Welcome to session 2 of this course about St Joseph.
Before we move onto the details of this session, we should have a quick think about what we learned last time and some of the questions I asked at the end.
We looked at the circumstances of the birth of Jesus, but through the eyes of Joseph, as set down in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels. I suggested a few things for you to think about at the end. One of the main questions was to think about what these stories tell us about Joseph’s character.
Although there isn’t much actually written down in the New Testament, I think we can learn a lot about the type of man Joseph was.
He was chosen by God to be Jesus’ earthly father.
We often focus on Mary’s role as the one chosen to be Jesus’ mother – the bearer of God’s only son – in Greek the Theotokos, or “God bearer”. Of course, this is an incredibly important role. But Joseph was chosen to be Jesus’ human and earthly father.
The man that God entrusted the raising of His only Son would have to be a man with great spiritual qualities. Joseph, with Mary, would teach him how to interact with others. It would be Joseph who would teach the young child a valuable trade, being a carpenter.
And Luke tells us in chapter 2 of his Gospel that Joseph raised Him well, for we read:
“…the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40).
And Jesus increased in wisdom and years, and in divine and human favour” (Luke 2:52).
For the rest of this second session, we need to move onto the events after the nativity; and is often the case, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke diverge.
There is a great deal of academic literature that seeks to reconcile the two narratives, but that is not something for us to worry about here today. What I want to do is to look at the main events and what they tell us about Joseph.
I’m sure we all remember that Jesus is visited by shepherds and by Wise Men from the East – indeed most of us will have been in a Nativity Play, or watched our children in one at some time, dressed up in makeshift costumes.
What is unclear in the Gospels is exactly when the Wise Men visited, but it is safe to say that it would actually have been a fair while after Jesus’ birth. They had travelled a long way. And we also have the clue that after they had met Herod, due to his fear that a King had been born to challenge him, he ordered all baby boys up to the age of 2 to be killed – we can assume if they had been there as soon as Jesus had been born, Herod would have just had newborn boys killed.
But for our purposes here, the timing of the visit is not important. What is important is what happens afterwards.
Joseph was again warned in a dream – this time about the plans of Herod to kill their son. So he escaped with Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt (Matthew 2:13,14).
Then, once Herod died, an angel again appeared to Joseph, and he returned to the land of Israel (Matthew 2:19-21) and settled in Nazareth in Galilee (Matthew 2:22,23).
And again, the faithful Joseph takes these instructions from God without question and follows them, even though it means uprooting his young family to move to another country.
There are two more important events where Joseph is mentioned, and they are recorded in Luke’s Gospel in chapter 2. The first is the story of Simeon and Anna meeting the baby Jesus in the temple, just a month or so after Jesus was born.
I think it is one of the most beautiful stories. Joseph and Mary, as faithful Jews, take their firstborn son to be presented in the Temple. While there they meet Simeon and Anna – Simeon and Anna both recognise Jesus for who he is – the Messiah that they have waited for their whole lives. Simeon says that Jesus will be:
“a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people, Israel” (for those of you who have ever been to a service of Evensong, you might recognise these words from the Nunc Dimittis, that is traditionally sung every evening).
“Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed’” (Luke 2:34-35).
The sword here refers to Jesus’ death, and it should be noted that Simeon speaks these words directly to Mary.
I wonder what Joseph thought about all of this? Did he hear what was said?
The last time we read about Joseph, again in chapter 2 of Luke, time has passed and Jesus is now twelve years old. Joseph has taken his family to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
After the celebration, when his parents go to leave, Jesus stays behind in the Temple. As the family are part of a large group of travellers, Mary and Joseph have travelled for a day before they realise he has not come with them – and it takes a further three days for them to find him.
The twelve-year-old Jesus, is sitting and discussing scripture in great detail with the teachers who are all astonished. Jesus seems surprised that his parents did not know where he would be, and had had to search for him.
We don’t hear what Joseph had to say, but I’m sure there would have been some words of admonishment along with Mary’s – and we are told that from then Jesus was obedient.
This story tells us something very important about Joseph – his role as head of the family and the way that he ensured Jesus was brought up:
Luke writes:
“His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover” (Luke 2:41).
Joseph was a man of great faith and obedience. As head of the home, he took responsibility for the spiritual welfare of his family.
Every year he ensured that he and his family went to Jerusalem to participate in the feast of Passover. He ensured that Jesus had a good spiritual upbringing and knew the practices of being a good Jew. Joseph prioritizes spiritual matters
We also see that Jesus, although coming to understand his true identity, he still respected Joseph as his earthly father.
And with that story of Passover when Jesus was twelve, Joseph disappears from the biblical record.
Tradition says that by the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, Joseph had already died.
So, that brings us to the end of this second session. Again, I’d like you to consider and discuss similar questions to the ones you thought about at the end of the first session, particularly thinking about what more we have learned about Joseph, and his role in Jesus’ life and upbringing.
• Were you surprised by anything in these accounts?
• What sort of picture of Joseph do you have? What do these further stories after Jesus’ birth tell us about Joseph’s character?
• Are there things missing that you would expect to be there?
• Why do you think there are so few mentions of him in the Gospels?
• What does it tell you about Joseph as a father figure?
• How would you react to the circumstances that Joseph faced?
In our final session, we will consider what we have learned so far about Joseph from the New Testament and also have a quick look at other writings that mention Joseph. We’ll also look at what this says about fatherhood, taking Joseph’s example, and also look at God as father.
