looking up to joseph - dec 18 2014

There are two versions of what happened during the months and days preceding the birth of the Lord on that first Christmas - the version of Matthew and the version of Luke.  Both may be telling the same story externally but there exist a difference.  The version of Luke it would seem came from the perspective of Mary – it narrated what happened to her, her encounter with the angel, her inner thoughts and feelings, her confusion, and eventually her agreement and surrender.  The other version, the version of Matthew it would seem came from the perspective of Joseph, it narrated what happened to him, it gave the reader a look into what went through his mind and heart, how it disturbed and confused him, it narrated his feelings, and we even came to know of his dreams and eventually his obedience.  Since our gospel comes from Matthew then I would like to discover and dig further into this latter perspective, the perspective of Joseph.  How did Joseph experience this whole affair?

Remember this is important – Matthew’s version is important.  This perspective of Joseph, how he managed the events that happened in the infancy of Jesus from the time he came to know of Mary’s pregnancy to the confusion that would have led him to divorce her, to how he laid down his cards when the angel in a dream assured him that this was of the Holy Spirit.  It is important to digest as it were, how Joseph managed the birth of his Son in Bethlehem triggered by the political situation of his time and this with no place to lay their heads.  It is revealing of the person how he managed the flight to Egypt in an effort to escape a tyrant who was out to kill his son, or the return from Egypt to Nazareth to start a new life.  These considerations are important because they reveal the attitude of Joseph, his character, his way of loving and caring which he as a father would one day communicate to his son Jesus.

Where do you think Jesus got the idea that a father always gives good gifts to his children?  Where, do you imagine, did Jesuse get the image of the father running to welcome home his prodigal son?  Where do you think the tenderness in his voice came from, when he said we were to address God as 'abba' or 'daddy', papa, tay.  That is why it is important to look into how Joseph managed the whole affair because that was how he was as a father to Jesus, and it is this way of fathering, it is this experience he had with his father Joseph which Jesus will one day tell us about when he refers to and talks about God.

Remember that time in the past when your name is Jose and you are nicknamed Pepe?  That was before the Americans came when Jose all of a sudden became Joe.  But why Pepe?  Because of Joseph – Pe Pe – double P - Padre Putativo – the reputed father, not the real one but someone regarded as the father.  And yet he was told by the angel in the same dream to give the child the name Jesus.  Although he was not the real father, he was to be his name-giver.  The person who gives the name in Jewish culture puts that person under him – he was in-charge, he was, mentor, the first and foremost formator of the child, he was therefore father even if this is not biological.  And yet, despite this role, in all his appearances in the bible, rare as they were, Joseph said nothing, absolutely nothing.   And yet consider the richness, the eloquence, the profundity and depth of what he communicated to Jesus. Where do you think Jesus got the idea that a father can never, never hand his son a scorpion if he asks for a bread, or a snake if he asks for a fish.  A father cannot do that, Jesus said.  And where did he get that idea?  Joseph.  From his Pepe - Joseph. 

Jews in the time of Jesus were patriarchal.  It means that it was the male sex, the father who dominated family life.  And yet strangely the roles seemed to be reversed in Matthew.  In Jewish families the wives serve the needs of the husband.  In Matthew the opposite became true.  It was the needs of his wife Mary and the needs of his child Jesus which would dictate his life and even his location.  He had to adjust to their needs and not they to his.  He stood by them despite his initial doubts about his marriage, despite the many unanswered questions in his mind.  He had to swallow his pride accepting the child as his own and contented himself simply as the name-giver, and yet he had to assume responsibility for the life of the child at such a cost to his reputation, to his convenience, and even to his profession and means of livelihood.  And then like a traditional Jewish wife, Joseph would fade away and he would be hidden from view, never to be heard of again.  This strange silence of Joseph is shouting something.  This silence is deafening.  What is the purpose of this silence?  I do not know.  But this I know, some of the best teachings of Jesus were formed about, by his experience of an earthly father.

Today is family day.  Today we read the birth of Jesus from the point of view of Joseph, from the point of view of a father.  For this I would like to appeal to the fathers here present.  It is absolutely necessary to give your children the experience of a good father.  It is I said absolutely necessary.  When you accepted your wife you also accepted fatherhood and for that you know very well that your life from that time on will be determined by the needs of your family.  Many a children’s lives are shattered because it is they who are made to adjust to the needs of their parents rather than a parent adjust to the needs of their children?  It is the children who are made to go through the confusion, it is they who are made to carry the greater burden.  In my many years now forming young people I have seen an increasing trend into this direction.  In any conflict it is the children who always get to carry the greater burden.

This is probably the reason for the silence of Joseph and his fading away. It is to emphasize your role.  We have gone past the need to be attended to.  We cannot forever take center stage.  Learn from Joseph, fade away, this is no longer about you.  Be a good father.