Saint Joseph - A great and Real Man

A REAL MAN – AND A GREAT MAN

Mt. 1:18 – 25

The husband of Mary must have been a very kind, loving, gentle and compassionate man, yet strong and decisive.  Undoubtedly Saint Joseph was a great man.  But the Gospel records tells us so very little about him.

All we know is that he was a descendant of David, and a carpenter by trade who lived in Nazareth.  His brief story is told only in two Gospels, and that is because he was engaged to be married to a young woman named Mary, who became the mother of Jesus.

Admittedly, that is not much to go on, but just enough to whet our appetites and make us want to know more.  We cannot help but be curious about the man God chose to play such a vital role in the life of His Son; to be nothing less than the husband of Mary and the foster father of God’s Son.  But we are not left completely in the dark.  By reading between the lines, we can gain some meaningful insights into the life of Joseph.

He was a man of deep compassion.  When he discovered that Mary was pregnant, he was totally puzzled.  He knew in his heart that Mary would never be unfaithful to him, but how had this come about?  Being an honest man he could not claim her child as his own.  He decided to take a course of action that would least hurt the girl he deeply loved.  So he decided to break their engagement quietly.  This meant that he was unwilling to expose Mary to public humiliation and the harsh judgement of the law.

His heart was broken, his dreams were shattered.  But there was something inside Joseph that would not allow him to be vindictive, to seek revenge, or to be unkind.  Even though his feelings were deeply hurt and he had the legal right of a public separation, he was still unwilling to humiliate another human being, especially the one whom he loved.

Is it any wonder that God entrusted the early training of His Son to a man such as that?  There can be little doubt that the quality of mercy that is evident in the life and ministry of Jesus was due in part to the influence of Joseph.  To the people of Nazareth he was known simply as “the carpenter” but careful examination shows him to be a man of deep compassion.

A second characteristic that can be seen in Joseph is a trusting faith.  He was willing to trust God beyond the limits of his own understanding.

Consider for a moment the circumstances in which Joseph found himself.  He had just learned that his fiancé was expecting a child, whom he knew could not be his own.  He had decided to deal with it compassionately.  Then in a dream, he is informed by an angel that Mary had not been unfaithful, but that her pregnancy is a miracle of God.

What would you do with a dream like that?  Being asked to believe the unbelievable, something that had never ever happened before.  Few of us are inclined to take seriously anything that exceeds the limited reach of our personal experience and understanding!  But Joseph was not one to set narrow limits to divine possibilities.

This is not to say that he was gullible, but that he was humble.  He was aware that he could not hold the entire mystery of life within the small confines of his own mind.  Such a man is unwilling to make arrogant pronouncements on what is and is not possible.  Years later Jesus would teach His disciples that “with God all things are possible.”  Surely He must have learnt part of His faith from the man who helped to rear Him.

Joseph was also a man of action.  Our reading says, “When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.”  That is the real proof of his faith and his compassion.  He acted upon them and took Mary as his wife.  And that was not an easy thing to do.  All he had to go on was Mary’s testimony and a dream.  For most of us that would not be enough, but it was for Joseph.  With only that little evidence he set the course of his life, and the rest is history.

Joseph always played his part in the background.  His name is mentioned only a few times in the Gospels, but he made a priceless contribution to the life of Jesus and through Jesus to the world.  I am convinced that you and I are more indebted to this quiet and courageous man than we will ever know this side of Heaven.

Lord Jesus, with Christmas so near we ask Your foster father Saint Joseph to help us prepare our hearts for Your coming, that we might know You, love You and serve You better in this world and to be happy with You in the next.

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