A Man of Honour

Fourth Sunday of Advent Year A

The Christmas story that most Catholics know usually begins with the story of the Annunciation, where Mary is at the front and centre. Mary is the door by which God will enter the world and there would be no first Christmas or any Christmas, for that matter, if Mary had not agreed to be that door. But the gospel of Saint Matthew tells it a little differently. Saint Matthew’s Mary recedes into the twilight. Here the spotlight seems to be on Saint Joseph. Matthew’s infancy narrative presents Saint Joseph as a bridge, an important figure linking Jesus to Israel, in order to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah of the line of King David. Saint Joseph was “of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4) and so Saint Paul rightly notes in the second reading that Jesus Christ, “according to the human nature he took, was a descendant of David” but then Saint Paul adds, “in the order of the spirit, the spirit of holiness that was in Him, was proclaimed Son of God in all His power through His resurrection from the dead.” Jesus, the Son of David is Israel’s long-awaited Messiah; but only after the Resurrection; after His total obedience unto death on the Cross, does He reveal Himself as “the Son of God in all His power,” something He was already in truth, from the beginning.  

It's interesting how Saint Joseph's life recapitulates the path of the Patriarchs, in particular the one who shared his name. That is why Saint Matthew is keen on showing that Saint Joseph mirrors the Old Testament patriarch Joseph – he receives visions in the form of dreams like the Joseph of old; he is forced to travel and ultimately leave the Promised Land and return to Egypt, much as the Patriarch Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt. But Matthew doesn’t only use Saint Joseph in a nostalgic way to point to the past and as a sign of the fulfillment of the prophecies of old. Saint Matthew also wishes to show us that Saint Joseph prefigures the Church. He models the response that every Christian, both Jew and gentile, should give to Jesus.

Saint Joseph truly is the silent figure of the New Testament. There are no direct quotes of Saint Joseph recorded in the Bible. In a way, the silence of Saint Joseph teaches us a fundamental attitude to enter into deep prayer: silence. If we are constantly bombarded by noises then it is impossible to hear the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit speaks to us in the gentle breeze of silence. Also the silence of Saint Joseph teaches us that we must prove our authenticity not only by words, but also by our actions. What he did in his life for God speaks volumes. To appreciate him and his role in salvation, we need to examine today’s gospel passage.

Saint Joseph had just received the disturbing news that his betrothed is with child before they live together. Being betrothed in Jewish society is quite different from just being merely engaged in our modern society. When a couple became formally engaged declaring their intent before two witnesses, they were considered married as husband and wife.  After one year usually, the groom went to the home of the bride with great ceremony and brought her to his own home where they consummated the marriage and lived together as husband and wife.  As many men may have done in the situation, he could have reacted angrily with grounded suspicion of infidelity (a pregnant woman who had not consummated her marriage is a clear smoking gun) and put Mary through public humiliation, shame and even death. According to the Torah, Saint Joseph could have had Mary stoned to death for infidelity (Deuteronomy 22). So the discovery that Mary was now with child, not his own, would have incensed any man and driven him to murder. No one wants “soiled goods.”

But Saint Joseph was no ordinary man. Saint Matthew describes him as a “man of honour” or in other translations, “a just man” or a “righteous man.” The “righteous man” is the ideal Jewish man – the paragon of virtue, which meant that this man lived by God’s standard, sought to please Him in all things and kept the commandments of God to the hilt and emulated His love. So, Saint Joseph responds to this news in a “Christ-like” manner. Saint Joseph sacrifices himself, his pain, indignation, and shame, rather than cast it off onto Mary. But more was required of Saint Joseph by God, therefore the angelic visitation in a dream.

The Angel of the Lord appeared to Saint Joseph in a dream and revealed to him that Mary had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and commanded that he take Mary as his wife and Jesus as his own Son.  Mary is the fulfilment of the prophecy given by Isaiah in the first reading, “the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Emmanuel.” Without question or hesitation, Saint Joseph did as the angel commanded.  Here again, we see the important role of Joseph:  He is to take Jesus as his own Son and to name Him, thereby giving Him legal recognition and legal personhood. He conferred his illustrious lineage, being of the line of King David, unto this child which was not his own. He accepted the responsibility of his vocation and both protected and provided for the Holy Family. Throughout the gospel he faithfully and unquestioningly obeyed the commands of God:  taking his family to the safety of Egypt to flee the wrath of King Herod; returning to Nazareth; presenting his child in the Temple for circumcision and formal redemption as his first born; and traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In a society where too many men shirk their obligations toward their wives, children, and family, Saint Joseph shines as a model of courage and fortitude. Faced with so many difficulties, Saint Joseph stood tall and confronted the obstacles with manly courage.

This gospel passage reveals to us the greatness of Saint Joseph’s heart and soul. He was following a good plan for his life, but God was reserving another plan for him, a greater mission. Saint Joseph was a man who always listened to the voice of God. He was deeply sensitive to the messages that came to him from the depths of his heart and from on high. He did not persist in following his own plan for his life. And he did not allow bitterness to poison his soul. Rather he was ready to make himself available to the news that, in such a bewildering way, was being presented to him. Saint Joseph is an example of what true freedom looks like. By surrendering himself to God’s design for his life, Saint Joseph found himself. His freedom to renounce even what was his, the possession of his very life, and his full interior availability to the will of God to the point of accepting humiliation, challenge us and show us the way.

Tradition holds that Saint Joseph died before Jesus began His public ministry and that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary.  For this reason, St. Joseph is the patron saint of a holy death.  It’s three days away from Christmas. Let us make ourselves ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord, the King of Kings, by contemplating Mary and Joseph: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the woman full of grace who had the courage to entrust herself totally to the Word of God, the woman who was the door by which God entered this world; and Saint Joseph, the faithful and just man, the bridge that linked the promise made to Israel to its fulfilment in the new covenant; the man who chose to believe the Lord rather than listen to the voices of doubt and human pride. Let us walk together with them toward Bethlehem.