicitly, it is again Joseph whom the angel of the Lord addresses for what regards the family (Mt 2:13,19,22). Both child and mother are mentioned in a passive role, entrusted to his care. As Joseph was a "just" or "upright" man of faith in accepting his role of father in Matthew 1, so now is he an upright man of faith in exercising that role by immediate, trusting, and unquestioning obedience to the three divine commands to flee by night to Egypt with Mary and Jesus, to return to Israel, and to move to Galilee where he settled at Nazareth. In the first two of these examples as in the initial dream in Matthew 1, Joseph's response is described in words that repeat almost verbatim the words of the angel. This absolute and exact faithfulness to God in fatherly concern for the welfare of the child makes Joseph God's instrument of liberation and fulfillment. Humbly and quietly he saves the Savior's life and establishes earthly residence for him.Joseph's Fatherhood
Five Scriptural fulfillment quotations are used to punctuate the episodes of Matthew's infancy narrative. Each shows in some way that Jesus fulfills the prophecies, and that Joseph's son is also God's Son. The first four refer to specific Old Testament texts (Is 7:14, Mic 5:2-3, Hos 11:1, Jer 31:15, quoted respectively in Mt 1:23; 2:6,15,18).The fifth quotation closing the narrative, "He shall be called a Nazarene" (Mt 2:23), has no clear referent in the Old Testament. Some have suggested that the variant word used for "Nazarene" is a metaphorical combination of similar sounding Hebrew words nzîr, "holy" or "consecrated" like Samson from his conception in his mother's womb (Jgs 13:5; 16:17), and ner, a "branch" sprouting from the stump of Jesse, David's father (Is 11:1), two words which are combined in Isaiah 4:2-3. Whether or not that be the case, what seems evident in the context of the whole of Matthew's Gospel is that an explanation is being given for Jesus' coming from Nazareth in Galilee. His dwelling in Nazareth was in order that "what was spoken of by the prophets might be fulfilled" (Mt 2:23). This was a common phrase that could be applied to situations in continuity with God's saving plan throughout history, without always needing to refer to a particular literal verse, much as we today apply the phrase "in the spirit of Vatican II" to particular instances not specifically mentioned in any Council document. The citation answers the Nazareth problem by showing Jews as well as gentiles how this came about, and that it was in fulfillment of God's plan, as was being born in Bethlehem, the city of David.
Joseph's fatherhood is the instrument for the Son of God to be called "Son of David" (Mt 1:1,20), "Jesus" (Mt 1:25), and "Nazarene" (Mt 2:23). That fatherhood is real, human, legal, affectionate, protective, and also educative, as shall be seen in a later comment on "the carpenter." It is "matrimonial" and "virginal," since it begins during betrothal without sexual intercourse. It is in accord with fulfillment of the prophecies, and therefore is distinct from but obediently collaborative with the paternity of God, whom Jesus will later call his "Father."
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec4.php
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Joseph the Husband of Mary in the Gospel of St. Luke
In Luke 1 the narrative of Jesus' conception presents Mary in a certain disjunction from Joseph to emphasize her conjunction with God alone. The first character introduced is the angel, to show God's initiative (Lk 1:26). Next the couple Mary and Joseph are presented as a parallel to the preceding narrative of Zechariah and Elizabeth, but in a contrasting manner. The man Zechariah is named first and is the central character who receives the angel's message and is to name the child, while Elizabeth is barren and is mentioned sparsely (Lk 1:5-25). Mary's sociological position is certainly more lowly than that of Zechariah. She is a young girl from Nazareth, a village in Galilee, rather than a priest serving in the temple of the capital city of Jerusalem, and yet she is the one "full of grace," favored by God to conceive the Son of the Most High through the power of the Holy Spirit. In this reversal, the woman is introduced first and she alone is said to be addressed by the angel and commissioned to name the child, while Joseph is barely mentioned (Lk 1:26-38). Mary proclaims this inversion as God's choice of her lowliness over the might of the proud (Lk 1:46-55). The repetition of the word "virgin" in the sentence introducing Joseph (Lk 1:26) and Mary's statement that she has had no sexual relations (Lk 1:34) both emphasize that the conception in her womb is totally God's work in which Joseph has no direct part.
In this context and mode of presentation, however, Joseph is clearly portrayed as "betrothed" to Mary (Lk 1:27; 2:5). The phrase "virgin betrothed to a man" is almost identical to the Greek translation of Deuteronomy 22:23, a passage that seems to be background also for Matthew 1:18-25, which similarly uses the same words for "betrothed" and "virgin." Luke offers no explanation to reconcile this betrothal with divine conception as Matthew does, but in all brevity he presents precisely the same facts: Mary conceives as a virgin while betrothed to Joseph, who is of the house of David. "Betrothed" is again understood to mean that all the formal contractual agreements for the marriage had been finalized, while Mary's statement to the angel indicates that Joseph had not yet made the final step of taking her into his home. Luke 1:34 should be translated "since I have no marital relations with a man," which is a common meaning of the Greek verb "know" when applied to a man and a woman, used also in Matthew 1:25. It should not be translated "since I have no husband," since the betrothed could be called husband and wife even before the act of coming to live together in the same house, as seen in Matthew 1:16,19,20,24.
Luke's intention to present Mary and Joseph's relationship as virginal, at least up through the time of conception, is clear from the verses cited (Lk 1:27,34), and from the angel's explanation about the Holy Spirit coming upon her with the result that her child will be called "holy, the Son of God" (Lk 1:35). The word "firstborn" (Lk 2:6) does not imply that other children were born thereafter, but only that this is the one entitled to the privileges specified by the Mosaic laws, such as the special consecration which will be referred to in the passage on taking Jesus to the temple (Lk 2:23; Ex 13:2).
Mary and Joseph are betrothed at the time, but the physical conception takes place apart from the betrothal, and yet seems to confirm rather than invalidate it. The first function of this betrothal that Luke presents is to root the Messiah in the tree of David, by giving him a lineage traceable through Joseph, who is of the house of David. Luke never explicitly applies the words "husband" or "wife" to Joseph and Mary, but repeats again the word "betrothed" even in the context of their going together to Bethlehem (Lk 2:5). Mary and Joseph are obviously together throughout the birth and the raising of the child and are repeatedly called "parents" together or referred to as "they" or "you" in the plural (Lk 2:6-7,16,22,27, 39,41-46,48-51). For the census Joseph is the sole active character, but he is in conjunction with Mary, who is in conjunction with the Messiah she bears in her womb. The child is associated with Bethlehem, the city of David, through him. Mary's role to give birth and Joseph's role to give Davidic heritage are joined due to their marriage. They are seen as husband and wife during the adoration of the shepherds, during the fulfillment of the legal prescriptions in the temple, during the episode of finding Jesus in the temple at the age of twelve, and during the years at Nazareth when Jesus was obedient to them. They provide the unity and affection for the Son of the Most High to be raised in an ordinary human household. Without employing the terms "husband" and "wife" used by Matthew, Luke presents a more detailed portrayal of their acting as such during Jesus' infancy and into his adolescence.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part2sec3.php
In this context and mode of presentation, however, Joseph is clearly portrayed as "betrothed" to Mary (Lk 1:27; 2:5). The phrase "virgin betrothed to a man" is almost identical to the Greek translation of Deuteronomy 22:23, a passage that seems to be background also for Matthew 1:18-25, which similarly uses the same words for "betrothed" and "virgin." Luke offers no explanation to reconcile this betrothal with divine conception as Matthew does, but in all brevity he presents precisely the same facts: Mary conceives as a virgin while betrothed to Joseph, who is of the house of David. "Betrothed" is again understood to mean that all the formal contractual agreements for the marriage had been finalized, while Mary's statement to the angel indicates that Joseph had not yet made the final step of taking her into his home. Luke 1:34 should be translated "since I have no marital relations with a man," which is a common meaning of the Greek verb "know" when applied to a man and a woman, used also in Matthew 1:25. It should not be translated "since I have no husband," since the betrothed could be called husband and wife even before the act of coming to live together in the same house, as seen in Matthew 1:16,19,20,24.
Luke's intention to present Mary and Joseph's relationship as virginal, at least up through the time of conception, is clear from the verses cited (Lk 1:27,34), and from the angel's explanation about the Holy Spirit coming upon her with the result that her child will be called "holy, the Son of God" (Lk 1:35). The word "firstborn" (Lk 2:6) does not imply that other children were born thereafter, but only that this is the one entitled to the privileges specified by the Mosaic laws, such as the special consecration which will be referred to in the passage on taking Jesus to the temple (Lk 2:23; Ex 13:2).
Mary and Joseph are betrothed at the time, but the physical conception takes place apart from the betrothal, and yet seems to confirm rather than invalidate it. The first function of this betrothal that Luke presents is to root the Messiah in the tree of David, by giving him a lineage traceable through Joseph, who is of the house of David. Luke never explicitly applies the words "husband" or "wife" to Joseph and Mary, but repeats again the word "betrothed" even in the context of their going together to Bethlehem (Lk 2:5). Mary and Joseph are obviously together throughout the birth and the raising of the child and are repeatedly called "parents" together or referred to as "they" or "you" in the plural (Lk 2:6-7,16,22,27, 39,41-46,48-51). For the census Joseph is the sole active character, but he is in conjunction with Mary, who is in conjunction with the Messiah she bears in her womb. The child is associated with Bethlehem, the city of David, through him. Mary's role to give birth and Joseph's role to give Davidic heritage are joined due to their marriage. They are seen as husband and wife during the adoration of the shepherds, during the fulfillment of the legal prescriptions in the temple, during the episode of finding Jesus in the temple at the age of twelve, and during the years at Nazareth when Jesus was obedient to them. They provide the unity and affection for the Son of the Most High to be raised in an ordinary human household. Without employing the terms "husband" and "wife" used by Matthew, Luke presents a more detailed portrayal of their acting as such during Jesus' infancy and into his adolescence.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part2sec3.php
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Joseph the Husband of Mary in the Gospel of St. Matthew
Joseph, Betrothed "Just Man," Husband of Mary
Matthew does not hesitate to call Joseph and Mary "husband" (Mt 1:16,19) and "wife" (Mt 1:20,24) without qualification, despite the virginal conception of Jesus. In the only passage of the entire Gospel which speaks of their marriage, Matthew 1:18-25, the virginal conception is mentioned almost casually, as if the readers were already aware of it, but unaware of how it could be reconciled with Davidic messianism. If the word "origin" in the introductory verse 18 is to be translated any more specifically, it could read "Now the parentage of Jesus Christ was like this," rather than "Now the birth of ...," since it explains the situation of Jesus' human parents in relationship to the divine mystery, and does not actually describe the birth itself. This passage, which has been interpreted in a variety of ways, describes Joseph's experience and may be correctly understood only in light of this fact.
Background of Betrothal and Divorce
There is no evidence whatsoever in the Gospel to support the image of an old widowed Joseph as presented in the Apocrypha, which merit no claim to historicity. The most likely presumption on reading that Mary and Joseph were "betrothed" (Mt 1:18) is that they were two youths of ordinary marriageable age. Common practice was to celebrate marriage in two main stages, the first being that of the contractual arrangements culminating in consent or "betrothal." After a period of perhaps one year in which preparations were made to enter together into a new home, the second stage of actually "taking" one's wife into that home occurred, and would be accompanied by a great feast such as that of the ten maidens (Mt 25:1-13) or that at Cana (Jn 2:1-11). The conception of Jesus occurred while Mary and Joseph were in that period between betrothal and cohabitation, thus "before they had come together" (Mt 1:18).
Betrothal was much more than modern day "engagement." Its juridical consequences were similar to those of a Catholic marriage today for which the union has not yet been consummated, although the wedding was validly celebrated. The betrothed were already called "husband" and "wife," enjoying the same legal rights as spouses who had already celebrated their marriage feast (cf. Dt 20:7; 25:5-10; Mt 22:24). Only cohabitation and conjugal relations were excluded during the period of betrothal. Infidelity carried all the consequences of adultery. Separation required a formal decree.
There were two manners of effecting a divorce during betrothal. The first was by means of a defamatory trial for suspected adultery, in which the husband publicly accused the woman, exposing her to the punishment of death prescribed by the law (Dt 22:23-24). A husband whose betrothed was certainly guilty of adultery could not retain her, but he could proceed with the second, less public manner of divorce. On his own initiative, in a domestic manner without public trial, he could give her a declaration before two witnesses and come to an agreement on financial matters. In the case of rape (which was presumed when relations took place outside the city), no public trial and condemnation was prescribed (Dt 22:25-27), and therefore the first manner of divorce would not apply, although the domestic type of divorce before two witnesses might still be enacted. Mere suspicion of adultery need not necessarily be resolved or acted upon. Lastly, it must be noted that a domestic divorce during betrothal did not necessarily imply any type of sexual infidelity or suspicion, but could proceed even for unspecified reasons.
Problems with the Common "Suspicion Interpretation"
Since the time of the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, many have interpreted Matthew 1:18-21 to say that Joseph suspected Mary of infidelity. Although Joseph is commonly the subject of active verbs in Matthew, verse 1:18 does not say that he found her with child. Instead we encounter the impersonal "she was found," which can equally be translated "she found herself" or simply "it happened that she was." The suspicion interpretation mentally separates the phrase "of the Holy Spirit" from its verb, as if those finding that she is pregnant do not know the origin of the pregnancy. Grammatically there is no reason for such a separation, since taken at face value the sentence seems to describe a single discovery, that she was "with child of the Holy Spirit." This single discovery is in fact the central point the passage is explaining. We are not told how Joseph learned of the pregnancy. It is often supposed that he simply observed the fact of the pregnancy without being told of it first. Many have thought that it would not be Mary's place to reveal this mystery to anyone, but even so she might still be obliged in fairness to her betrothed to state her innocence in advance, even though she might not be free to explain it. One might also hypothesize that out of trust, sensitivity, and fairness to her betrothed, Mary was obliged to reveal the mystery to Joseph, if to no one else, although she still was not able to reveal his vocation to him, since this could come only from God.
Whatever the manner of Joseph's learning of Mary's pregnancy, the Gospel says that, until the angel appeared to him, the reaction of Joseph, the just man, was to consider quietly separating from her. We are not told why he planned to divorce her, and it must be noted that Matthew makes no mention of any suspicion on the part of Joseph. Although the common suspicion hypothesis enjoys wide popularity, it is not the only interpretation. Nor is it without problems, for it depends on a number of assumptions that cannot be proved. Its assumption that "of the Holy Spirit" is added for the readers' knowledge, while unknown to Joseph, makes the phrase an unusual, superfluous addition; whereas, taken at face value, the sentence indicates that Mary and Joseph knew of Mary's pregnancy and of its divine origin. Nor does the suspicion interpretation lend itself to the best understanding of the phrases "just man" and "do not fear," which occur in the passage and which we must examine in depth.
Joseph's Justice
Matthew 1:19 follows by stating that Joseph, "being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly." Adherence to the suspicion theory results in trying to interpret Joseph's "justice" simply in terms of his reaction to the law in the face of this suspicion. If Joseph knew of the virginal conception from the start, however, then his justice can be understood in the fuller sense of trusting, obedient faith in the Lord. Matthew uses the Greek word meaning "just" more than the other evangelists. From reading the translations, one may not always realize that this same word is being used, since in different places it is also rendered as "righteous," "upright," or "innocent." Matthew applies the word to those people of faith of the Old Testament who longed for the fulfillment of the promise (Mt 13:17; 23:29), and to those disciples who will see the fulfillment of salvation (Mt 13:43,49; 25:37,46). New Testament letters also refer to the just as those who live by faith (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38).
Matthew, who is most familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures, is certainly aware of the meaning of this same word used throughout the Old Testament, wherein God who is preeminently "just" or "righteous" calls his people to emulate his holiness. In the Psalms the righteous shall possess the land (Ps 37:29), shall flourish like the palm tree (Ps 92:12), shall have light rise for them in darkness (Ps 112:4). Three specific people to whom the word is applied are Noah, who is the instrument of a purifying new creation (Gen 6:9; 7:1); Tamar, who is one of the irregularities entering into Matthew's genealogy of Christ (Gen 38:26; Mt 1:3); and king David, to whom Matthew has given so much attention (1 Sam 24:17). Without mentioning specific names, chapter 10 of the Wisdom of Solomon gives a resume with unmistakable references to the just men of salvation history: Noah (Wis 10:4), Abraham (Wis 10:5), Lot (Wis 10:6; cf. 2 Pt 2:7), Jacob (Wis 10:10), Joseph (Wis 10:13), and the people led out of Egypt by Moses (Wis 10:15,20). The Wisdom reference to Cain as unrighteous, is paralleled by Matthew's characterization of Abel, his brother, as righteous (Wis 10:3; Mt 23:35; cf. Heb 11:4; 1 Jn 3:12).
Those who hold that Joseph suspected Mary of infidelity then interpret his justice as simple obedience to the law by not marrying an adulteress, or as compassion by doing it quietly rather than publicly, or as a combination of the two. Either of these explanations is quite weak: Matthew is not emphasizing Joseph's obedience to the law here, stating rather that Joseph was "unwilling" to expose her to the punishment of the law; and compassion or leniency are not normally signified by the word "just" in Scripture. A variant interpretation is that Joseph suspected not that Mary was unfaithful, but that she was the innocent victim of rape, and that he decided to separate so as to allow her to marry the father of her child. In this hypothesis, it is even more difficult to explain what type of justice is involved in quietly leaving a raped betrothed to marry her rapist. Furthermore, in the case of a raped betrothed the law prescribes death for the rapist, rather than divorce from the betrothed (Dt 22:25-27).
It seems, rather, that Joseph is a "just man" in the same sense used for the examples cited throughout the rest of Scripture. Joseph is preeminently a man of faith. Like the people listed above, he awaits the fulfillment of the promise. Like them he believes God and places himself at his disposition as one of the final humble instruments for the promised fulfillment of salvation. He believes that the pregnancy is by the Holy Spirit, and his reaction before the mystery is one of reverent awe. His response is like that of Moses removing his sandals before the burning bush (Ex 3:5), of Isaiah terrified by the appearance of the thrice holy God (Is 6:5), of Elizabeth before the mother of the Lord (Lk 2:43), of the centurion whom Jesus offers to visit (Mt 8:8), and of Peter who seeing his nets filled exclaims: "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinner" (Lk 5:8). Joseph decides to divorce Mary in the private, domestic, "no fault" manner before two witnesses (or perhaps with none at all) not out of suspicion, but in order to cooperate with God's plan. Given the Incarnation, he cannot presume to continue with this marriage, to appropriate to himself and to act as father of the divine child engendered by the Holy Spirit. His uprightness, based on deep faith, thus carries throughout the whole passage that follows, and is not limited to the one act of deciding to divorce Mary.
The Angel's Message
As Joseph "considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream," and indicated to him his vocation with respect to this awesome mystery (Mt 1:20-23). This passage contains many elements that are characteristic of annunciations of births and of commissionings, as found in other parts of Scripture. One of these elements is that the Lord's messenger addresses him by name and by the title that indicates the role he is to play in guaranteeing Davidic descent to the child, as already indicated in the genealogy. The angel's first words of address are, "Joseph, son of David" (Mt 1:20), in the same way that Gideon was addressed as "you mighty man of valor" (Jgs 6:12) to indicate the role he would be sent to play in God's plan.
The words that follow, "do not fear," are a common formula uttered by angels in the New Testament, but only on momentous occasions, such as the annunciations of the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus (Lk 1:13,30), the declaration that Peter "will be catching men" (Lk 5:10), the announcement to the women that Jesus is risen and that they are sent to tell the brethren (Mt 28:5,10), and the commission for Paul to "speak up and not be silent" (Acts 18:9). The angel's words are meant to directly dispel the overwhelming awe that Joseph feels before the mystery of the Incarnation, now blended with his awe at the appearance of the angel. The "do not fear" is not spoken to simply relieve whatever feelings might accompany suspicion. Such feelings would perhaps be more like hurt, sorrow, anger, or jealousy, but not "fear" as understood in the other situations addressed by the angel. Like Gideon (Jgs 6:22-23, cf. Ex 33:20) Joseph must be reassured, and like Tobias (Tob 6:15-17) he needs a communication from God to know that he is divinely chosen for this marriage.
Current translations of Matthew 1:20 are based on the suspicion hypothesis and therefore separate "do not fear to take Mary your wife" from what follows by a comma and by a conjunction such as "for," thus interpreting that the angel is telling Joseph what he does not know: "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." To learn of the divine conception for the first time, however, would seem reason to experience fear in the biblical sense seen in the examples above, rather than reason to allay fear. The Greek text uses no such punctuation, and grammatical analysis of the conjunctions used shows that instead of being translated as "for . and," they could also be rendered "indeed . but." If Joseph already knows that Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and if this very knowledge is the reason for his planning to separate from her out of reverential fear, then the angel's words are understood to respond directly to that reality, by telling him not to hesitate about continuing with the marriage. He is to have an important role in this work of God: to act as Mary's husband and to name the child. The translation could thus read: "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife even though that which is conceived in her is indeed of the Spirit that is Holy. She will bear a son, whom you will give the name Jesus ." With these words Joseph is given his vocation and mission. The angel is telling him to continue with his original plan to take Mary his wife into his home, in accord with the normal final stage of marriage for which they had been preparing. The importance of giving the child a name in the line of David has already been shown. The call to name the child "Jesus" is an invitation to righteous Joseph to base his life on faith in the salvation promised. As soon as the message is communicated to Joseph, he obeys in the tradition of the patriarchs. He is the just man of faith who "on rising from sleep" immediately does as the angel commands, taking Mary as his wife and naming the child "Jesus" (Mt 1:24-25).
Virginity
Although Joseph and Mary were truly married and formed a family together, Joseph "knew her not until she had borne a son" (Mt 1:25). This is the biblical way of saying that they refrained from normal conjugal relations. Although we are not told why they did so, we may presume that it was out of respect for this unique mystery of virginal conception and divine Incarnation. In this they were in fulfillment of the Greek version of the Old Testament prophecy about a virgin bearing a son (Is 7:14), as cited in Matthew 1:23. The biblical expression for "until" makes absolutely no implication about sexual relations after the birth, as our English word does. In Matthew 28:20, for example, Jesus' promise to be with his disciples until the close of the age does not imply that he will not be with them thereafter. In 2 Samuel 6:23 (2 Kgs 6:23 of the Greek Old Testament), Michal's having no child until the day of her death certainly does not mean that she has any afterwards. Both references use the same conjunction for "until." The tradition of the Fathers of the Church firmly rejected the interpretation that the "brothers of the Lord" listed in Matthew 13:55 and elsewhere were children of Mary, and largely disputed the Apocryphal version that they could be children of Joseph by a former marriage. The Catholic position has been and is that the unique marriage of Mary and Joseph remained permanently virginal. Matthew does not pronounce either in favor of this or against it. Neither does he see that virginity in any way diminishes the marriage of Mary and Joseph, which was willed by God and was necessary not only for Davidic descent, as already shown, but also for the protection of Mary and the rearing of the child in a loving home.
Mary and Joseph are truly "husband" and "wife" by divine decree. In Matthew 2 it is Joseph whom the angel addresses to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt, and then again to go to Nazareth and establish a permanent home there. As husband and wife, Joseph and Mary share in their respective manners the experiences of the virginal conception, of the birth and naming of the child, of a home in Bethlehem, of the journey into Egypt to escape from Herod, and of domestic life at Nazareth. Most of all, they share a deep faith in being able to participate so closely in the work of salvation. It would be difficult to imagine that their virginal love and affection could be second to that of any married couple, considering the greatness of what they share. As husband and wife, they serve as parents to the Son of God.
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec3.php
Taken from http://www.osjoseph.org/stjoseph/scripture/part1sec3.php
Monday, April 4, 2011
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION REDEMPTORIS CUSTOS OF POPE BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
PATRON OF THE CHURCH IN OUR DAY
28. At a difficult time in the Church's history, Pope Pius IX, wishing to place her under the powerful patronage of the holy patriarch Joseph, declared him "Patron of the Catholic Church."(42) For Pius IX this was no idle gesture, since by virtue of the sublime dignity which God has granted to his most faithful servant Joseph, "the Church, after the Blessed Virgin, his spouse, has always held him in great honor and showered him with praise, having recourse to him amid tribulations."(43)
What are the reasons for such great confidence? Leo XIII explained it in this way: "The reasons why St. Joseph must be considered the special patron of the Church, and the Church in turn draws exceeding hope from his care and patronage, chiefly arise from his having been the husband of Mary and the presumed father of Jesus..., Joseph was in his day the lawful and natural guardian, head and defender of the Holy Family.... It is thus fitting and most worthy of Joseph's dignity that, in the same way that he once kept unceasing holy watch over the family of Nazareth, so now does he protect and defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ."(44)
29. This patronage must be invoked as ever necessary for the Church, not only as a defense against all dangers, but also, and indeed primarily, as an impetus for her renewed commitment to evangelization in the world and to re-evangelization in those lands and nations where-as I wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Christideles Laici - "religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and...are now put to a hard test."(45) In order to bring the first proclamation of Christ, or to bring it anew wherever it has been neglected or forgotten, the Church has need of special "power from on high" (cf. Lk 24:49; Acts 1:8): a gift of the Spirit of the Lord, a gift which is not unrelated to the intercession and example of his saints.
30. Besides trusting in Joseph's sure protection, the Church also trusts in his noble example, which transcends all individual states of life and serves as a model for the entire Christian community, whatever the condition and duties of each of its members may be.
As the Constitution on Divine Revelation of the Second Vatican Council has said, the basic attitude of the entire Church must be that of "hearing the word of God with reverence,"(46) an absolute readiness to serve faithfully God's salvific will revealed in Jesus. Already at the beginning of human redemption, after Mary, we find the model of obedience made incarnate in St. Joseph, the man known for having faithfully carried out God's commands.
Pope Paul VI invited us to invoke Joseph's patronage "as the Church has been wont to do in these recent times, for herself in the first place, with a spontaneous theological reflection on the marriage of divine and human action in the great economy of the Redemption, in which economy the first-the divine one-is wholly sufficient unto itself, while the second-the human action which is ours-though capable of nothing (cf. Jn 15:5), is never dispensed from a humble but conditional and ennobling collaboration. The Church also calls upon Joseph as her protector because of a profound and ever present desire to reinvigorate her ancient life with true evangelical virtues, such as shine forth in St. Joseph."(47)
31. The Church transforms these needs into prayer. Recalling that God wished to entrust the beginnings of our redemption to the faithful care of St. Joseph, she asks God to grant that she may faithfully cooperate in the work of salvation; that she may receive the same faithfulness and purity of heart that inspired Joseph in serving the Incarnate World; and that she may walk before God in the ways of holiness and justice, following Joseph's example and through his intercession.(48)
One hundred years ago, Pope Leo XIII had already exhorted the Catholic world to pray for the protection of St. Joseph, Patron of the whole Church. The Encyclical Epistle Quamquam Pluries appealed to Joseph's "fatherly love...for the child Jesus" and commended to him, as "the provident guardian of the divine Family," "the beloved inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by his blood." Since that time-as I recalled at the beginning of this Exhortation-the Church has implored the protection of St. Joseph on the basis of "that sacred bond of charity which united him to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God," and the Church has commended to Joseph all of her cares, including those dangers which threaten the human family.
Even today we have many reasons to pray in a similar way: "Most beloved father, dispel the evil of falsehood and sin...graciously assist us from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness...and just as once you saved the Child Jesus from mortal danger, so now defend God's holy Church from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity."(49) Today we still have good reason to commend everyone to St. Joseph.
32. It is my heartfelt wish that these reflections on the person of St. Joseph will renew in us the prayerful devotion which my Predecessor called for a century ago. Our prayers and the very person of Joseph have renewed significance for the Church in our day in light of the Third Christian Millennium.
The Second Vatican Council made all of us sensitive once again to the "great things which God has done," and to that "economy of salvation" of which St. Joseph was a special minister. Commending ourselves, then, to the protection of him to whose custody God "entrusted his greatest and most precious treasures,"(50) let us at the same time learn from him how to be servants of the "economy of salvation." May St. Joseph become for all of us an exceptional teacher in the service of Christ's saving mission, a mission which is the responsibility of each and every member of the Church: husbands and wives, parents, those who live by the work of their hands or by any other kind of work, those called to the contemplative life and those called to the apostolate.
This just man, who bore within himself the entire heritage of the Old Covenant, was also brought into the "beginning" of the New and Eternal Covenant in Jesus Christ. May he show us the paths of this saving Covenant as we stand at the threshold of the next millennium, in which there must be a continuation and further development of the "fullness of time" that belongs the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation of the Word.
May St. Joseph obtain for the Church and for the world, as well as for each of us, the blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Given at Rome, in St. Peter's, on August 15 - the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - in the year 1989, the eleventh of my Pontificate.
JOHN PAUL II
42. Cf. Sacror. Rituum Congreg., Decr. Quemadmodum Deus (December 8, 1870): loc. cit., p.283.
43. Ibid.: loc. cit., pp. 282f.
44. Leo XIII, Encyclical Epistle Quamquam pluries (August 15, 1889): loc. cit., pp. 177-179.
45. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifidele Laici (December 30, 1988), 34: AAS 81 (1989), p. 456.
46. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, 1.
47. Paul VI, Discourse (March 19, 1969): Insegnamenti, VII (1969) p. 1269.
48. Cf. Roman Missal, Collect, Prayer over the Gifts for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Prayer after Communion from the Votive Mass of St. Joseph.
49. Cf. Leo XIII, "Oratio ad Sanctum Iosephum," contained immediately after the text of the Encyclical Epistle Quamquam pluries (August 15, 1889)-Leonis XIII P.M. Acta, IX (1890), p. 183.
50. Sacror Rituum Congreg., Decr. Quemadmodum Deus (December 8 1870): loc. cit., p. 282.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION REDEMPTORIS CUSTOS OF POPE BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
THE PRIMACY OF THE INTERIOR LIFE
25. The same aura of silence that envelops everything else about Joseph also shrouds his work as a carpenter in the house of Nazareth. It is, however, a silence that reveals in a special way the inner portrait of the man. The Gospels speak exclusively of what Joseph "did." Still, they allow us to discover in his "actions" - shrouded in silence as they are - an aura of deep contemplation. Joseph was in daily contact with the mystery "hidden from ages past," and which "dwelt" under his roof. This explains, for example, why St. Teresa of Jesus, the great reformer of the Carmelites, promoted the renewal of veneration to St. Joseph in Western Christianity.
26. The total sacrifice, whereby Joseph surrendered his whole existence to the demands of the Messiah's coming into his home, becomes understandable only in the light of his profound interior life. It was from this interior life that "very singular commands and consolations came, bringing him also the logic and strength that belong to simple and clear souls, and giving him the power of making great decisions-such as the decision to put his liberty immediately at the disposition of the divine designs, to make over to them also his legitimate human calling, his conjugal happiness, to accept the conditions, the responsibility and the burden of a family, but, through an incomparable virginal love, to renounce that natural conjugal love that is the foundation and nourishment of the family.(37)
This submission to God, this readiness of will to dedicate oneself to all that serves him, is really nothing less than that exercise of devotion which constitutes one expression of the virtue of religion.(38)
27. The communion of life between Joseph and Jesus leads us to consider once again the mystery of the Incarnation, precisely in reference to the humanity of Jesus as the efficacious instrument of his divinity for the purpose of sanctifying man: "By virtue of his divinity, Christ's human actions were salvific for us, causing grace within us, either by merit or by a certain efficacy."(39)
Among those actions, the gospel writers highlight those which have to do with the Paschal Mystery, but they also underscore the importance of physical contact with Jesus for healing (cf. for example, Mk 1:41), and the influence Jesus exercised upon John the Baptist when they were both in their mothers' wombs (cf. Lk 1:41-
44).
As we have seen, the apostolic witness did not neglect the story of Jesus' birth, his circumcision, his presentation in the Temple, his flight into Egypt and his hidden life in Nazareth. It recognized the "mystery" of grace present in each of these saving "acts," inasmuch as they all share the same source of love: the divinity of Christ. If through Christ's humanity this love shone on all mankind, the first beneficiaries were undoubtedly those whom the divine will had most intimately associated with itself: Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and Joseph, his presumed father.(40)
Why should the "fatherly" love of Joseph not have had an influence upon the "filial" love of Jesus? And vice versa why should the "filial" love of Jesus not have had an influence upon the "fatherly" love of Joseph, thus leading to a further deepening of their unique relationship? Those souls most sensitive to the impulses of divine love have rightly seen in Joseph a brilliant example of the interior life.
Furthermore, in Joseph, the apparent tension between the active and the contemplative life finds an ideal harmony that is only possible for those who possess the perfection of charity. Following St. Augustine's well-known distinction between the love of the truth (caritas veritatis) and the practical demands of love (necessitas caritatis),(41) we can say that Joseph experienced both love of the truth-that pure contemplative love of the divine Truth which radiated from the humanity of Christ-and the demands of love-that equally pure and selfless love required for his vocation to safeguard and develop the humanity of Jesus, which was inseparably linked to his divinity.
37. Ibid.: loc. cit., p. 1267.
38. Cf. St. Thomas, Summa Theol. II-IIae, q. 82, a. 3, ad 2.
39. Ibid., III, q. 8, a. 1, ad 1.
40. Cf. Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Haurietis aquas (May 15, 1956), III: AAS 48 (1956), pp. 329f.
41. Cf. St. Thomas, Summa Theol. II-IIae, q. 182, a. 1, ad 3.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION REDEMPTORIS CUSTOS OF POPE BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
WORK AS AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE
22. Work was the daily expression of love in the life of the Family of Nazareth. The Gospel specifies the kind of work Joseph did in order to support his family: he was a carpenter. This simple word sums up Joseph's entire life. For Jesus, these were hidden years, the years to which Luke refers after recounting the episode that occurred in the Temple: "And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them" (Lk 2:51). This "submission" or obedience of Jesus in the house of Nazareth should be understood as a sharing in the work of Joseph. Having learned the work of his presumed father, he was known as "the carpenter's son." If the Family of Nazareth is an example and model for human families, in the order of salvation and holiness, so too, by analogy, is Jesus' work at the side of Joseph the carpenter. In our own day, the Church has emphasized this by instituting the liturgical memorial of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1. Human work, and especially manual labor, receive special prominence in the Gospel. Along with the humanity of the Son of God, work too has been taken up in the mystery of the Incarnation, and has also been redeemed in a special way. At the workbench where he plied his trade together with Jesus, Joseph brought human work closer to the mystery of the Redemption.
23. In the human growth of Jesus "in wisdom, age and grace," the virtue of industriousness played a notable role, since "work is a human good" which "transforms nature" and makes man "in a sense, more human."(34)
The importance of work in human life demands that its meaning be known and assimilated in order to "help all people to come closer to God, the Creator and Redeemer, to participate in his salvific plan for man and the world, and to deepen...friendship with Christ in their lives, by accepting, through faith, a living participation in his threefold mission as Priest, Prophet and King."(35)
24. What is crucially important here is the sanctification of daily life, a sanctification which each person must acquire according to his or her own state, and one which can be promoted according to a model accessible to all people: "St. Joseph is the model of those humble ones that Christianity raises up to great destinies;...he is the proof that in order to be a good and genuine follower of Christ, there is no need of great things-it is enough to have the common, simple and human virtues, but they need to be true and authentic."(36)
34. Cf. Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens (September 14, 1981), 9: AAS 73 (1981), pp. 599f.
35. Ibid., 24: loc. cit., p. 638. The Popes in recent times have constantly presented St. Joseph as the "model" of workers and laborers; Cf., for example, Leo XIII, Encyclical Epistle Quamquam pluries (August 15, 1889): loc. cit., p. 180; Benedict XV, Motu proprio Bonum sane (July 25, 1920): loc. cit., pp. 314-316; Pius XII, Discourse (March 11, 1945), 4: AAS 37 (1945), p. 72: Discourse (May 1, 1955): AAS 47 (1955), p. 406; John XXIII, Radio Address (May 1, 1960): AAS 52 (1960), p. 398.
36. Paul VI, Discourse (March 19, 1969): Insegnamenti, VII (1969), p. 1268.
Friday, April 1, 2011
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION REDEMPTORIS CUSTOS OF POPE BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
A JUST MAN A HUSBAND
17. In the course of that pilgrimage of faith which was his life, Joseph, like Mary, remained faithful to God's call until the end. While Mary's life was the bringing to fullness of that fiat first spoken at the Annunciation, at the moment of Joseph's own "annunciation" he said nothing; instead he simply "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him" (Mt 1:24). And this first "doing" became the beginning of "Joseph's way." The Gospels do not record any word ever spoken by Joseph along that way. But the silence of Joseph has its own special eloquence, for thanks to that silence we can understand the truth of the Gospel's judgment that he was "a just man" (Mt 1:19).
One must come to understand this truth, for it contains one of the most important testimonies concerning man and his vocation. Through many generations the Church has read this testimony with ever greater attention and with deeper understanding, drawing, as it were, "what is new and what is old" (Mt 13:52) from the storehouse of the noble figure of Joseph.
18. Above all, the "just" man of Nazareth possesses the clear characteristics of a husband. Luke refers to Mary as "a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph" (Lk 1:27). Even before the "mystery hidden for ages" (Eph 3:9) began to be fulfilled, the Gospels set before us the image of husband and wife. According to Jewish custom, marriage took place in two stages: first, the legal, or true marriage was celebrated, and then, only after a certain period of time, the husband brought the wife into his own house. Thus, before he lived with Mary, Joseph was already her "husband." Mary, however, preserved her deep desire to give herself exclusively to God. One may well ask how this desire of Mary's could be reconciled with a "wedding." The answer can only come from the saving events as they unfold, from the special action of God himself. From the moment of the Annunciation, Mary knew that she was to fulfill her virginal desire to give herself exclusively and fully to God precisely by becoming the Mother of God's Son. Becoming a Mother by the power of the Holy Spirit was the form taken by her gift of self: a form which God himself expected of the Virgin Mary, who was "betrothed" to Joseph. Mary uttered her fiat. The fact that Mary was "betrothed" to Joseph was part of the very plan of God. This is pointed out by Luke and especially by Matthew. The words spoken to Joseph are very significant: "Do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 1:20). These words explain the mystery of Joseph's wife: In her motherhood Mary is a virgin. In her, "the Son of the Most High" assumed a human body and became "the Son of Man."
Addressing Joseph through the words of the angel, God speaks to him as the husband of the Virgin of Nazareth. What took place in her through the power of the Holy Spirit also confirmed in a special way the marriage bond which already existed between Joseph and Mary. God's messenger was clear in what he said to Joseph: "Do not fear to take Mary your wife into your home." Hence, what had taken place earlier, namely, Joseph's marriage to Mary, happened in accord with God's will and was meant to endure. In her divine motherhood Mary had to continue to live as "a virgin, the wife of her husband" (cf. Lk 1:27).
19. In the words of the "annunciation" by night, Joseph not only heard the divine truth concerning his wife's indescribable vocation; he also heard once again the truth about his own vocation. This "just" man, who, in the spirit of the noblest traditions of the Chosen People, loved the Virgin of Nazareth and was bound to her by a husband's love, was once again called by God to this love.
"Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife" into his home (Mt 1:24); what was conceived in Mary was "of the Holy Spirit." From expressions such as these are we not to suppose that his love as a man was also given new birth by the Holy Spirit? Are we not to think that the love of God which has been poured forth into the human heart through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rm 5:5) molds every human love to perfection? This love of God also molds-in a completely unique way-the love of husband and wife, deepening within it everything of human worth and beauty, everything that bespeaks an exclusive gift of self, a covenant between persons, and an authentic communion according to the model of the Blessed Trinity.
"Joseph. . .took his wife; but he knew her not, until she had borne a son" (Mt 1:24-25). These words indicate another kind of closeness in marriage. The deep spiritual closeness arising from marital union and the interpersonal contact between man and woman have their definitive origin in the Spirit, the Giver of Life (cf. Jn 6:63). Joseph, in obedience to the Spirit, found in the Spirit the source of love, the conjugal love which he experienced as a man. And this love proved to be greater than this "just man" could ever have expected within the limits of his human heart.
20. In the Liturgy, Mary is celebrated as "united to Joseph, the just man, by a bond of marital and virginal love."(31) There are really two kinds of love here, both of which together represent the mystery of the Church - virgin and spouse - as symbolized in the marriage of Mary and Joseph. "Virginity or celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God not only does not contradict the dignity of marriage but presupposes and confirms it. Marriage and virginity are two ways of expressing and living the one mystery of the Covenant of God with his people."(32) the Covenant which is a communion of love between God and human beings.
Through his complete self-sacrifice, Joseph expressed his generous love for the Mother of God, and gave her a husband's "gift of self." Even though he decided to draw back so as not to interfere in the plan of God which was coming to pass in Mary, Joseph obeyed the explicit command of the angel and look Mary into his home, while respecting the fact that she belonged exclusively to God.
On the other hand, it was from his marriage to Mary that Joseph derived his singular dignity and his rights in regard to Jesus. "It is certain that the dignity of the Mother of God is so exalted that nothing could be more sublime; yet because Mary was united to Joseph by the bond of marriage, there can be no doubt but that Joseph approached as no other person ever could that eminent dignity whereby the Mother of God towers above all creatures. Since marriage is the highest degree of association and friendship involving by its very nature a communion of goods, it follows that God, by giving Joseph to the Virgin, did not give him to her only as a companion for life, a witness of her virginity and protector of her honor: he also gave Joseph to Mary in order that he might share, through the marriage pact, in her own sublime greatness."(33)
21. This bond of charity was the core of the Holy Family's life, first in the poverty of Bethlehem, then in their exile in Egypt, and later in the house of Nazareth. The Church deeply venerates this Family, and proposes it as the model of all families. Inserted directly in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Family of Nazareth has its own special mystery. And in this mystery, as in the Incarnation, one finds a true fatherhood: the human form of the family of the Son of God, a true human family, formed by the divine mystery. In this family, Joseph is the father: his fatherhood is not one that derives from begetting offspring; but neither is it an "apparent" or merely "substitute" fatherhood. Rather, it is one that fully shares in authentic human fatherhood and the mission of a father in the family. This is a consequence of the hypostatic union: humanity taken up into the unity of the Divine Person of the Word-Son, Jesus Christ. Together with human nature, all that is human, and especially the family - as the first dimension of man's existence in the world - is also taken up in Christ. Within this context, Joseph's human fatherhood was also "taken up" in the mystery of Christ's Incarnation.
On the basis of this principle, the words which Mary spoke to the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple take on their full significance: "Your father and I...have been looking for you." This is no conventional phrase: Mary's words to Jesus show the complete reality of the Incarnation present in the mystery of the Family of Nazareth. From the beginning, Joseph accepted with the "obedience of faith" his human fatherhood over Jesus. And thus, following the light of the Holy Spirit who gives himself to human beings through faith, he certainly came to discover ever more fully the indescribable gift that was his human fatherhood.
31. Collectio Missarum de Beata Maria Virgine, 1, "Sancta Maria de Nazareth," Praefatio.
32 Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (November 22, 1981), 16:106. cit., p. 98.
33. Leo XIII, Encyclical Epistle Quamquam pluries (August 15, 1889): loc. cit., pp. 177f.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION REDEMPTORIS CUSTOS OF POPE BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
13. This rite, to which Luke refers (2:22ff.), includes the ransom of the first-born and sheds light on the subsequent stay of Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve.
The ransoming of the first-born is another obligation of the father, and it is fulfilled by Joseph. Represented in the first-born is the people of the covenant, ransomed from slavery in order to belong to God. Here too, Jesus - who is the true "price" of ransom (cf. 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23; 1 Pt l:19) - not only "fulfills" the Old Testament rite, but at the same time transcends it, since he is not a subject to be redeemed, but the very author of redemption.
The gospel writer notes that "his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him" (Lk 2:23), in particular at what Simeon said in his canticle to God, when he referred to Jesus as the "salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" and as a "sign that is spoken against" (cf. Lk 2:30-34).
The Flight into Egypt
14. After the presentation in the Temple the Evangelist Luke notes: "And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him" (Lk 2:39-40).
But according to Matthew's text, a very important event took place before the return to Galilee, an event in which divine providence once again had recourse to Joseph. We read: "Now when [the magi] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him'" (Mt 2:13). Herod learned from the magi who came from the East about the birth of the "king of the Jews" (Mt 2:2). And when the magi departed, he "sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under" (Mt 2:16). By killing them all, he wished to kill the new-born "king of the Jews" whom he had heard about. And so, Joseph, having been warned in a dream, "took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt have I called my son' " (Mt 2:14-15; cf. Hos 11:1).
And so Jesus' way back to Nazareth from Bethlehem passed through Egypt. Just as Israel had followed the path of the exodus "from the condition of slavery" in order to begin the Old Covenant, so Joseph, guardian and cooperator in the providential mystery of God, even in exile watched over the one who brings about the New Covenant.
Jesus' Stay in the Temple
15. From the time of the Annunciation, both Joseph and Mary found themselves, in a certain sense, at the heart of the mystery hidden for ages in the mind of God, a mystery which had taken on flesh: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). He dwelt among men, within the surroundings of the Holy Family of Nazareth-one of many families in this small town in Galilee, one of the many families of the land of Israel. There Jesus "grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him" (Lk 2:40). The Gospels summarize in a few words the long period of the "hidden" life, during which Jesus prepared himself for his messianic mission. Only one episode from this "hidden time" is described in the Gospel of Luke: the Passover in Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old. Together with Mary and Joseph, Jesus took part in the feast as a young pilgrim. "And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it" (Lk 2:43). After a day's journey, they noticed his absence and began to search "among their kinsfolk and acquaintances." "After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers" (Lk 2:47). Mary asked: "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously" (Lk 2:48). The answer Jesus gave was such that "they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them." He had said, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Lk 2:49-50)
Joseph, of whom Mary had just used the words "your father," heard this answer. That, after all, is what all the people said and thought: Jesus was the son (as was supposed) or Joseph" (Lk 3:23). Nonetheless, the reply of Jesus in the Temple brought once again to the mind of his "presumed father" what he had heard on that night twelve years earlier: "Joseph...do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." From that time onwards he knew that he was a guardian of the mystery of God, and it was precisely this mystery that the twelve- year-old Jesus brought to mind: "I must be in my Father's house."
The Support and Education of Jesus of Nazareth
16. The growth of Jesus "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:52) took place within the Holy Family under the eyes of Joseph, who had the important task of "raising" Jesus, that is, feeding, clothing and educating him in the Law and in a trade, in keeping with the duties of a father.
In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Church venerates the memory of Mary the ever Virgin Mother of God and the memory of St. Joseph,(29) because "he fed him whom the faithful must eat as the bread of eternal life."(30)
For his part, Jesus "was obedient to them" (Lk 2:51), respectfully returning the affection of his "parents." In this way he wished to sanctify the obligations of the family and of work, which he performed at the side of Joseph.
13. This rite, to which Luke refers (2:22ff.), includes the ransom of the first-born and sheds light on the subsequent stay of Jesus in the Temple at the age of twelve.
The ransoming of the first-born is another obligation of the father, and it is fulfilled by Joseph. Represented in the first-born is the people of the covenant, ransomed from slavery in order to belong to God. Here too, Jesus - who is the true "price" of ransom (cf. 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23; 1 Pt l:19) - not only "fulfills" the Old Testament rite, but at the same time transcends it, since he is not a subject to be redeemed, but the very author of redemption.
The gospel writer notes that "his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him" (Lk 2:23), in particular at what Simeon said in his canticle to God, when he referred to Jesus as the "salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" and as a "sign that is spoken against" (cf. Lk 2:30-34).
The Flight into Egypt
14. After the presentation in the Temple the Evangelist Luke notes: "And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him" (Lk 2:39-40).
But according to Matthew's text, a very important event took place before the return to Galilee, an event in which divine providence once again had recourse to Joseph. We read: "Now when [the magi] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him'" (Mt 2:13). Herod learned from the magi who came from the East about the birth of the "king of the Jews" (Mt 2:2). And when the magi departed, he "sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under" (Mt 2:16). By killing them all, he wished to kill the new-born "king of the Jews" whom he had heard about. And so, Joseph, having been warned in a dream, "took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt have I called my son' " (Mt 2:14-15; cf. Hos 11:1).
And so Jesus' way back to Nazareth from Bethlehem passed through Egypt. Just as Israel had followed the path of the exodus "from the condition of slavery" in order to begin the Old Covenant, so Joseph, guardian and cooperator in the providential mystery of God, even in exile watched over the one who brings about the New Covenant.
Jesus' Stay in the Temple
15. From the time of the Annunciation, both Joseph and Mary found themselves, in a certain sense, at the heart of the mystery hidden for ages in the mind of God, a mystery which had taken on flesh: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14). He dwelt among men, within the surroundings of the Holy Family of Nazareth-one of many families in this small town in Galilee, one of the many families of the land of Israel. There Jesus "grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him" (Lk 2:40). The Gospels summarize in a few words the long period of the "hidden" life, during which Jesus prepared himself for his messianic mission. Only one episode from this "hidden time" is described in the Gospel of Luke: the Passover in Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years old. Together with Mary and Joseph, Jesus took part in the feast as a young pilgrim. "And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it" (Lk 2:43). After a day's journey, they noticed his absence and began to search "among their kinsfolk and acquaintances." "After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers" (Lk 2:47). Mary asked: "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously" (Lk 2:48). The answer Jesus gave was such that "they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them." He had said, "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Lk 2:49-50)
Joseph, of whom Mary had just used the words "your father," heard this answer. That, after all, is what all the people said and thought: Jesus was the son (as was supposed) or Joseph" (Lk 3:23). Nonetheless, the reply of Jesus in the Temple brought once again to the mind of his "presumed father" what he had heard on that night twelve years earlier: "Joseph...do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." From that time onwards he knew that he was a guardian of the mystery of God, and it was precisely this mystery that the twelve- year-old Jesus brought to mind: "I must be in my Father's house."
The Support and Education of Jesus of Nazareth
16. The growth of Jesus "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:52) took place within the Holy Family under the eyes of Joseph, who had the important task of "raising" Jesus, that is, feeding, clothing and educating him in the Law and in a trade, in keeping with the duties of a father.
In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the Church venerates the memory of Mary the ever Virgin Mother of God and the memory of St. Joseph,(29) because "he fed him whom the faithful must eat as the bread of eternal life."(30)
For his part, Jesus "was obedient to them" (Lk 2:51), respectfully returning the affection of his "parents." In this way he wished to sanctify the obligations of the family and of work, which he performed at the side of Joseph.
29. Cf. Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer I.
30. Sacror. Rituum Congreg., Decr. Quemadmodum Deus (December 8 1870): loc. cit., p. 282.
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